Barthelme, Donald
Entry updated 20 July 2020. Tagged: Author.
(1931-1989) US author known primarily as a surrealist and black humorist. His novels are all Fabulations: Snow White (1967), an absurdist dissection of the fairy tale; The Dead Father (1975), in which the giant figure of a moribund Father is escorted with trauma and ritual to its final resting place; and The King (1990), which transports King Arthur and his knights to World War Two. Barthelme's early collections especially – like Come Back, Dr Caligari (coll 1964), Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts (coll 1968) and City Life (coll 1970) – present in the form of discontinuous spoofs and Iconoclasms a number of ideas and themes taken from Mythology, fantasy and sf. Many of these stories have been reprinted in sf anthologies. The central canon of his works – his short fiction as a whole – is conveniently assembled as Sixty Stories (coll 1981), Forty Stories (coll 1987) and Flying to America: 45 More Stories (coll 2007); The Teachings of Don B: Satires, Parodies, Fables, Illustrated Stories, and Plays (coll 1992) completes, as per its subtitle, the presentation of his essential shorter work. [PR/JC]
see also: Fantasy Entries; Magic Realism.
Donald Barthelme Jr
born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 7 April 1931
died Houston, Texas: 23 July 1989
works
- Snow White (New York: Atheneum, 1967) [hb/Lawrence Ratzkin]
- The Dead Father (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975) [hb/Ruth Ansel]
- The King (New York: Harper and Row, 1990) [illus/hb/Barry Moser]
collections and stories
- Come Back, Dr Caligari (New York: Little, Brown, 1964) [coll: hb/Milton Glaser]
- Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts (New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1968) [coll: hb/Janet Halverson from Honoré Daumier]
- City Life (New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1970) [coll: hb/Donald Barthelme]
- The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine, or The Hithering Thithering Djinn (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971) [chap: for children: National Book Award winner: hb/]
- Sadness (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972) [coll: hb/Donald Barthelme]
- Guilty Pleasures (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974) [coll: hb/Donald Barthelme]
- Amateurs (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976) [coll: hb/Muriel Nasser from François Gérard]
- Great Days (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979) [coll: hb/Muriel Nasser]
- Sixty Stories (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1981) [coll: hb/David Gatti]
- Overnight to Many Distant Cities (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1983) [coll: hb/Russell Munson]
- Paradise (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1986) [coll: hb/Lawrence Ratzkin]
- Forty Stories (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1987) [coll: hb/David Gatti]
- The Teachings of Don B: Satires, Parodies, Fables, Illustrated Stories, and Plays (New York: Random House/Turtle Bay Books, 1992) [coll: edited by Kim Herzinger: introduction by Thomas Pynchon: hb/nonpictorial]
- Flying to America: 45 More Stories (Washington, District of Columbia: Shoemaker Hoard, 2007) [coll: hb/Gerilyn Attebery]
nonfiction
- Not-Knowing: The Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme (New York: Random House, 1997) [nonfiction: coll: edited by Kim Hersinger: introduction by John Barth: hb/nonpictorial]
about the author
- Charles Molesworth. Donald Barthelme's Fiction: The Ironist Saved from Drowning (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1982) [nonfiction: chap: pb/]
links
- Donald Barthelme (unofficial site)
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Picture Gallery
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