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Yüzen Opera ve Yolun Sonu
“Ah bu ben... Korkarım her şey çok önemli ve nihayetinde hiçbir şeyin önemi yok… Neden Yüzen Opera? Bu, eskiden Virginia ve Maryland gelgit suları bölgelerinde dolaşan bir gösteri gemisinin adının bir kısmıydı: Adam’ın Hakiki & Benzersiz Yüzen Operası … Bu kitapta anlatılanlar da kısmen o gemide geçiyor… Sadece bir tane büyük, düz ve açık güvertesi olan bir gösteri gemisi inşa edip orada sürekli olarak gösteriler düzenlemek fikri hep hoşuma gitmiştir. Gemi demir atmayacak, bunun yerine akıntıyla birlikte nehirde bir aşağı bir yukarı sürüklenecek, seyirciler nehrin iki yakasında da oturacaklar. Gemi yanlarından geçerken, oyunun o anda oynanan kısmı neresiyse onu yakalayacaklar ve sonra başka bir parça daha yakalamak için akıntının gemiyi geri getirmesini beklemek zorunda kalacaklar, tabii hâlâ orada oturuyorlarsa. Boşlukları doldurmak içinse hayal güçlerini kullanmak zorunda kalacaklar... Çoğu zaman neler olup bittiğini hiç mi hiç anlamayacaklar ya da aslında bilmedikleri hâlde bildiklerini düşünecekler. Pek çok kere aktörleri görebilecekler, ama duyamayacaklar. Hayatın buna ne kadar da benzediğini açıklamama lüzum yok. Arkadaşlarımız akıntıyla önümüzden geçerler, onlarla yüz yüze geliriz, onlar akıntıyla birlikte ilerlemeye devam ederler, biz de onlar hakkında duyduğumuz söylentilerle yetinmek zorunda kalırız ya da izlerini tamamen kaybederiz; sonra tekrar gelirler, ya arkadaşlığımızı yenileriz ya da artık birbirimizi anlamadığımızı fark ederiz. İşte bu kitap da bu şekilde ilerleyecek, bundan eminim. Dostum, yüzen bir opera bu; tuhaflıklarla, melodramla, büyük gösterilerle, derslerle ve eğlenceyle dolu, ama bu opera benim avare yazımın akıntısında gönülsüzce yüzüyor: Onu fark edeceksin, sonra gözden kaybedeceksin, ardından tekrar yakalayacaksın ve kendisi kâh gözünün önünde kâh uzaklarda seyrederken, olayların izini sürmek için belki de dikkatini ve hayal gücünü en iyi şekilde kullanman lazım gelecek…”
NOT: Her iki roman da 1955'te yazılmış, Yüzen Opera 1956'da, Yolun Sonu ise 1958'de yayımlanmıştır. Her iki roman da yazar tarafından 1967'de revize edilmiştir.
NOT: Her iki roman da 1955'te yazılmış, Yüzen Opera 1956'da, Yolun Sonu ise 1958'de yayımlanmıştır. Her iki roman da yazar tarafından 1967'de revize edilmiştir.
399 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
57 people are currently reading
2363 people want to read
About the author
John Barth
76 books792 followersJohn Barth briefly studied "Elementary Theory and Advanced Orchestration" at Juilliard before attending Johns Hopkins University, received a bachelor of arts in 1951 and composed
The Shirt of Nessus
, a thesis for a Magister Artium in 1952.
He served as a professor at Penn State University from 1953. Barth began his career with short The Floating Opera , which deals with suicide, and The End of the Road on controversial topic of abortion. Barth later remarked that these straightforward tales "didn't know they were novels."
The life of Ebenezer Cooke, an actual poet, based a next eight-hundred-page mock epic of the colonization of Maryland of Barth. Northrop Frye called an anatomy, a large, loosely structured work with digressions, distractions, stories, and lists, such as two prostitutes, who exchange lengthy insulting terms. The disillusioned fictional Ebenezer Cooke, repeatedly described as an innocent "poet and virgin" like Candide, sets out a heroic epic and ends up a biting satire.
He moved in 1965 to State University of New York at Buffalo. He visited as professor at Boston University in 1972. He served as professor from 1973 at Johns Hopkins University. He retired in 1995.
The conceit of the university as universe based Giles Goat-Boy , a next speculative fiction of Barth comparable size. A half-goat discovers his humanity as a savior in a story, presented as a computer tape, given to Barth, who denies his work. In the course, Giles carries out all the tasks that Joseph Campbell prescribed in The Hero with a Thousand Faces . Barth meanwhile in the book kept a list of the tasks, taped to his wall.
The even more metafictional Lost in the Funhouse , the short story collection, and Chimera , the novella collection, than their two predecessors foreground the process and present achievements, such as seven nested quotations. In Letters , Barth and the characters of his first six books interact.
Barth meanwhile also pondered and discussed the theoretical problems of fiction, most notably in an essay, "The Literature of Exhaustion," first printed in the Atlantic in 1967, widely considered a statement of "the death of the novel" (compare with Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author"). Barth has since insisted that he was merely making clear that a particular stage in history was passing, and pointing to possible directions from there. He later (1979) a follow-up essay, "The Literature of Replenishment," to clarify the point.
Barth's fiction continues to maintain a precarious balance between postmodern self-consciousness and wordplay on the one hand, and the sympathetic characterisation and "page-turning" plotting commonly associated with more traditional genres and subgenres of classic and contemporary storytelling.
He served as a professor at Penn State University from 1953. Barth began his career with short The Floating Opera , which deals with suicide, and The End of the Road on controversial topic of abortion. Barth later remarked that these straightforward tales "didn't know they were novels."
The life of Ebenezer Cooke, an actual poet, based a next eight-hundred-page mock epic of the colonization of Maryland of Barth. Northrop Frye called an anatomy, a large, loosely structured work with digressions, distractions, stories, and lists, such as two prostitutes, who exchange lengthy insulting terms. The disillusioned fictional Ebenezer Cooke, repeatedly described as an innocent "poet and virgin" like Candide, sets out a heroic epic and ends up a biting satire.
He moved in 1965 to State University of New York at Buffalo. He visited as professor at Boston University in 1972. He served as professor from 1973 at Johns Hopkins University. He retired in 1995.
The conceit of the university as universe based Giles Goat-Boy , a next speculative fiction of Barth comparable size. A half-goat discovers his humanity as a savior in a story, presented as a computer tape, given to Barth, who denies his work. In the course, Giles carries out all the tasks that Joseph Campbell prescribed in The Hero with a Thousand Faces . Barth meanwhile in the book kept a list of the tasks, taped to his wall.
The even more metafictional Lost in the Funhouse , the short story collection, and Chimera , the novella collection, than their two predecessors foreground the process and present achievements, such as seven nested quotations. In Letters , Barth and the characters of his first six books interact.
Barth meanwhile also pondered and discussed the theoretical problems of fiction, most notably in an essay, "The Literature of Exhaustion," first printed in the Atlantic in 1967, widely considered a statement of "the death of the novel" (compare with Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author"). Barth has since insisted that he was merely making clear that a particular stage in history was passing, and pointing to possible directions from there. He later (1979) a follow-up essay, "The Literature of Replenishment," to clarify the point.
Barth's fiction continues to maintain a precarious balance between postmodern self-consciousness and wordplay on the one hand, and the sympathetic characterisation and "page-turning" plotting commonly associated with more traditional genres and subgenres of classic and contemporary storytelling.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
April 4, 2008
I read these two books in college and had the opportunity to meet John Barth at a book signing in the mid-eighties. He looked like a good author should: blazing eyes, etc. I told him I loved the two books so much. He said, "I wrote those when I was just about your age. It would be interesting to see if you liked them so much in twenty years." Then I told him I was going to read The Sot Weed Factor next. He said, "Don't waste your time on more of my books--there are too many good ones out there to read."
October 2, 2007
the passage that I will take to my grave:
"So I left the ticket window and took a seat on one of the benches in the middle of the concourse to make up my mind. And it was there that I simply ran out of motives, as a car runs out of gas. There was no reason to go to Cincinnati, Ohio. There was no reason to go to Crestline, Ohio. Or Dayton, Ohio; or Lima, Ohio. There was no reason, either, to go back to the apartment hotel, or for that matter to go anywhere. There was no reason to do anything. My eyes, as Winckelmann said inaccurately of the eyes of the Greek statues, were sightless, gazing on eternity, fixed on ultimacy, and when that is the case there is no reason to do anything—even to change the focus of one’s eyes. Which is perhaps why the statues stand still. It is the malady cosmopsis, the cosmic view, that afflicted me. When one has it, one is frozen like the bullfrog when the hunter’s light strikes him full in the eyes, only with cosmopsis there is no hunter, and no quickhand to terminate the moment—there’s only the light."
"So I left the ticket window and took a seat on one of the benches in the middle of the concourse to make up my mind. And it was there that I simply ran out of motives, as a car runs out of gas. There was no reason to go to Cincinnati, Ohio. There was no reason to go to Crestline, Ohio. Or Dayton, Ohio; or Lima, Ohio. There was no reason, either, to go back to the apartment hotel, or for that matter to go anywhere. There was no reason to do anything. My eyes, as Winckelmann said inaccurately of the eyes of the Greek statues, were sightless, gazing on eternity, fixed on ultimacy, and when that is the case there is no reason to do anything—even to change the focus of one’s eyes. Which is perhaps why the statues stand still. It is the malady cosmopsis, the cosmic view, that afflicted me. When one has it, one is frozen like the bullfrog when the hunter’s light strikes him full in the eyes, only with cosmopsis there is no hunter, and no quickhand to terminate the moment—there’s only the light."
January 2, 2014
Reading John Barth's "The Floating Opera and The End of the Road" is as much fun that you can have while wearing pants, though you could read the book naked just make sure nobody is looking in on you through the window or if your going to read nude close the curtains.
I should write a seriuos review but with the Hostel Amazon Takeover why put forth the effort, I mean have you read some of the reviews on Amazon, the standards are way down. Read or Don't Read this book but don't call yourself a writer or lover of literature if you don't go forth and read it go forth in your Levi's and if you don't own a pair well then you can order a pair on Amazon.
Hands down one of the best!
I should write a seriuos review but with the Hostel Amazon Takeover why put forth the effort, I mean have you read some of the reviews on Amazon, the standards are way down. Read or Don't Read this book but don't call yourself a writer or lover of literature if you don't go forth and read it go forth in your Levi's and if you don't own a pair well then you can order a pair on Amazon.
Hands down one of the best!
Read
August 21, 2016According to my Netflix account, the film of "The End of the the Road" will finally (and unfortunately) be released on dvd in September of this year. John Barth has notoriously endorsed the view of critic John Simon whereby it is said that "Fairly said, alas," quoth John B. Upon initial release the film was X-rated due to scenes not originating from the novel, i.e., "man rapes chicken, etc." Z-rated by the muses. [imdb entry].
John Barth's first two novels are fine novels. They are good novels. And they should be read before reading his LETTERS. (Also "The Floating Opera" should be read prior to Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative but most of you won't get there.) But they are not of that John Barth which we love for all his meta-fictional antics. Start with one of his fat volumes or perhaps Sabbatical if you'd like something a bit more slender.
John Barth's first two novels are fine novels. They are good novels. And they should be read before reading his LETTERS. (Also "The Floating Opera" should be read prior to Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative but most of you won't get there.) But they are not of that John Barth which we love for all his meta-fictional antics. Start with one of his fat volumes or perhaps Sabbatical if you'd like something a bit more slender.
January 5, 2018
Descomunal Barth. Aunque no llegan al nivel de sus obras posteriores, estas dos primeras novelas son (aunque suene raro decirlo por su tematica), tremendamente disfrutables. Que viva el nihilismo sonriente, carajo.
April 25, 2020
Barth's first two novels in a single edition.
The Floating Opera
For a first novel, this book has everything -- love in the trenches, a best buddy who shares his hot-wife, a suicide, an attempted suicide, a failed mass murder, a minstrel show, fortunes gained, fortunes lost -- he really packed it in.
Our protagonist is a bit of a nihilist, exposed to all kinds of traumas, his PTSD expresses itself as an aloof attitude and philosophy towards life, as well as physical ailments that torment him for years. Eventually, he realizes he can pull the plug on the whole show, and then decides, well, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe maybe.
The only thing missing from this book was an ending. I guess you can't have it all.
The End of the Road
Should I stay or should I go now?
Jake has issues with decision making, meets a quack, gets a job, meets the proto-EST member in the form of co-worker Joe, accidentally fucks his wife, then works against the clock to prevent a suicide. And again, an unsatisfying ending, but then, it was only his second book.
A few years ago I tried and failed to read Barth's Giles Goat-Boy. These two novels are a much better reading experience than GG-B... take my word for it...
The Floating Opera
For a first novel, this book has everything -- love in the trenches, a best buddy who shares his hot-wife, a suicide, an attempted suicide, a failed mass murder, a minstrel show, fortunes gained, fortunes lost -- he really packed it in.
Our protagonist is a bit of a nihilist, exposed to all kinds of traumas, his PTSD expresses itself as an aloof attitude and philosophy towards life, as well as physical ailments that torment him for years. Eventually, he realizes he can pull the plug on the whole show, and then decides, well, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe maybe.
The only thing missing from this book was an ending. I guess you can't have it all.
The End of the Road
Should I stay or should I go now?
Jake has issues with decision making, meets a quack, gets a job, meets the proto-EST member in the form of co-worker Joe, accidentally fucks his wife, then works against the clock to prevent a suicide. And again, an unsatisfying ending, but then, it was only his second book.
A few years ago I tried and failed to read Barth's Giles Goat-Boy. These two novels are a much better reading experience than GG-B... take my word for it...
October 5, 2023
Amerikan postmodern edebiyatını, özel olarak 60’larda eser verenleri çok seviyorum. Barth, Coover ve Pynchon’la birlikte bu ekolün en önemli yazarlarından kabul ediliyor. Ben de bu erken dönem romanıyla tanıştım. Aslında romanları demem gerek, iki novelı var bu basımda.
Yüzen Opera’da anlatıcı bize hitap ederek bir günü anlatmaya çalışıyor. Çalışıyor diyorum çünkü bir türlü asıl anlatmak istediği güne gelemiyor. Bu kısmı okurken çok eğlendim. Şahane bir kara mizahtı. Metafictionın hakkını veriyor. Metafictionda anlatıcı güvenilmez algılanır. Doğrudan bir öykü anlatılmaz. Yüzen Opera’nın anlatıcısı da hem bize hitap ediyor, hem öyküyü anlatamıyor hem de bazı öyküleri iki farklı şekilde anlatma girişimlerinde bulunuyor. Erken dönem eserinde böyle muziplikler görmek beni daha da iştahlandırdı diyebilirim.
İkinci roman Yolun Sonu ilginç dramatik bir girişle başlıyor. Terapiye giden birinin deneyimleriyle başlıyor. Terapist mitoterapi dediği roleplay gibi gelen farklı deneyimler öneriyor. Roman boyu karakterleri okuyucuda flulaştırıyor bu ‘terapi’ ile. Barth oyunlarla dolu kurgusuna gerilimli bir kürtaj süreci de ekliyor. Kürtaj hakkında ilginç yaklaşımlarla doluydu. Mizahi yanların daha törpülendiği bir romandı Yolun Sonu. İsmiyle müsemma da bir sonu var.
Üzerine uzun uzadıya gevezelik edeceğim bir yazar Barth. Tüm edebi geleneklere hem atıfta bulunup hem de hiçbirine benzemiyor. Anlatım tekniklerini ustaca kullanıp aynı zamanda bunları deneysel bir tona büründürmesi beni çok etkiliyor. Yazıda kullanılan teknikleri böylesi zorlayan hemen her yazara saygı duyuyorum.
Yüzen Opera’da anlatıcı bize hitap ederek bir günü anlatmaya çalışıyor. Çalışıyor diyorum çünkü bir türlü asıl anlatmak istediği güne gelemiyor. Bu kısmı okurken çok eğlendim. Şahane bir kara mizahtı. Metafictionın hakkını veriyor. Metafictionda anlatıcı güvenilmez algılanır. Doğrudan bir öykü anlatılmaz. Yüzen Opera’nın anlatıcısı da hem bize hitap ediyor, hem öyküyü anlatamıyor hem de bazı öyküleri iki farklı şekilde anlatma girişimlerinde bulunuyor. Erken dönem eserinde böyle muziplikler görmek beni daha da iştahlandırdı diyebilirim.
İkinci roman Yolun Sonu ilginç dramatik bir girişle başlıyor. Terapiye giden birinin deneyimleriyle başlıyor. Terapist mitoterapi dediği roleplay gibi gelen farklı deneyimler öneriyor. Roman boyu karakterleri okuyucuda flulaştırıyor bu ‘terapi’ ile. Barth oyunlarla dolu kurgusuna gerilimli bir kürtaj süreci de ekliyor. Kürtaj hakkında ilginç yaklaşımlarla doluydu. Mizahi yanların daha törpülendiği bir romandı Yolun Sonu. İsmiyle müsemma da bir sonu var.
Üzerine uzun uzadıya gevezelik edeceğim bir yazar Barth. Tüm edebi geleneklere hem atıfta bulunup hem de hiçbirine benzemiyor. Anlatım tekniklerini ustaca kullanıp aynı zamanda bunları deneysel bir tona büründürmesi beni çok etkiliyor. Yazıda kullanılan teknikleri böylesi zorlayan hemen her yazara saygı duyuyorum.
July 30, 2011
Entertaining, complex, disturbing.
Read
April 7, 2023Always a great time with Mr. Barth!
February 1, 2020
Before the more famous, definitively postmodern novels, Barth began his career with these two short works. I'd classify both as existentialist comic novels, but the second is more of both and more to my taste. They are both about love triangles, and both narrated by smart, amoral characters: the first cavalier and cruel, the second an enigma to himself and us. It is very funny and dry, somewhat reminiscent of Walker Percy. There are philosophical underpinnings but they are not tiresome nor inherent to the plot; there is a good story in both cases, and Barth's sophisticated, mannered prose has deservedly put him among American fiction's upper echelons.
December 11, 2018
Both of these are great. Not life-altering, earth-shattering, genre-revolutionizing great, but well worth your time. There are plenty of glimmers here of what would later become Barth's signature brilliance. And if you don't already know what that might be, I'd hate to spoil it for you with blandishing definitions. Barth is as fun as serious literature gets.
"Though it is too much to expect that I should become solemn about it, certainly the direction of this day's rationalizing was an awesome one--yet full of the attractiveness of desolation, the charm of the abyss."
"Though it is too much to expect that I should become solemn about it, certainly the direction of this day's rationalizing was an awesome one--yet full of the attractiveness of desolation, the charm of the abyss."
September 8, 2014
I read and reviewed these two books separately:
The Floating Opera:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The End of the Road:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Floating Opera:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The End of the Road:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
June 17, 2010
I have always been a fan of “End of the Road” and now that “The Floating Opera” is experiencing a resurgence, I wanted to read it. As many people have said before me, Barth is a gifted storyteller, and he is intelligent and witty. He is also very good a co-opting literary styles and making them his own, in this case the narrator is a novice writer who through his inexperience breaks narrative conventions as he understand them, and still manages to tell a compelling story.
Todd Andrews is a likable protagonist, he is charming, attractive, funny, and doesn’t care a flying fig about anything, or so he would lead us to believe. To me, this book is like a stream, when initially the light hits it at a certain angle you can only see the surface and the reflections, but slowly the light shifts and you begin to see beneath the surface, and glimpse new layers and complexities, and finally the light penetrates the water completely, and you can clearly see the life and the movement and the depth of the stream. Said another way, this book was like the movie “Vanya on 42nd St.” in which the director makes you very aware of actors acting, and over the course of the movie, by virtue of the actors talents, you are drawn into the story and the actors are completely lost in their characters. I think it takes a lot of skill to pull this off successfully.
It is easy to see why this book was combined with “End of the Road”. They were written in the same year and contain similar themes, but it’s almost like they exist in parallel universes where similar actions result is very different consequences. “End of the Road” was much darker and I liked it better for it, but I read the original version of “The Floating Opera”, with the modified ending, so like would like to read the later release with the “correct” ending, before saying one book is better than the other.
Todd Andrews is a likable protagonist, he is charming, attractive, funny, and doesn’t care a flying fig about anything, or so he would lead us to believe. To me, this book is like a stream, when initially the light hits it at a certain angle you can only see the surface and the reflections, but slowly the light shifts and you begin to see beneath the surface, and glimpse new layers and complexities, and finally the light penetrates the water completely, and you can clearly see the life and the movement and the depth of the stream. Said another way, this book was like the movie “Vanya on 42nd St.” in which the director makes you very aware of actors acting, and over the course of the movie, by virtue of the actors talents, you are drawn into the story and the actors are completely lost in their characters. I think it takes a lot of skill to pull this off successfully.
It is easy to see why this book was combined with “End of the Road”. They were written in the same year and contain similar themes, but it’s almost like they exist in parallel universes where similar actions result is very different consequences. “End of the Road” was much darker and I liked it better for it, but I read the original version of “The Floating Opera”, with the modified ending, so like would like to read the later release with the “correct” ending, before saying one book is better than the other.
January 8, 2012
John Barth is the kind of writer who, if you are not a writer, makes you want to write or, if you are trying to be a writer, makes you want to stop completely, as you feel that you could not possibly explore things more thoroughly and eloquently as he can. In short, he is a joy to read.
His characters are at once logical and absurd, universal and absolutely inhuman. They are at once everything that the reader wants to be and everything that he or she finds ridiculous. In this sense, though they may seem unrealistic at times (and they often do), their deconstruction is made more tragic.
His characters may be classically tragic, but his style is thoroughly modern. His mastery of non-sequential time structures makes them always seem logical rather than simply divergent and tangential. His wit and facility of language creates the perfect balance of allowing the reader to simultaneously take the subject matter very seriously and find it absurd.
The pairing of these two novels is very appropriate, as reading them together allows the reader to see two very similar themes from two different angles.
His characters are at once logical and absurd, universal and absolutely inhuman. They are at once everything that the reader wants to be and everything that he or she finds ridiculous. In this sense, though they may seem unrealistic at times (and they often do), their deconstruction is made more tragic.
His characters may be classically tragic, but his style is thoroughly modern. His mastery of non-sequential time structures makes them always seem logical rather than simply divergent and tangential. His wit and facility of language creates the perfect balance of allowing the reader to simultaneously take the subject matter very seriously and find it absurd.
The pairing of these two novels is very appropriate, as reading them together allows the reader to see two very similar themes from two different angles.
September 9, 2017
Well now Mr. Barth, what on earth were you *thinking* as you composed these twined first go's at novel writing, hmm? I mean it's plain, that is your plotting, setting and tracking worldly events all linear with hardly a misshaped twist or turn. When you go for the psychological throat though, do synch up villainy appropriately, make your anti-hero flawlessly philosophical besides pathological; I know, you did, right. Though you may have moved upon that, if not/maybe enough to pull through an adequate denouement in the first book of this tandem "The Floating Opera" - I get the whole suicide setup thing but sociopath's don't generally want to kill *themselves* and your "Toddy boy Andrews" is firmly self serving, but hey what's the quibble, it's all about the making of a writer who when looked back on by reading now, especially having already read his two later, more recognized works, we see the range and movement of artistic locus. These [both books] are "Lost Generation"-type characters with Freudian subplots all, pushed into service drama roles.
The second book a dovetail work took the triangle and spun it round a bit this time moving the character sketches closer to home, more real seeming vis. the albeit flip of obviating suicidal imperative, protag., POV. I especially enjoyed the spinoff mad doctor therapy plotline which spiced everything up by off setting the once again overtly infused philosophical dilemma at base of this story. This book kept my attention and set me off associating the way it goes when reader is IN, so three stars for one and maybe four the other - first/second books give rise to others and JB does indeed get the swing of it soon enough!
The second book a dovetail work took the triangle and spun it round a bit this time moving the character sketches closer to home, more real seeming vis. the albeit flip of obviating suicidal imperative, protag., POV. I especially enjoyed the spinoff mad doctor therapy plotline which spiced everything up by off setting the once again overtly infused philosophical dilemma at base of this story. This book kept my attention and set me off associating the way it goes when reader is IN, so three stars for one and maybe four the other - first/second books give rise to others and JB does indeed get the swing of it soon enough!
May 10, 2007
o poveste excelenta despre ziua in care un om hotaraste sa se sinucida. Lupta lui de a transforma o zi care ar trebui sa fie exceptionala tocmai prin gestul proiectat de el intr-un sir de evenimente ale rutinei. Cartea captiveaza tocmai prin stilul usor pretentios, savant, atat de obisnuiti mai nou, dar care la Barth se pierde in fluxul unei povestiri care e si introspectie, si istorie de dragoste si, in plus, mai are si darul de a te tzine cu sufletul la gura pana la final.
April 14, 2014
Funny. Profound. Unprecedented… The zenith of literary triumph.
December 6, 2017
3.5 stars. I only read The Floating Opera but it was solid. Nice weavings of philosophy+story but also could not really escape that 1st novel amateurishness of it, esp. since it came out so long ago
July 9, 2025
The Floating Opera is pretty good
The End of the Road is garbage
The End of the Road is garbage
November 15, 2021
The Floating Opera was a bittersweet tragicomic novel that dealt with suicide, hotwifing and lawyers. It is generally lighthearted and very funny, although there are dark moments. The main character is this macho philosopher kind of guy and is extremely likable. The part where he goes to the brothel in particular had me rolling and the part where he tricks a rich guy to consistently follow him around. Ah vanity! And although there are some meh chapters, I found it to be a very pleasant read. It was kind of a joyride with as many things packed in as possible. The writing is terrific but that's expected I guess. The novel concludes with the narrator deciding that although there is no reason for living, there is also no reason for suicide. Which is an admirable conclusion. Decent 3/5.
The end of the road, on the other hand, that I have just finished, kills you inside. It's a page turner, trading humor for serious drama and has the most unexpected ending. It's not even remotely believable. I found myself shocked at why Barth decided to trade incredible build up for such an unexpected cathartic conclusion. I can't help but think he'd just read A Farewell to Arms. Regardless, this is way better than The floating opera. However, the first half is very different from the second. It goes from a quirky drama to serious discourse on abortion and the pace quickens to the point where it felt like I was reading a thriller novel. The only difference being that the writing is consistently superb. Now, The Doctor, I liked the Doctor until the very end. My expectations were truly subverted when what happened, happened. All the characters are awful people except that school teacher who just wants love. It tricked me into assigning the characters "roles", that the doctor calls Mythotherapy. He insists on the main character doing it the entire novel and the reader subconsciously is doing the exact same thing. Treating fictional characters as characters and not 3D people you know and connect with. And then at the end, the doctor's personality changes and the reader's perception of the doctor changes drastically in one paragraph, right at the very end. You treat a character as a character and get slapped in the face. If the fictional characters can be considered an allegory for people we are not close to, in a way, this novel attempts to prove that everyone truly is 3D. It's a trite conclusion perhaps, but the events and logic that precede it are really clever. This is a 5/5.
The end of the road, on the other hand, that I have just finished, kills you inside. It's a page turner, trading humor for serious drama and has the most unexpected ending. It's not even remotely believable. I found myself shocked at why Barth decided to trade incredible build up for such an unexpected cathartic conclusion. I can't help but think he'd just read A Farewell to Arms. Regardless, this is way better than The floating opera. However, the first half is very different from the second. It goes from a quirky drama to serious discourse on abortion and the pace quickens to the point where it felt like I was reading a thriller novel. The only difference being that the writing is consistently superb. Now, The Doctor, I liked the Doctor until the very end. My expectations were truly subverted when what happened, happened. All the characters are awful people except that school teacher who just wants love. It tricked me into assigning the characters "roles", that the doctor calls Mythotherapy. He insists on the main character doing it the entire novel and the reader subconsciously is doing the exact same thing. Treating fictional characters as characters and not 3D people you know and connect with. And then at the end, the doctor's personality changes and the reader's perception of the doctor changes drastically in one paragraph, right at the very end. You treat a character as a character and get slapped in the face. If the fictional characters can be considered an allegory for people we are not close to, in a way, this novel attempts to prove that everyone truly is 3D. It's a trite conclusion perhaps, but the events and logic that precede it are really clever. This is a 5/5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2008
Winner of the National Book Award for The Floating Opera, Barth's companion piece, The End of the Road, has the same triangular love affair that the participants try to make workable. The action in both frequently turns out to be quite different than one would expect, the most notable scene being the narrator's initiation into nighttime frontline warfare when an 18 year-old. Completely inexperienced and cut off from contact with anyone with artillery shells whisling overhead, he was terrified until a man jumped into into his water-filled foxhole, and he was so overwhelmed with relief to have another human being within arms reach that he hugged him and wouldn't let go. Even when the man struggled and it became apparent that he was German, he continued to treat him with kindness and the two spent more than hour together before their friendship ends with a twist that the reader doesn't anticipate.. Over and over, Barth's characters do what you'd least expect. That's what makes these two books so interesting.
August 10, 2009
I can't decide if these should be rated/reviewed together or separately. But since I read the books in sucession and they were together in one volume, and clearly linked by subject, I'll rate them together. One is the study of potential suicide in minute forms; the other approaches guilt and irreverence using common neurosis. Both should be about love affairs but both are about much more, so much that the affair shrinks under the weight of everything else...and somehow, they aren't about love at all. I loved both but the second one more than the first, and aside from the writing technicalities or the stories or whatever, I really liked the way the time periods came out in each - subtle, subtle, subtle. Thanks, DB, for an awesome b-day present.
November 28, 2021
man named Jake has no choosing, he hates it and refuses to choose anything. immobile, he is approached by a man at the train station who is a Dr of immobility.
he takes him to this town, he gets a job, he makes a friend and fucks his wife who gets pregnant and then says she'll kill herself if he doesn't find her an abortion, she hates the idea of it maybe being his so much she'd rather die. she dies on the operating table of the Dr of immobility. the friend is fired, he keeps his job. last scene he goes to the airport.
he takes him to this town, he gets a job, he makes a friend and fucks his wife who gets pregnant and then says she'll kill herself if he doesn't find her an abortion, she hates the idea of it maybe being his so much she'd rather die. she dies on the operating table of the Dr of immobility. the friend is fired, he keeps his job. last scene he goes to the airport.
August 17, 2019
I was first introduced to John Barth in HS when we were assigned to read The Floating Opera.
Our teacher gave us the book and the first reading assignment and told us all not to act on anything we read, but instead to be ready to discuss it tomorrow in class.
My father, seeing the book, and knowing it was taught at the school, as he was also a teacher, mentioned that he had John Barth as his Freshman Comp teacher at Penn State. He never understood as a then Engineering student how he wound up in that particular class (together we met him during his book tour for The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor).
The book along with the family connection and of course the writing made me a fan.
I greatly enjoyed the setting of Maryland's Eastern Shore and I found both stories to be extremely thought provoking, particularly at that stage of my life.
Like any writer, Barth is not for everyone. While I have read many of his works, I have not read all of them.
I do feel that these two, particularly the Floating Opera, is a good litmus test as to whether or not you should try reading more of his work.
The ending of The Floating Opera may have left many disappointing, but I found it satisfying.
Our teacher gave us the book and the first reading assignment and told us all not to act on anything we read, but instead to be ready to discuss it tomorrow in class.
My father, seeing the book, and knowing it was taught at the school, as he was also a teacher, mentioned that he had John Barth as his Freshman Comp teacher at Penn State. He never understood as a then Engineering student how he wound up in that particular class (together we met him during his book tour for The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor).
The book along with the family connection and of course the writing made me a fan.
I greatly enjoyed the setting of Maryland's Eastern Shore and I found both stories to be extremely thought provoking, particularly at that stage of my life.
Like any writer, Barth is not for everyone. While I have read many of his works, I have not read all of them.
I do feel that these two, particularly the Floating Opera, is a good litmus test as to whether or not you should try reading more of his work.
The ending of The Floating Opera may have left many disappointing, but I found it satisfying.
October 15, 2020
Floating Opera - Funny, but very dry. I started the book maybe three or four weeks ago, and finished it yesterday. Which isn't a great pace, considering it's 252 pages long. I ended up reading in big chunks, then not touching it for days. For me, it mainly had to do with the lack of compelling plot. The most compelling parts were the sections in which Todd narrates his past, particularly the World War I scene. The writing was fun. It felt like Barth (who I imagine as this witty, hyper-intelligent prune of a man) was spinning this yarn in front of me. Very personable. Despite being short, I just couldn't build momentum, so I have to knock it down some notches for that. In the end, it's another novel about nothing happening, with enough humor to interest you in finishing. All I can hope for is that his work improved as he aged, otherwise his longer novels will be an absolute slog.
August 7, 2021
***
It could have been a simple story (new teacher befriends colleague and his wife; subsequently has an affair with said wife, and it becomes complicated), but this was made slightly weirder for a few facts: the main protagonist, Jacob Horner, has an inability to make decisions or to have any clear opinions on anythong; he also has a tendency to experience catatonic moments; his colleague, Joe Morgan, is über-rational, lives by his hyper-rational principles and expects others (especially his wife) to live by the same principles. It was interesting in parts, but I got annoyed more than a few times by all the rational arguments and discussions between the characters. I preferred The Floating Opera.
It could have been a simple story (new teacher befriends colleague and his wife; subsequently has an affair with said wife, and it becomes complicated), but this was made slightly weirder for a few facts: the main protagonist, Jacob Horner, has an inability to make decisions or to have any clear opinions on anythong; he also has a tendency to experience catatonic moments; his colleague, Joe Morgan, is über-rational, lives by his hyper-rational principles and expects others (especially his wife) to live by the same principles. It was interesting in parts, but I got annoyed more than a few times by all the rational arguments and discussions between the characters. I preferred The Floating Opera.
November 25, 2023
A tale of two books: one great, one fine. Your guess is as good as mine why John Barth's first two novels have been bundled together in this way, forcing us all to read both. The first (The Floating Opera) is a riot: wild, weird and wonderful. The second (The End of the Road) is...fine? Readable, but not great. I think the two suffer from being in proximity: they're so similar that the fevered tragic joylessness of the second is that much more apparent; if I read The End of the Road by itself someday I'd probably enjoy it and think of it as a dark comedy. As it is, reading them nonstop, one after the other, made the misery of the second book pop much more than the humor. Overall, they were both worth reading and I enjoyed them. But I wish I'd had it in me to stop halfway through.
February 13, 2020
The Floating Opera and The End of The Road are John Barth's first two novels repackaged in one volume. Both novels are about a love triangle and the contemplation of suicide. The Floating Opera is set in the early 1930s and is a novel-length explanation of why the narrator decided to kill himself one day in 1937 and the events that changed his mind. The End of the Road is contemporary to the time it was written (1954) and also considers the question of suicide.
While The Floating Opera kept my interest, I though The End of the Road was a complete waste of time. Floating Opera gets the three stars and End of the Road—zero.
While The Floating Opera kept my interest, I though The End of the Road was a complete waste of time. Floating Opera gets the three stars and End of the Road—zero.
June 18, 2023
“It would not be well in your particular case to believe in God… Religion will only make you despondent. But until we work out something for you it will be useful to subscribe to some philosophy. Why don’t you read Sartre and become an existentialist? It will keep you moving until we find something more suitable for you?”
Big John Barth fan, but these were a bit of a struggle to get through. Both stories kinda just explore the question of why—why move, why die, why do anything. Why write this book? Feels mostly uninspired and the stories aren’t even charming. A lot of things happen for no reason. A lot of things don’t happen at all. Impotence is the refrain. Whatever.
Big John Barth fan, but these were a bit of a struggle to get through. Both stories kinda just explore the question of why—why move, why die, why do anything. Why write this book? Feels mostly uninspired and the stories aren’t even charming. A lot of things happen for no reason. A lot of things don’t happen at all. Impotence is the refrain. Whatever.
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