William Goyen was born in Trinity, Texas, on 24 April 1915. Son of Charles Provine, a lumber salesman, and Mary Inez (Trow) Goyen, he writes of his very early years: "The world of that town, its countryside, its folk, its speech and superstition and fable, was stamped into my senses during those first seven years of my life; and I spent the first twelve years of my writing life reporting it and fabricating it in short fiction." From the age of seven, he lived in Houston, where he was educated and graduated with a B.A. and M.A. in comparative literature from Rice University. By his graduation, he had decided, despite family pressures, to become a writer, although he had once wanted to be a composer.

After teaching at the University of Houston for a year, he served in the United States Navy from 1940 to 1945 and began to write...