Parents' Day (novel)

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Parents' Day
AuthorPaul Goodman
PublisherThe 5x8 Press
Publication date
1951
Pages223
OCLC976711036

Parents' Day is a 1951 novel by Paul Goodman.

Publication[]

Paul Goodman, in an effort to change his character and find his life's purpose, underwent a self-psychoanalysis beginning in 1946.[1] From a disciple of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, Goodman learned Reichian techniques, which he performed as a set of unsequenced exercises rather than an ordered program.[2] After half a year with this disciple and half a year of Goodman's own free association, dream analysis, and other exercises, Goodman's self-analysis extended into an autobiographical novel based on the experiences at a progressive boarding school that led to his firing.[3] The result, written from first-person perspective, was only barely concealed as fiction.[4]

An old friend of Goodman's offered to print the book and most of its 500 copies went unsold.[5]

Reception[]

Though the book sold poorly, Goodman's literary executor Taylor Stoehr wrote that the book became a gay underground classic with influence that outpaced its circulation.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Stoehr 1994, p. 34.
  2. ^ Stoehr 1994, pp. 33–34.
  3. ^ Stoehr 1994, pp. 34–35.
  4. ^ Stoehr 1994, p. 35.
  5. ^ a b Stoehr 1994, p. 36.

Bibliography[]

  • Gunn, Drewey Wayne (2016). "Paul Goodman: Parents' Day, 1951; Making Do, 1963". Gay American Novels, 1870–1970: A Reader's Guide. McFarland. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-4766-2522-5.
  • Horowitz, Steve (1986). "Parent's Day by Paul Goodman". Iowa Journal of Literary Studies. 7 (1): 167–168. ISSN 0743-2747.
  • Morton, Donald (1990). "The Cultural Politics of (Sexual) Knowledge: On the Margins with Goodman". Social Text (25/26): 227–241. doi:10.2307/466248. ISSN 0164-2472. JSTOR 466248.
  • Nicely, Tom (1979). Adam and His Work: A Bibliography of Sources by and about Paul Goodman (1911–1972). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-1219-2. OCLC 4832535.
  • Stoehr, Taylor (1994). Here Now Next: Paul Goodman and the Origins of Gestalt Therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-0-7879-0005-2. OCLC 30029013.
  • Sulkes, Stan (2010). "Paul Goodman". Critical Survey of Long Fiction (4th ed.). Salem Press. pp. 1892–1900. ISBN 978-1-58765-535-7.
  • Todd, Ruthven (July 5, 1952). "Some Recent Fiction (Rev. of Parents' Day)". The Nation. Vol. 175, no. 1. p. 17.

External links[]


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