Guillermo Stitch
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2018
- Messages
- 171
This is a long shot on an SFF site but I am in the Literary forum so I'll give it a go.
Any admirers of Barthelme's work around? He's a big deal for me, and a big influence. His work is mostly short stories although there are three or four short novels.
If SFF is Wagner and classic literary fiction is the New World Symphony (Hovis bread advert music) then Barthelme is avant garde jazz. He was a jazz drummer actually. That and the love of architecture's clean lines, inherited from his architect father, really show up in his work. There's a non-narrative revelling in juxtaposition but with a classicist elegance that keeps the whole thing in check. Although he pretty much epitomises "postmodernity" there's a wit and warmth to his work; like listening to some weird jazz but with the bolstering comfort of a good whiskey (he was also an alcoholic).
I thoroughy recommend him as long as you're ready to let go of those narrative/linear expectations.
"Sixty Stories" is the obvious place to start but the later "Forty Stories" is also brilliant.
Of his longer works, I'd go for "The Dead Father" or (even though some seem to consider it one of his lesser works) "The King".
Any admirers of Barthelme's work around? He's a big deal for me, and a big influence. His work is mostly short stories although there are three or four short novels.
If SFF is Wagner and classic literary fiction is the New World Symphony (Hovis bread advert music) then Barthelme is avant garde jazz. He was a jazz drummer actually. That and the love of architecture's clean lines, inherited from his architect father, really show up in his work. There's a non-narrative revelling in juxtaposition but with a classicist elegance that keeps the whole thing in check. Although he pretty much epitomises "postmodernity" there's a wit and warmth to his work; like listening to some weird jazz but with the bolstering comfort of a good whiskey (he was also an alcoholic).
I thoroughy recommend him as long as you're ready to let go of those narrative/linear expectations.
"Sixty Stories" is the obvious place to start but the later "Forty Stories" is also brilliant.
Of his longer works, I'd go for "The Dead Father" or (even though some seem to consider it one of his lesser works) "The King".
