John Barth: An Introduction

by David Morrell

The six published volumes of fiction by John Barth are examined interpretively and historically through a comparison of published texts and unpublished manuscripts, in the light of interviews with Barth, his agent, and his editors as well as examination of several of Barth's unpublished essays and letters. The result is what Dr. Morrell calls 'the story of the stories, a kind of biography of fiction.' All of Barth's work, it is argued here, is based on the same general his characters cannot reconcile themselves to the way things are, so they imagine alternatives by treating life as a kind of impromptu play in which they can assume any personality they wish. But recently, in Chimera, Barth shows signs of taking a much more optimistic attitude toward the characters no longer put on masks to face intolerable situations; instead they mask the situations. The book is illustrated with a photograph of the old showboat that inspired The Floating Opera, Barth's diagram called 'Adventures of the Hero' prepared while he was writing Giles Goat-Boy, the corrected first page of typescript for The End of the Road, Barth's map of Eben Cooke's adventures in Maryland for The Sot-Weed Factor, and the corrected first page of typescript for a story in Lost in the Funhouse. There also is a complete bibliography of writings by and about Barth.

194 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1976

About the author

David Morrell is a Canadian novelist from Kitchener, Ontario, who has been living in the United States for a number of years. He is best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become a successful film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. More recently, he has been writing the Captain America comic books limited-series The Chosen.

Reviews

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Yeah. That guy. The guy that wrote Rambo. His is one of the first books written on Barth ; twas his dissertation. And all these years he had the only (now) known copy of Barth's first novel, Shirt of Nessus.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of Barth’s early work, stretching from the unpublished MA thesis SHIRT OF NESSUS and abandoned, later reworked, THE AMATEUR to the National Book Award–winning CHIMERA and the beginnings of the to-be-completed LETTERS.

[Robert Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

While David Morrell was writing Rambo - First Blood in the late 1960s he studied John Barth and wrote and published a literary dissertation on the man's works - "The story behind the stories" in Morrell's words.

This is very well written and I'm always fascinated by authors I admire as to where their influences spring from.

I'm going to read a few Barths now and see if I'm influenced too.

Interesting and enjoyable look into writing mid-20th century.