Arthur Geraint Goodwin (1 May 1903 – 10 October 1941) was a
Welsh journalist, novelist and short story writer from near
Newtown, Montgomeryshire
Newtown ( cy, Y Drenewydd) is a town in Powys, Wales. It lies on the River Severn in the community of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population grow ...
, who wrote about rural life on the Welsh border. His first novel, published in 1935, was the autobiographical ''Call Back Yesterday''. Goodwin's most acclaimed work, ''The Heyday in the Blood,'' appeared in 1936, and his last novel, ''Come Michaelmas,'' appeared in 1939. In 1975, ''The Heyday in the Blood'' was translated into Welsh.
Biography
He was born in the village of
Llanllwchaearn, on the outskirts of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, the son of Richard Goodwin (1862–1911) and Mary Jane (Watkin, née Lewis) Goodwin (1862–1943). His father died when he was eight, and his mother married the almost twenty years younger Frank Humphreys when he was twelve. This marriage was his mother's third and Humphreys' second. Goodwin apparently got on well with his stepfather, and Frank Humphreys', and his mother's, love for the outdoors - especially fishing and rough shooting - were an important influence on him.
He attended Tywyn County School as a boarder at the age of thirteen, and when he left school, he initially worked on ''The Montgomeryshire Express''. Then in 1923, he moved to London to work in a News Agency and later as a reporter for ''
The Daily Sketch
The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.
It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...
''. Goodwin's stepfather had two sons, around Goodwin's age, who had become journalists.
In 1930 he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
(TB) and spent several months in a sanitorium. Then in October 1932 he married a fellow journalist from
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, Rhoda Storey (1902–1991). Out of his experience of TB came his first novel, the autobiographical ''Call Back Yesterday'' (1935). The success of this novel led to Cape offering him a contract for two further books and Goodwin and his family moved to
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
and he became a full-time writer. Following Goodwin's ''Call Back Yesterday'' in 1936 came his most acclaimed work, ''The Heyday in the Blood''. This novel contrasts the old and declining ways of a village on the Welsh Border with new ways of England, where many migrate, and is a vibrant work of both tragedy and farcical comedy.
In 1938 they moved to
Corris Uchaf
Corris Uchaf ( en, Upper Corris) is a village lying in the south of the Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales.
The slate quarries that surround Corris Uchaf are its most prominent feature.
Description
The village lies in the valley o ...
, near
Machynlleth
Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a popul ...
, where Goodwin wrote his last novel ''Come Michaelmas'' (1939), which is set in a barely disguised Newtown. The same year he became ill again and spent sometime in the sanitarium at
Talgarth
Talgarth is a market town, community and electoral ward in southern Powys, Mid Wales, about north of Crickhowell, north-east of Brecon and south-east of Builth Wells. Notable buildings in the town include the 14th-century parish church and a ...
, on the edge of the
Black Mountains. While the family moved to
Montgomery, Geraint Goodwin's health continued to deteriorate and he died aged 38 from TB in Montgomery, survived by his wife and a son and a daughter.
Reputation
As Kate Gramich comments, although he left only "a handful of novels and short stories" these are works which "are still extraordinarily fresh and vigorous".
["Introduction" to the Parthian edition (2008) of ''The Heyday in the Blood''.] In 1975 ''The Heyday in the Blood'' was translated into Welsh.
Bibliography
Works
* ''Conversations with George Moore'' London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1929: Knopf: New York, 1930; London: Jonathan Cape, 1937.
* A first sheaf. London: London School of Print, c.1930.
* ''Call Back Yesterday'' London, Jonathan Cape, 1935.
*''The Heyday in the Blood'' 1936; London: Penguin,1954; (Library of Wales series) Parthian Books, 2008.
* ''The White Farm and Other Stories'' London: Jonathan Cape,
937
Year 937 ( CMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* A Hungarian army invades Burgundy, and burns the city of Tournus. Then they go southward ...
Bath: Cedric Chivers,1969
ortway Reprints
* ''Watch for the Morning'' London: Jonathan Cape, 1938; Bath: Cedric Chivers, 1969
ortway Reprints
* ''Come Michaelmas'' 1939. Bath: Chivers, 1969
ortway Reprints
* ''The Collected Short Stories of Geraint Goodwin'', ed. Sam Adams and Roland Mathias, Tenby, Wales: H.G. Walters, 1976.
* ''My People. Short Stories'' Bridgend: Seren, 1987).
* ''Shearing and Other Stories'', ed. Meic Stephens. Llanrwst : Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2004.
Short stories and articles
* “Mary Webb.” ''The Everyman'', 2 May 1929, pp. 14–15.
* "The Flying Hours Are Gone" ''Lovat Dickson’s Magazine'' February 1935.
* "Saturday Night" ''The English Review'' March 1937.
* "Janet Ifans’ Donkey" ''Argosy'' (UK) January 1939.
* "The Lost Land" ''The Welsh Review'' April 1939.
* "Ap Town" ''The Welsh Review'' November 1939.
* "A Sitting of Eggs" ''Lilliput'' August 1941.
* "Young Bull" ''Argosy'' (UK) April 1944.
Anthologies containing stories
* Adams, S., & Mathias, R. ''The Shining Pyramid and Other Stories by Welsh authors''. Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer, 1970.
* Davies, J. ''The Green bridge: Stories from Wales''. Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan: Seren, 1988.
* Evans, G. E. ''Welsh short stories''. London: Faber and Faber, 1959.
* Jones, G., & Elis, I. F. ''Twenty-five Welsh Stories''. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
* --..-- ''Classic Welsh Short Stories''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Welsh translations
*''Bwrlwm yn y Gwaed''. ''The Heyday in the Blood'', translated into Welsh by Mair Closs Roberts, Caernarfon: Jonathan Cape, 1975
* ''Hyfryd fore'', translated Mair Closs Roberts. Wales: Gwasg Pantycelyn, 1980.
Biography and criticism
* Adams, Sam. ''Geraint Goodwin''. (Writers of Wales) Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1975.
* Adams, Sam. "Geraint Goodwin: A Montgomeryshire Writer and his Characters". ''Planet'' (29), 30–4. 1975.
* Goodwin, Rhoda. "The Geraint Goodwin – Edward Garnett Letters". ''Anglo-Welsh Review'', 22.49 (1973): 10,23, 119–49.
* Helgasson, M. B., "Overcoming differences: The border writing of Geraint Goodwin and Margiad Evans". M.A. in English Literature, University of Swansea, 2001.
* Knight, S. T. A Hundred Years of Fiction: Writing Wales in English. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004.
* Massey, Reg, "Geraint Goodwin". ''PenCambria'' No.9, Winter 2008
* Oldham, Mary "Geraint Goodwin". ''The Newtonian'' (the journal of the Newtown local history group), Summer 2008.
* Rees, David M. "Geraint Goodwin; A Neglected Anglo-Welsh Writer". ''Anglo-Welsh Review'', 16.38 (1967): 126–9.
* Whetter, James Charles Arthur. ''Geraint Goodwin: His Life and Work''. St Austell, Cornwall: Lyfrow Trelyspen, 2012.
References
External links
Geraint Goodwin Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Geraint
Welsh novelists
Anglo-Welsh writers
1903 births
1942 deaths
20th-century British novelists
Welsh short story writers
20th-century British short story writers
People from Newtown, Powys
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Wales