The Runaway Soul, published byFarrar, Straus & Giroux in 1991, first editionISBN 978-0-374-25286-1,Library of Congress catalog card number 91-75885, was the long-awaited first novel byHarold Brodkey. It represents either part or all of the work that Brodkey labored over for more than a quarter century, and which had originally been announced asA Party of Animals.
The plot of the novel concerns Brodkey's autobiographical character, Wiley Silenowicz, whose fate closely parallels the author's own childhood inSt. Louis in the 1930s. Stylistically, the novel attempts to render sensation into language, following the style of Brodkey's celebratedNew Yorker stories. In terms of material, much ofThe Runaway Soul was drawn from Brodkey's second collection of short stories,Stories in an Almost Classical Mode, which in turn was made of Brodkey's entire story output during the period 1963 to 1988.
The reviews ofThe Runaway Soul were mixed, and some quite negative.Time's review on publication was lukewarm at best, ending with the observation, "[O]ne of the earliest [chapter headings] says volumes about the volume to follow. It is titled 'The Masturbation'."[1]Newsweek's reviewer, while alsodamning it with faint praise, ended the review by stating, "The Runaway Soul is absolutely the last book you want to say this about, but it could have used a rewrite."[2] InThe New Criterion,Bruce Bawer called the book "one of the literary fiascos of all time."[3] It did, however, receive a long, favorable review by D.M. Thomas.[4]
