John Barth: A Body of Words

by Gabrielle Dean (Editor), Charles Harris (Editor)

For the past half-century, John Barth has been recognized as our quintessential postmodernist and praised as one of the best writers we have ever had ("New York Times Book Review"). In this unique collection, thirty-six writers and critics look back at Barth s career, providing a deeper understanding of his books as well as privileged glimpses into the man behind the books. Like Barth s sixth work of fiction, "John Barth: A Body of Words" is a bit of a chimera: a tripartite hybrid of tributes and reminiscences from friends, colleagues, fellow writers, and former students; a sheaf of cutting-edge scholarly essays; and a triadic conclusion comprising a description of the Sheridan Libraries Barth Collection, a rare recording of a 1966 public reading by Barth, and a two-part radio interview with him. At once a Festschrift, an assemblage of academic essays written to honor a colleague, and a liber amicorum, a book of friends, and illustrated with photos from Barth s life and career, this volume provides Barth's critics, students, and fans with an essential vade mecum to his life and works."

415 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2016

Reviews

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Another lovely thing Dalkey is doing for Barth. The first is keeping all of his books in print. Because US literary culture is otherwise not stepping up to the plate. Letting another one of our masters slip into the shades of obscurity. For shame. But in these dark times we are learning what is required to salvage that which we value, that which needs to be preserved, that which preserves us. Whether it be the law or democracy or justice or freedom or just the very best prior generations have provided for our literary bliss.

Here's what's in this one.

--Other writers waxing nostalgic on Barth (Coover, Dixon, Gass, Lethem, Powers, Scholes, others)
--Barth's former students waxing nostalgic on Barth (Fred Barthelme, his brother Steve, John Domini, Michael Martone (his is in the Contributors section, p375), Curtis White, and a diversity of others in genre extension that'll blow your mind--Barth pretty much ran the MFA world for about 50 years from his throne at John Hopkins).
--A few critical essays surveying Barth's thousands and thousands of pages of fictional production (Stephen J. Burn, Mary K. Holland, Brian McHale, Robert L. McLaughlin).
--A few critical essays on individual works (Marshall Boswell on The Tidewater Tales, David Letzler on "Lost in the Funhouse", Heide Ziegler on "Menelaiad").
--Some stuff which falls under the rubric "Print, Tape, Live Voice" :: (Gabrielle Dean on the JB Collection at JHU, David Eisenman on a Pirate Tape from Barth's 37th year, Silverblatt doing what he does).

In all, the critical angle rescues the late Barth ; all that overlooked masterful stuff which gets shadowed by all of Barth's genius BEFORE LETTERS (b.l.) fantastic stuff. Under the rubric "Late Style". Just read The Tidewater Tales and be convinced.

Here's an earlier version of John Domini's essay included herein ::
"Later John Barth: The Wrong Peak, the Reach for Magic, the Feminist Argument"
http://quarterlyconversation.com/late...

And while you're here, Daniel Green's "The Story of a Storyteller: On John Barth’s Collected Stories" ::
http://quarterlyconversation.com/the-...


And so, as an exercise, here's a brief pairing of critical volumes with each and every aweTHOR represented in my Familienähnlichkeiten photo ::
Barth :: this one.
Gaddis :: William Gaddis: Expanded Edition (and the letters).
Coover :: Robert Coover and the Generosity of the Page
Pynchon :: Who knows? There's lots of 'em ain't there?
Mano :: There ain't none. Not a single one. Is there even a solitary essay?
DFW :: There's lots of stuff being churned out by the generous DFW=mill. Do you have a favorite?
Gass :: His own collected essays, currently in about ten volumes.
Powers :: Don't know. Haven't really started on him yet.
Theroux :: There ain't much but we can start with The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Spring 1991 Vol. XI, #1.
Vollmann :: William T. Vollmann: A Critical Companion (& too Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader).
McElroy :: Again, there ain't much, but we can start in the same place we can often only start in these situations :: Joseph McElroy, Vol. 10, No. 1.

In other words, if you're a young student aspiring to open up new ground in the area of American Literary Studies, you could do worse than working on Mano, Theroux, McElroy. You'd pretty much own it.


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A forty=dollar pb?! ...; --> Damn, Dalkey! You sure know how to make Bottom's Dream look like the real=deal of the decade.