Donald Barthelme

You are currently browsing articles tagged Donald Barthelme.

Here’s a video from the New Yorker site with a frequent contributor to that publication, the short-story writer George Saunders, whose work is as informed by genre films and stand-up comedy as by literature. I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve found myself thinking, from out of the blue, about “The Semplica-Girls Diaries,” a selection from his most recent collection, Tenth of December.

In this video, Saunders refers to Donald Barthelme’s essay, “Not-Knowing,” which you can read here.

Both Saunders and Barthelme have suggested reading lists.

Tags: ,

In addition to having a great suggested reading list, author Donald Barthelme, when everything was clicking, wasn’t just amazing but was also unique. The opening of an excellent 2008 James Wolcott Bookforum essay about Bartheleme at the time of the publication of the posthumous short-story collection, Flying to America:

“Donald Barthelme was the Stephen Sondheim of haute fiction—a dexterous assembler of witty, mordant, intricate devices that, once exploded, exposed the sawdust and stuffing of traditional forms. His stories weren’t finely rendered portrait studies in human behavior or autobiographical reveries à la Johns Updike and Cheever, but a row of boutiques showcasing his latest pranks, confections, gadgets, and Max Ernst/Monty Python–ish collages. Like Sondheim’s biting rhymes and contrapuntal duets, Barthelme’s parlor tricks and satiric ploys were accused early on of being cerebral, preeningly clever, hermetically sealed, and lacking in “heart”of supplying the clattering sound track to the cocktail party of the damned. Yet, like Sondheim, Barthelme was no simple Dr. Sardonicus, licensed cynic. His radiograms from the observation deck of his bemused detachment evidently touched depths and won converts, otherwise his work wouldn’t have inspired so many salvage operations intended to keep his name alive and his enterprise afloat. Mere smarty show-offs don’t garner this kind of affection from a younger breed of astronauts. Just as there always seems to be a Sondheim musical poised for Broadway revival (Company in 2006, Sunday in the Park with George right now), Barthelme’s bundle of greatest hits and obscure outtakes has been parceled out in a series of reprintings and repackagings since his death in 1989. He’s always poised on the verge of being majorly rediscovered without ever quite making it over the crest, despite the valiant huffing done on his behalf.”

Tags: ,

Donald Barthelme’s reading list was originally published in 2003 by the Believer. In it, the postmodern short-story master made 81 suggestions to his students. Some are out-of-print, but pretty much all can be had online. You can add Barthelme’s own 60 Stories to the list.

Tags: