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Goodbye to a River by John Graves Curriculum Guide |
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Introduction
In Texas, literary criticism used to mean two writers having a fistfight in a bar.But that was before 1960 when Alfred A. Knopf published John Graves' book Goodbye to a River. On more than one occasion, Graves has been called "the greatest living Texas writer," and Goodbye to a River has been called "the best book written by a Texan."
In 2000 when Graves marked his 80th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his book, the Texas Book Festival awarded him a lifetime achievement award before a standing-room-only crowd at the Capitol. Laura Bush called Goodbye to a River "the best and most beloved book ever written about Texas. Through every shift of literary fashion, it has not only endured, but grown in stature. I think the reason Goodbye to a River has lasted so well is that it is such a solid and honest book -- powerfully emotional but never excitable, deeply persuasive but never strident."
Goodbye to a River is part autobiography, part history, part philosophy, part woodlore -- loosely tied to the erratic but steady flow of Graves' canoe down twists of the Brazos River through November days toward December's snow and freezing northers. Timothy Adams, writing in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, says, "Graves' style is peculiarly his own, his syntax characterized by rhythmic stops and starts, like a boat caught momentarily on an obstruction in the current, now catching and spinning backward, now speeding downstream."
His first book attracted national attention and critical praise and earned him the Collins Award from the Texas Institute of Letters. His second book, Hard Scrabble, was followed by the Parkman Prize from the Institute. He served as president of the Texas Institute of Letters in 1984, and it has also awarded him its McCombs-Tinkle Memorial Award.
Certainly, Graves is one of Texas' most important writers. He has contributed to books, magazines and literary collections for more than four decades. Generally considered a nature writer, he has a style that incorporates fiction, folklore, autobiography, philosophy and observations and sometimes isn't easy to define. He is most interested in man's relationship with the land.
"Land and what people have done to it and what it's done to them aren't things you can understand fully," Graves says. "But you come a little closer with time, and you know more than ever that they matter greatly."
