Good as Gold (novel)

Good As Gold

First edition
Author Joseph Heller
Cover artist Paul Bacon[1]
Country United States
Language English
Genre Comedy novel
Publisher Simon and Schuster
Publication date
1979
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 447 pp
ISBN 0-671-22923-0
OCLC 4493009
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.H47665 Go PS3558.E476
Preceded by Something Happened
Followed by God Knows

Good as Gold is a 1979 novel by Joseph Heller.

Plot introduction

Bruce Gold, a Jewish, middle-aged university English professor and author of many unread, seminal articles in small journals, residing in Manhattan, is offered the chance for success, fame and fortune in Washington D.C. as the country's first ever Jewish Secretary of State. But he must face the consequences of this, such as divorcing his wife and alienating his family, the thought of which energizes him and makes him cringe at the same time.

Literary significance and criticism

The novel is well regarded by fans and critics alike, viewed as a return to the gag and verbal play that Heller established in Catch-22 and abandoned in the name of the scathing sarcasm and the darker story in Something Happened. Good as Gold functions as a satire on the U.S. government, in a manner similar to the satirization of the army in Catch-22 and the corporation in Something Happened.

Gore Vidal listed Good as Gold as one of his five favorite post-World War II novels, describing it as Heller "at his deadly best, illuminating a hustler on the make in politics".[2]

References

  1. "Bound books - a set on Flickr". Flickr.com. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
  2. Vidal, Gore (May 10, 1999). "True Gore". Salon. Retrieved October 7, 2012.