Herbert Gold was born on March 9, 1924, in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio, to a Russian Jewish family.^[1][2][3] His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later a grocery store.^[4] Gold memorialized his hometown in his first book, Birth of a Hero (1951). He attended Taft Elementary and Lakewood High School.^[5][6]

Gold moved to New York City at age 17 after several of his poems had been accepted by New York literary magazines. While there, he studied philosophy at Columbia University and became affiliated with the burgeoning Beat Generation, which resulted in a lifelong friendship with writer Allen Ginsberg. His studies were interrupted when he served in the United States Army from 1943 until 1946, during World War II.^[6]

In 1946, Gold graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. degree,^[6] and M.A. degree in 1948.

Despite being intertwined with the literary history of San Francisco which greatly defined the Beat Generation, Gold did not consider himself to have ever been a member of this group of writers.^[7][8] In a 2017 interview with Washington Post journalist Jeff Weiss, Gold was referred to as a "Beat-adjacent novelist."^[7][8]

Gold won a Fulbright Scholarship (1948–1951) and moved to Paris with his new wife Edith Zubrin, and while in Paris he finished his first novel.^[2] He attended classes at the Sorbonne in Paris during his Fulbright Scholarship.^[1]

After that, he moved around as he wrote, traveling to Haiti and Detroit, and hitchhiking all over the United States. He finally settled in San Francisco, where he became a fixture in the literary scene. In 1958 Gold taught English literature at Cornell University, as Vladimir Nabokov's successor.

Genesis West (Vol. 6), was published in the Winter of 1964 with an interview of Herbert Gold by Gordon Lish.

Gold's final publication, the poetry collection Fathers Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems, co-written with Ari Gold, is forthcoming from Rare Bird Books in March 2024.^[9]

Gold was married to writer and professor Edith Zubrin from 1948 until 1956, ending in divorce.^[10][11] From this marriage Gold is father of daughters Ann Gold and Judith Gold.^[11][10] Edith Zubrin died in 2000.^[11]

Gold was married to the daughter of J. Richardson Dilworth, Melissa Dilworth, from 1968 until 1975, with whom he had three children: daughter Nina Gold and twin boys Ari Gold and Ethan Gold.^[10][12] After they divorced, Melissa married again, and she later became involved with concert promoter Bill Graham.^[12] She died with Graham in a helicopter crash in 1991.^[12]

In contrast to many in the Beat Generation, Gold was a resident of San Francisco's more conservative, tourist-friendly Russian Hill neighborhood, where he lived in the same apartment for over 60 years.^[7][8] He died there on November 19, 2023, at the age of 99.^[1]

Books edit

• Gold, Herbert (1951). Birth of a Hero. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0670169252.
• Gold, Herbert (1955). Room Clerk, Original Title: The Prospect Before Us. Signet Skid-Row.
• Gold, Herbert (1956). The Man Who Was Not With It. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-912697-69-5.
• Gold, Herbert (1959). The Optimist: A Novel. An Atlantic Monthly Press Book. Little, Brown.
• Gold, Herbert (1960). Therefore Be Bold, A Novel. Dial Press.
• Gold, Herbert (1963). Salt: A Novel. Dial Press.
• Gold, Herbert (1966). Fathers: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir. ISBN 0-87795-550-6.
• Gold, Herbert (1969). The Great American Jackpot. Random House.
• Gold, Herbert (1972). My Last Two Thousand Years (autobiography). Random House. ISBN 978-0394470986.
• Gold, Herbert (1973). The Young Prince and the Magic Cone. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-01519-4.
• Gold, Herbert (1974). Swiftie the Magician. McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780070236455.
• Gold, Herbert (1977). Waiting for Cordelia. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 9780877951544.^[13]
• Gold, Herbert (1979). Slave Trade. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 978-0877952176.
• Gold, Herbert (1980). He/She. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 9780877952640.
• Gold, Herbert (1981). Family: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir. Primus library of contemporary Americana. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 9780877953326.
• Gold, Herbert (1982). True Love. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 9780877954255.
• Gold, Herbert (1984). Mister White Eyes: A Novel. New York City, New York: Arbor House. ISBN 9780877956365.
• Gold, Herbert (1986). A Girl of Forty. New York City, New York: D.I. Fine. ISBN 9780917657634.
• Gold, Herbert (1991). Best Nightmare on Earth: A Life in Haiti. Jan Morris (introduction). Prentice Hall Press. ISBN 9780133723274.
• Gold, Herbert (1994). Bohemia: Digging the Roots of Cool. Touchstone. ISBN 9780671886080.
• Gold, Herbert (2014). She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me: A Novel. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 9781466883307.
• Gold, Herbert (2008). Still Alive!: A Temporary Condition (memoir). Arcade Pub. ISBN 9781559708708.
• Gold, Herbert (2015). When a Psychopath Falls in Love. Portland, Oregon: Jorvik Press. ISBN 978-0988412279.
• Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems, co-written with Ari Gold (2024), Red Bird Press.^[14]

Essays and short stories edit

• Gold, Herbert (1960). Love and Like (short stories).^[15]
• Gold, Herbert (1962). The Age of Happy Problems (essays).
• Gold, Herbert (1971). The Magic Will: Stories & Essays. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412837699.
• A Walk on the West Side: California on the Brink, Arbor House, 1981. Stories and essays.

• Herbert Gold at IMDb
• Herbert Gold in News from the Republic of Letters:
  • Bewitched, Bothered and Begoogled: Nos. 14/15
  • The Tragedy You Can Dance To: No. 13
• Finding Aid to the Herbert Gold Papers, 1942-2011, The Bancroft Library
• Herbert Gold discography at Discogs