John Barth (b.1930)
Published Online: 24 FEB 2012
DOI: 10.1002/9781444393675.ch27
Copyright © 2011 Christopher MacGowan
Book Title
The Twentieth-Century American Fiction Handbook
Additional Information
How to Cite
MacGowan, C. (2011) John Barth (b.1930), in The Twentieth-Century American Fiction Handbook, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444393675.ch27
Publication History
- Published Online: 24 FEB 2012
- Published Print: 21 JAN 2011
Book Series:
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9781405160230
Online ISBN: 9781444393675
- Summary
- Chapter
- References
Keywords:
- John Barth (b.1930), novels - accused of exhibiting faults, as pedantry, chauvinism, self-indulgence, unreadability, and general disinterest in the world beyond the four walls of his study;
- first major writing project at Penn State - the “Dorchester Tales,” a cycle of 100 stories incorporating history and tradition of Maryland's Eastern Shore;
- The Floating Opera and The End of the Road - novels completed by 1955;
- The Floating Opera (1956), accepted by publisher Appleton, Century Crofts - on condition that Barth change his proposed ending;
- Barth, and two novels of realistic fiction - taking a more radical direction with his third novel, The Sot-Weed Factor (1960);
- Giles Goat-Boy, his next book - Barth, accepting a teaching position at the State University of New York, Buffalo;
- Barth's fifth book, Lost in the Funhouse (1968) - series of 14 fictions, previously published;
- Barth, winning a National Book Award - for his sixth book, Chimera (1972) of three novellas “Dunyazadiad” for the sister of the One Thousand and One Nights narrator Scheherazade;
- Barth, returning to a more realistic mode - in Sabbatical, A Romance (1982);
- frame story of The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991) - set in a modern hospital room
Summary
This chapter contains sections titled:
Bibliography