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Collected Stories
The stories of Donald Barthelme are wonders of invention, compression, and imaginative brilliance that revolutionized the American short story in the 1960s and ’70s. Unpredictable, slyly subversive, and often hilarious, Barthelme’s work displays a restless artist’s mind engaging contemporary life’s complexities and speculating on the human place in the world through the adventure of writing, “a process,” he once remarked, “of dealing with not-knowing.” In his fusion of psychological distance and emotional impact, his use of collage and ambiguity, and the lasting aftereffects of even his most enigmatic creations, Barthelme invites comparison with Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka and such towering modern visual artists as Paul Klee, Joseph Cornell, and Pablo Picasso.
This Library of America edition of Barthelme’s stories is the largest and most comprehensive ever published. It restores to print the original book collections he meticulously selected and arranged, now iconic volumes that, like the era’s classic LP’s, are best experienced whole. From the stunning debut Come Back, Dr. Caligari (1964) to the late-career explorations of Overnight to Many Distant Cities (1983), these collections unfold with inimitable Barthelmean logic, mischievousness, and bittersweetness.
Also gathered here are stories from Barthelme’s own retrospectives Sixty Stories and Forty Stories as well as pieces left uncollected at the time of his death in 1989. Editor Charles McGrath’s introduction offers a discerning assessment of Barthelme’s career, and the volume’s extensive annotations clarify the freewheeling, wide-ranging allusions, running the gamut from high to pop culture, scattered throughout his work.
Time and again these stories reveal, in the space of just a few pages, how Barthelme’s singular creative alchemy led him to wrest profundities out of the seemingly ephemeral, even trivial. “Barthelme distrusted,” as McGrath observes in his introduction, “the means of traditional fiction but not its end—to help make sense of things. . . . There’s always another day in Barthelme, a redemptive sense of open-endedness, and a belief that small miracles are sometimes possible.”
This Library of America edition of Barthelme’s stories is the largest and most comprehensive ever published. It restores to print the original book collections he meticulously selected and arranged, now iconic volumes that, like the era’s classic LP’s, are best experienced whole. From the stunning debut Come Back, Dr. Caligari (1964) to the late-career explorations of Overnight to Many Distant Cities (1983), these collections unfold with inimitable Barthelmean logic, mischievousness, and bittersweetness.
Also gathered here are stories from Barthelme’s own retrospectives Sixty Stories and Forty Stories as well as pieces left uncollected at the time of his death in 1989. Editor Charles McGrath’s introduction offers a discerning assessment of Barthelme’s career, and the volume’s extensive annotations clarify the freewheeling, wide-ranging allusions, running the gamut from high to pop culture, scattered throughout his work.
Time and again these stories reveal, in the space of just a few pages, how Barthelme’s singular creative alchemy led him to wrest profundities out of the seemingly ephemeral, even trivial. “Barthelme distrusted,” as McGrath observes in his introduction, “the means of traditional fiction but not its end—to help make sense of things. . . . There’s always another day in Barthelme, a redemptive sense of open-endedness, and a belief that small miracles are sometimes possible.”
1168 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Donald Barthelme
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Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts
(1968) apparently collects sometimes surrealistic stories of modern life of American writer Donald Barthelme.
A student at the University of Pennsylvania bore Donald Barthelme. Two years later, in 1933, the family moved to Texas, where father of Barthelme served as a professor of architecture at the University of Houston, where Barthelme later majored in journalism.
In 1951, this still student composed his first articles for the Houston Post. The Army drafted Barthelme, who arrived in Korea on 27 July 1953, the very day, when parties signed the ceasefire, ending the war. He served briefly as the editor of a newspaper of Army before returning to the United States and his job at the Houston Post. Once back, he continued his studies of philosophy at the University of Houston. He continued to take classes until 1957 but never received a degree. He spent much of his free time in “black” jazz clubs of Houston and listened to musical innovators, such as Lionel Hampton and Peck Kelly; this experience influenced him later.
Barthelme, a rebellious son, struggled in his relationship with his demanding father. In later years, they tremendously argued about the kinds of literature that interested Barthelme. His avant-garde father in art and aesthetics in many ways approved not the postmodern and deconstruction schools. The Dead Father and The King , the novels, delineate attitude of Barthelme toward his father as King Arthur and Lancelot, the characters, picture him. From the Roman Catholicism of his especially devout mother, Barthelme independently moved away, but this separation as the distance with his father troubled Barthelme. He ably agreed to strictures of his seemingly much closer mother.
Barthelme went to teach for brief periods at Boston University and at University at Buffalo, and he at the college of the City of New York served as distinguished visiting professor from 1974-1975. He married four times. Helen Barthelme, his second wife, later entitled a biography Donald Barthelme: The Genesis of a Cool Sound , published in 2001. With Birgit Barthelme, his third wife and a Dane, he fathered Anne Barthelme, his first child, a daughter. He married Marion Barthelme near the end and fathered Kate Barthelme, his second daughter. Marion and Donald wed until his death from throat cancer. People respect fiction of Frederick Barthelme and Steven Barthelme, brothers of Donald Barthelme and also teachers at The University of Southern Mississippi.
A student at the University of Pennsylvania bore Donald Barthelme. Two years later, in 1933, the family moved to Texas, where father of Barthelme served as a professor of architecture at the University of Houston, where Barthelme later majored in journalism.
In 1951, this still student composed his first articles for the Houston Post. The Army drafted Barthelme, who arrived in Korea on 27 July 1953, the very day, when parties signed the ceasefire, ending the war. He served briefly as the editor of a newspaper of Army before returning to the United States and his job at the Houston Post. Once back, he continued his studies of philosophy at the University of Houston. He continued to take classes until 1957 but never received a degree. He spent much of his free time in “black” jazz clubs of Houston and listened to musical innovators, such as Lionel Hampton and Peck Kelly; this experience influenced him later.
Barthelme, a rebellious son, struggled in his relationship with his demanding father. In later years, they tremendously argued about the kinds of literature that interested Barthelme. His avant-garde father in art and aesthetics in many ways approved not the postmodern and deconstruction schools. The Dead Father and The King , the novels, delineate attitude of Barthelme toward his father as King Arthur and Lancelot, the characters, picture him. From the Roman Catholicism of his especially devout mother, Barthelme independently moved away, but this separation as the distance with his father troubled Barthelme. He ably agreed to strictures of his seemingly much closer mother.
Barthelme went to teach for brief periods at Boston University and at University at Buffalo, and he at the college of the City of New York served as distinguished visiting professor from 1974-1975. He married four times. Helen Barthelme, his second wife, later entitled a biography Donald Barthelme: The Genesis of a Cool Sound , published in 2001. With Birgit Barthelme, his third wife and a Dane, he fathered Anne Barthelme, his first child, a daughter. He married Marion Barthelme near the end and fathered Kate Barthelme, his second daughter. Marion and Donald wed until his death from throat cancer. People respect fiction of Frederick Barthelme and Steven Barthelme, brothers of Donald Barthelme and also teachers at The University of Southern Mississippi.
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November 9, 2021If you haven’t read Barthelme yet, or maybe it has been a while (he had 129 stories published in The New Yorker over 26 years), then you owe it to yourself to pick up this volume. One of the 20th century’s greatest experimental writers, Donald Barthelme defies categorization, and is sometimes compared to Kafka for his imagination and Beckett for his darkness. Don’t be intimidated by the 900+ pages of collected stories because this book is best enjoyed in sips. In fact, I don’t recommend starting at the beginning and reading it cover to cover, I recommend starting with a few of the later chapters: Sadness, Amateurs, and (From) Sixty Stories.
Below are some notes about several of my favorites.
Critique de la Vie Quotidienne (p. 335)
“Our evenings lacked promise. The world in the evening seems fraught with the absence of promise, if you are a married man. There is nothing to do but go home and drink your nine drinks and forget about it.”
Unable to cope with the usual irritations and mishaps of fatherhood, a man seeks escape through drinking and relentless critique of his wife. Their marriage reaches an inevitable breaking point, but is it the Scotch bottle that breaks or something else? A distillation and amplification of all the most frightening truths of family life, written so that we can laugh at both the story and ourselves.
The School (p. 467)
“They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? We know you like Helen.”
Death, existential philosophy, and carnal curiosity: Barthelme explores the unpredictability of the elementary school classroom. Who is better equipped to see reality, children or adults? A very humorous and thought-provoking short piece.
A Manual for Sons (p. 662)
“Often that memory is more potent than the living presence of a father, is an inner voice commanding, haranguing, yes-ing and no-ing . . . governing your every, your slightest movement, mental or physical.”
How do you cope with a dead father who won’t stay dead? Maybe Barthelme doesn’t have the answer for everyone, but one thing is for certain: you’re not alone. This piece is full of hilarious and relatable father stereotypes, and also hits the bullseye on several sharp, buried emotions. -Andrew S.
Below are some notes about several of my favorites.
Critique de la Vie Quotidienne (p. 335)
“Our evenings lacked promise. The world in the evening seems fraught with the absence of promise, if you are a married man. There is nothing to do but go home and drink your nine drinks and forget about it.”
Unable to cope with the usual irritations and mishaps of fatherhood, a man seeks escape through drinking and relentless critique of his wife. Their marriage reaches an inevitable breaking point, but is it the Scotch bottle that breaks or something else? A distillation and amplification of all the most frightening truths of family life, written so that we can laugh at both the story and ourselves.
The School (p. 467)
“They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? We know you like Helen.”
Death, existential philosophy, and carnal curiosity: Barthelme explores the unpredictability of the elementary school classroom. Who is better equipped to see reality, children or adults? A very humorous and thought-provoking short piece.
A Manual for Sons (p. 662)
“Often that memory is more potent than the living presence of a father, is an inner voice commanding, haranguing, yes-ing and no-ing . . . governing your every, your slightest movement, mental or physical.”
How do you cope with a dead father who won’t stay dead? Maybe Barthelme doesn’t have the answer for everyone, but one thing is for certain: you’re not alone. This piece is full of hilarious and relatable father stereotypes, and also hits the bullseye on several sharp, buried emotions. -Andrew S.
January 26, 2021
The Compleat Barthelme
For over fifty years academics and scholars have studied, reviewed, and critiqued Barthelme's short stories, so I don't figure that a few words from me are going to be especially illuminating. Suffice to say that I started to read Barthelme in the 60's when these stories were first being published, and I was just on the cusp of becoming a critical reader. For me, Barthelme's work is the epitome of postmodern elegance and craftsmanship, and even now over fifty years later I compare the contemporary, experimental, or transgressive pieces I read to Barthelme's work.
Anyway, it's always good to have Barthelme close at hand, and this single volume collects everything of importance as well as a few extraneous, but interesting, items. All of his story collections are included, in the order published and with the contents in their original arrangements. So, we start with "Come Back, Dr. Caligary" and proceed to "Overnight to Many Distant Cities", which is then followed by some later and/or previously uncollected work. If I could have only one collection I'd choose "Sadness", just to always have "Critique de la Vie Quotidienne" and "The Genius" readily at hand, but fear not because everything is in here.
Pre-publication blurbs promise a "sharp and discerning essay" by editor Charles McGrath, and an annotation that clarifies some of Barthelme's allusions, (which I guess will help readers unfamiliar with 60's and 70's references). My ARC didn't have that content, but how could it be bad?
Bottom line? You could trek around with yellowing, small print, paperback originals of these collections, or you can luxuriate in a sharp and complete single volume collection. If anything counts as essential reading for a modern reader, this is it. It doesn't hurt that the stories are funny, sad, trivial/profound, and subversively entertaining. A master collection that constitutes a master class in writing.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
For over fifty years academics and scholars have studied, reviewed, and critiqued Barthelme's short stories, so I don't figure that a few words from me are going to be especially illuminating. Suffice to say that I started to read Barthelme in the 60's when these stories were first being published, and I was just on the cusp of becoming a critical reader. For me, Barthelme's work is the epitome of postmodern elegance and craftsmanship, and even now over fifty years later I compare the contemporary, experimental, or transgressive pieces I read to Barthelme's work.
Anyway, it's always good to have Barthelme close at hand, and this single volume collects everything of importance as well as a few extraneous, but interesting, items. All of his story collections are included, in the order published and with the contents in their original arrangements. So, we start with "Come Back, Dr. Caligary" and proceed to "Overnight to Many Distant Cities", which is then followed by some later and/or previously uncollected work. If I could have only one collection I'd choose "Sadness", just to always have "Critique de la Vie Quotidienne" and "The Genius" readily at hand, but fear not because everything is in here.
Pre-publication blurbs promise a "sharp and discerning essay" by editor Charles McGrath, and an annotation that clarifies some of Barthelme's allusions, (which I guess will help readers unfamiliar with 60's and 70's references). My ARC didn't have that content, but how could it be bad?
Bottom line? You could trek around with yellowing, small print, paperback originals of these collections, or you can luxuriate in a sharp and complete single volume collection. If anything counts as essential reading for a modern reader, this is it. It doesn't hurt that the stories are funny, sad, trivial/profound, and subversively entertaining. A master collection that constitutes a master class in writing.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
December 13, 2025
I discovered Barthelme, as most do, with Sixty Stories, which I started in (I think) freshman year of college, found myself annoyed at the author's nonsense immediately, and stopped reading it after about 4 stories. I never quit a book, so this was unusual for me, and the failure haunted the small shelf above my desk for the rest of the semester until, for reasons I can't fully pinpoint (stubbornness? ran out of other books?), I picked it up again.
And it clicked. Not in the sense that I was able to make sense of these stories; no, many of them were still ungraspable to that young version of myself that felt inferior if he didn't understand the why of everything he read, some of them so elusive as to actually be annoying - but it clicked nonetheless. Something about the wild imagination behind the language, the unexpected turns of phrase, the moments where striking emotion shone through the absurdity, something about the soul and jazz of the stories spoke to me. It was like a collection out of another universe; it challenged me in ways that I had naively thought I had surpassed in my reading at that point. Barthelme taught me that it's alright if I don't get it - it's better to let the current take you than to try to swim upstream.
(sidebar: I am very self-conscious every time I use a dash because I fear that people will think I'm using AI to write my reviews. To clear things up, I'd rather kill myself. The dash is a lovely misunderstood thing and his reputation has been tarnished by scoundrels - I love the dash.)
In the years following that first experience, I read all of Barthelme's novels (75% of them brilliant) and many of his stories, but never bothered searching for those out-of-print original collections. Now, having gone quite a while since reading Sixty Stories, I initially planned on a re-read until discovering this fantastic Library of America compilation, which collects every one of Barthelme's short story collections in chronological order. I reckon I had previously read about half of these and never in order of publication, so I figured why not? It's a nice way to spend the month.
Well actually, turns out I needed less than 2 weeks to plow through all 900+ pages of this beautiful brick. And it completely recontextualized so much of what I thought I knew about one of my favorite authors.
Reading these stories in sequence is strangely biographical. We see Barthelme become more self-assured and confident in his writing, take less cheap shots and begin experimenting more, failing plenty of times along the way. Some stories are obnoxious postmodern exercises ("A Sentence" and "Bone Bubbles" come to mind), others astonishingly sad ("Critique De La Vie Quotidienne"), most of them hilarious ("The Dolt", "I Bought A Little City", "The School", etc etc etc.), and all of them at least somewhat interesting. We see themes recur and develop, experiments in form such as inserting images into the text, entire stories in dialogue, etc.; and we see him ultimately wind down and write some more traditional pieces toward the end of his life.
I adored this experience and it gave me a new appreciation and understanding of Barthelme's work. Front-to-backing this entire thing isn't necessary for most, but I'd encourage everyone to let this collection live on your shelves and pull it out when you need it, which will be more often than you expect.
And it clicked. Not in the sense that I was able to make sense of these stories; no, many of them were still ungraspable to that young version of myself that felt inferior if he didn't understand the why of everything he read, some of them so elusive as to actually be annoying - but it clicked nonetheless. Something about the wild imagination behind the language, the unexpected turns of phrase, the moments where striking emotion shone through the absurdity, something about the soul and jazz of the stories spoke to me. It was like a collection out of another universe; it challenged me in ways that I had naively thought I had surpassed in my reading at that point. Barthelme taught me that it's alright if I don't get it - it's better to let the current take you than to try to swim upstream.
(sidebar: I am very self-conscious every time I use a dash because I fear that people will think I'm using AI to write my reviews. To clear things up, I'd rather kill myself. The dash is a lovely misunderstood thing and his reputation has been tarnished by scoundrels - I love the dash.)
In the years following that first experience, I read all of Barthelme's novels (75% of them brilliant) and many of his stories, but never bothered searching for those out-of-print original collections. Now, having gone quite a while since reading Sixty Stories, I initially planned on a re-read until discovering this fantastic Library of America compilation, which collects every one of Barthelme's short story collections in chronological order. I reckon I had previously read about half of these and never in order of publication, so I figured why not? It's a nice way to spend the month.
Well actually, turns out I needed less than 2 weeks to plow through all 900+ pages of this beautiful brick. And it completely recontextualized so much of what I thought I knew about one of my favorite authors.
Reading these stories in sequence is strangely biographical. We see Barthelme become more self-assured and confident in his writing, take less cheap shots and begin experimenting more, failing plenty of times along the way. Some stories are obnoxious postmodern exercises ("A Sentence" and "Bone Bubbles" come to mind), others astonishingly sad ("Critique De La Vie Quotidienne"), most of them hilarious ("The Dolt", "I Bought A Little City", "The School", etc etc etc.), and all of them at least somewhat interesting. We see themes recur and develop, experiments in form such as inserting images into the text, entire stories in dialogue, etc.; and we see him ultimately wind down and write some more traditional pieces toward the end of his life.
I adored this experience and it gave me a new appreciation and understanding of Barthelme's work. Front-to-backing this entire thing isn't necessary for most, but I'd encourage everyone to let this collection live on your shelves and pull it out when you need it, which will be more often than you expect.
August 27, 2021
Barthelme is squarely in my personal pantheon of literary Gods and so it’s no surprise that i loved every word of this (most of this was re-reading stories i cherish, like reuniting with an old and dear friend). getting dangerously close to having read every single thing Barthelme ever wrote
May 11, 2022
Well, LOA is certainly thorough. This is a must-have/read for any Barthelme devotee. It's academically vital. All the stories are here, when and where they appeared. What's inspiring is how often DB falls flat on his face. I mean that. Even his failures are instructive if not entertaining. Some of these are almost intentionally unreadable. A true artist who followed his intuition all the way to the end. Creative writing teachers have long looked to Barthelme to show students what's possible--in other words, EVERYTHING.
January 12, 2023
Cannot ever be imitated because the inventiveness is new in each different story. although "satire" might describe some of the tone, it's casual realism that is being satirized not political or social targets necessarily
May 29, 2025
Some of this I love just because it's really good nonsense that works for some inexplicable reason. Other bits I like because Barthelme does actually have a method to his madness and is drawing heavily on e.g. Pascal, Kierkegaard, Beckett, and there's a really incisive satire with heart. Sometimes he's just really funny.
Top ten:
Me and Miss Mandible
Report
Some Of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby
Marie, Marie, Hold On Tight
A Shower of Gold
Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning
Paraguay
The Viennese Opera Ball
The Educational Experience
The Balloon
It's very hard to pick a number one. I do think I have my top two in 'Colby' and 'Report'. This opener is an all-timer:
"Some of us had been threatening our friend Colby for a long time, because of the way he had been behaving. And now he’d gone too far, so we decided to hang him."
'Report' is a really perceptive critique of the role of the technician in society. This is also a banger:
"We have rots, blights, and rusts capable of attacking his alphabet. Those are dandies. We have a hut-shrinking chemical which penetrates the fibres of the bamboo, causing it, the hut, to strangle its occupants. This operates only after 10 P.M., when people are sleeping. Their mathematics are at the mercy of a suppurating surd we have invented. We have a family of fishes trained to attack their fishes. We have the deadly testicle-destroying telegram."
'Me and Miss Mandible' is what can only be described as a "Billy Madison" situation. It's also a withering critique of education.
"They have confidence in their ability to take the right steps and to obtain correct answers. However, to give the subject full social significance, it is necessary that many realistic situations requiring the processes be found. Many interesting and lifelike problems involving the use of fractions should be solved..."
"The theorists fail to realize that everything that is either interesting or lifelike in the classroom proceeds from what they would probably call interpersonal relations: Sue Ann Brownly kicking me in the ankle."
'The Educational Experience' has a similar bite to 'Me and Miss Mandible'.
The next two are unforgettable: 'Marie, Marie, Hold On Tight' is about a guy who decides to make signs, form a picket line, and protest the human condition. 'A Shower of Gold' is about an existentialist game show where the the contestants are examined for their authenticity and the crowd boos whenever a sign labeled "BAD FAITH" lights up. I love these.
'Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning' and 'Paraguay' are closer to the "nonsense" end of the spectrum that Barthelme operates on, but both of these hit a kind of sweet spot for me. Maybe it's how the content contrasts with the form of an interview or scholarly article that takes itself so seriously. It's just very good nonsense. Same with The Viennese Opera Ball, which interrupts its narrative (so far as it can be said to have one) with a page-long list of words beginning with S. You can see how this style would just be annoying if imitated without taste.
'The Balloon' is a short and fun idea that contains (as many of these stories do) what appears to be a manifesto:
"The balloon, for the twenty-two days of its existence, offered the possibility, in its randomness, of mislocation of the self, in contradistinction to the grid of precise, rectangular pathways under our feet."
I'm noticing that four of these top ten are from Come Back, Dr. Caligari and three are from Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts. I might just like the earlier stuff better overall.
Other favorites:
Engineer-Private Paul Klee Misplaces an Aircraft Between Milbertshofen and Cambrai, March 1916
I Am, At The Moment...
Lightning
The Sea of Hesitation
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Florence Green is 81
Nothing: A Preliminary Account
A Man
The Question Party
Departures
Bone Bubbles
Some of these stories I like because they face chaos with a kind of cheerfulness. From 'Engineer-Private Paul Klee':
"I wait contentedly in the warm orderly room. The drawing I did of the collapsed canvas and ropes is really very good. I eat a piece of chocolate. I am sorry about the lost aircraft but not overmuch. The war is temporary. But drawings and chocolate go on forever."
'The Sea of Hesitation':
"There is no particular point to any of this behavior. Or: This behavior is the only behavior which has point. Or: There is some point to this behavior but this behavior is not the only behavior which has point. Which is true? Truth is greatly overrated, volition where it exists must be protected, wanting itself can be obliterated, some people have forgotten how to want."
'Nothing: A Preliminary Account':
"Put it on the list. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What a wonderful list! How joyous the notion that, try as we may, we cannot do other than fail and fail absolutely and that the task will remain always before us, like a meaning for our lives. Hurry. Quickly. Nothing is not a nail."
'I Am, At The Moment':
"Hey hey, I say. It is remarkable how well human affairs can be managed, with care."
'A Man' is sort of a Kafka story where a guy inexplicably wakes up without one of his hands; nobody believes him or cares about his explanations, and he loses his job. 'The Question Party' is a sort of Victorian novel with a funny tonal twist. 'Departures' is a set of shorter nonsense stories, and 'Bone Bubbles' is pure gibberish (you can only get away with this once).
The rest of my favorites are kind of random and I couldn't say what I liked so much. 'Lightning' is about a journalist who interviews people who have been struck by lightning. 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' is about how people around a town react to the presence of an actual saint among them. 'Florence Green is 81' is about people trying to impress a rich old widow, and it contains the following hint of a manifesto:
"I want to go somewhere where everything is different. A simple, perfect idea."
Top ten:
Me and Miss Mandible
Report
Some Of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby
Marie, Marie, Hold On Tight
A Shower of Gold
Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning
Paraguay
The Viennese Opera Ball
The Educational Experience
The Balloon
It's very hard to pick a number one. I do think I have my top two in 'Colby' and 'Report'. This opener is an all-timer:
"Some of us had been threatening our friend Colby for a long time, because of the way he had been behaving. And now he’d gone too far, so we decided to hang him."
'Report' is a really perceptive critique of the role of the technician in society. This is also a banger:
"We have rots, blights, and rusts capable of attacking his alphabet. Those are dandies. We have a hut-shrinking chemical which penetrates the fibres of the bamboo, causing it, the hut, to strangle its occupants. This operates only after 10 P.M., when people are sleeping. Their mathematics are at the mercy of a suppurating surd we have invented. We have a family of fishes trained to attack their fishes. We have the deadly testicle-destroying telegram."
'Me and Miss Mandible' is what can only be described as a "Billy Madison" situation. It's also a withering critique of education.
"They have confidence in their ability to take the right steps and to obtain correct answers. However, to give the subject full social significance, it is necessary that many realistic situations requiring the processes be found. Many interesting and lifelike problems involving the use of fractions should be solved..."
"The theorists fail to realize that everything that is either interesting or lifelike in the classroom proceeds from what they would probably call interpersonal relations: Sue Ann Brownly kicking me in the ankle."
'The Educational Experience' has a similar bite to 'Me and Miss Mandible'.
The next two are unforgettable: 'Marie, Marie, Hold On Tight' is about a guy who decides to make signs, form a picket line, and protest the human condition. 'A Shower of Gold' is about an existentialist game show where the the contestants are examined for their authenticity and the crowd boos whenever a sign labeled "BAD FAITH" lights up. I love these.
'Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning' and 'Paraguay' are closer to the "nonsense" end of the spectrum that Barthelme operates on, but both of these hit a kind of sweet spot for me. Maybe it's how the content contrasts with the form of an interview or scholarly article that takes itself so seriously. It's just very good nonsense. Same with The Viennese Opera Ball, which interrupts its narrative (so far as it can be said to have one) with a page-long list of words beginning with S. You can see how this style would just be annoying if imitated without taste.
'The Balloon' is a short and fun idea that contains (as many of these stories do) what appears to be a manifesto:
"The balloon, for the twenty-two days of its existence, offered the possibility, in its randomness, of mislocation of the self, in contradistinction to the grid of precise, rectangular pathways under our feet."
I'm noticing that four of these top ten are from Come Back, Dr. Caligari and three are from Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts. I might just like the earlier stuff better overall.
Other favorites:
Engineer-Private Paul Klee Misplaces an Aircraft Between Milbertshofen and Cambrai, March 1916
I Am, At The Moment...
Lightning
The Sea of Hesitation
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Florence Green is 81
Nothing: A Preliminary Account
A Man
The Question Party
Departures
Bone Bubbles
Some of these stories I like because they face chaos with a kind of cheerfulness. From 'Engineer-Private Paul Klee':
"I wait contentedly in the warm orderly room. The drawing I did of the collapsed canvas and ropes is really very good. I eat a piece of chocolate. I am sorry about the lost aircraft but not overmuch. The war is temporary. But drawings and chocolate go on forever."
'The Sea of Hesitation':
"There is no particular point to any of this behavior. Or: This behavior is the only behavior which has point. Or: There is some point to this behavior but this behavior is not the only behavior which has point. Which is true? Truth is greatly overrated, volition where it exists must be protected, wanting itself can be obliterated, some people have forgotten how to want."
'Nothing: A Preliminary Account':
"Put it on the list. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What a wonderful list! How joyous the notion that, try as we may, we cannot do other than fail and fail absolutely and that the task will remain always before us, like a meaning for our lives. Hurry. Quickly. Nothing is not a nail."
'I Am, At The Moment':
"Hey hey, I say. It is remarkable how well human affairs can be managed, with care."
'A Man' is sort of a Kafka story where a guy inexplicably wakes up without one of his hands; nobody believes him or cares about his explanations, and he loses his job. 'The Question Party' is a sort of Victorian novel with a funny tonal twist. 'Departures' is a set of shorter nonsense stories, and 'Bone Bubbles' is pure gibberish (you can only get away with this once).
The rest of my favorites are kind of random and I couldn't say what I liked so much. 'Lightning' is about a journalist who interviews people who have been struck by lightning. 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' is about how people around a town react to the presence of an actual saint among them. 'Florence Green is 81' is about people trying to impress a rich old widow, and it contains the following hint of a manifesto:
"I want to go somewhere where everything is different. A simple, perfect idea."
June 24, 2023
I haven't finished this...I've read about half. I probably won't finish it as much as I try. It's not that I don't like it...time just seems to slow when I'm reading it and progress inches forward in very small increments. There are no plots, no sense of early in the story or late in the story, so I read a bit and stop at a random point and haven't gotten very far. I guess that's what happens when reading what's essentially entertaining nonsense. For entertaining nonsense it's very good, though.
April 5, 2025
A really good collection of short stories, though I was glad to finally be finished. His later stories exhibit a knowing melancholy whereas his early work is exuberant experimentalism. His insight is sharp and his dialogue is engaging and spot on. It is definitely worth reading and is a fine addition to one's reading inventory.
November 1, 2023
"Encountering Barthelme in anthology, as many readers do, restricts the impression of him to this kind of surreality much of the time." -Padgett Powell
Read the full review here: https://books.substack.com/p/review-p...
Read the full review here: https://books.substack.com/p/review-p...
October 31, 2021
3.5 stars
Currently reading
January 20, 2022Fiction B285co 2021
March 29, 2022
Interesting but his post-modernist writing style is not for me.
August 15, 2022
An interesting collage of short stories packed with post-modern prose and art humor to most incoherent and enjoyable effect.
July 13, 2024
Master of the absurd. I return to this whenever I need to remember how fun literature can be.
April 9, 2023
Barthelme breaks the rules of literature in a mild, playful way. In some ways he is similar to Vonnegut, but where Vonnegut sometimes dives into manic brooding, Barthelme stops short with a sense of awkwardness: awkward in relationships with women, limping with the crutch of alcoholism in a halo of failure: failure to rise above a given predicament.
The style of the stories themselves ranges from reasonably straightforward realism to wild flights of fancy, involving graphical art images and expressive punctuation (known now as ASCII art). Characters may appear as an anthropomorphized balloon, or gems. A character (or narrator) might begin by enumerating facts which continue on, beyond a list, morphing into the remaining paragraphs of the story.
The effect is at times bewildering rambling, which becomes difficult to remain focused upon; on other occasions it becomes a dreamlike quality, inspiring a sense of wonder.
From "At the End of the Mechanical Age":
Reading these short stories, a playful personality comes through -- not an intellectual attack forcing you to analyze it for a moral (beyond the author making a point or two). At the same time, however, the sum total is less impactful — less resilient to stand the test of time.
Existential themes recur:
From "Game":
and:
And from "Paraguay":
The themes are emblematic of contemporary literature, where the author leaves it to the reader to make sense of the narrative:
The humor is pleasantly dry and absurdist, calling to mind humorists he may have inspired, such as Steve Martin. It provides some desperately needed stepping stones when the narrative trail becomes helplessly and intentionally lost:
The style of the stories themselves ranges from reasonably straightforward realism to wild flights of fancy, involving graphical art images and expressive punctuation (known now as ASCII art). Characters may appear as an anthropomorphized balloon, or gems. A character (or narrator) might begin by enumerating facts which continue on, beyond a list, morphing into the remaining paragraphs of the story.
The effect is at times bewildering rambling, which becomes difficult to remain focused upon; on other occasions it becomes a dreamlike quality, inspiring a sense of wonder.
From "At the End of the Mechanical Age":
"The end of the mechanical age," said Mrs. Davis, "is in my judgment an actuality straining to become a metaphor. One must wish it luck, I suppose. One must cheer it on. Intellectual rigor demands that we give these damned metaphors every chance, even if they are inimical to personal well-being and comfort. We have a duty to understand everything, whether we like it or not--a duty I would scant if I could." At that moment the water jumped into the boat and sank us.
Reading these short stories, a playful personality comes through -- not an intellectual attack forcing you to analyze it for a moral (beyond the author making a point or two). At the same time, however, the sum total is less impactful — less resilient to stand the test of time.
Existential themes recur:
From "Game":
Each of us wears a .45 and each of us is supposed to shoot the other if the other is behaving strangely. How strangely is strangely? I do not know.
and:
... Shotwell has a .25 calibre Beretta which I do not know about strapped to his right calf.
And from "Paraguay":
Everyone in Paraguay has the same fingerprints. There are crimes but people chosen at random are punished for them. Everyone is liable for everything. An extension of the principle, there but for the grace of God go I.
The themes are emblematic of contemporary literature, where the author leaves it to the reader to make sense of the narrative:
I wanted to say a certain thing to a certain man, a certain true thing that had crept into my head. I opened my head, at the place provided, and proceeded to pronounce the true thing that lay languishing there... ("A Picture History of the War")
It's my hope that these... souvenirs... will someday merge, blur--cohere is the word, maybe--into something meaningful. A grand word, meaningful. What do I look for? A work of art, I'll not accept anything less. ("See the Moon?")
They have confidence in their ability to take the right steps and to obtain correct answers.
...
It may be that on my first trip through the schools I was too much under the impression that what the authorities (who decides?) had ordained for me was right and proper, that I confused authority with life itself. ("Me and Miss Mandible")
The humor is pleasantly dry and absurdist, calling to mind humorists he may have inspired, such as Steve Martin. It provides some desperately needed stepping stones when the narrative trail becomes helplessly and intentionally lost:
Charles lay in bed with his wife, Irene. He touched a breast, one of Irene's. ("Will You Tell Me?")
... the snigger had struck fear into my heart, a place where no more fear was needed. ("Critique de la Vie Quotidienne")
If a father has fathered twelve or twenty-seven times, it is well to give him a curious look--this father does not loathe himself enough. ("A Manual for Sons")
I obey the Commandments, the sensible ones. Where they don't know what they're talking about I ignore them. ("Basil from Her Garden")
April 9, 2023
DNF. Got about halfway through, but have now moved on to others things. Will return sometime to read his best stories in the later collections
(1/21/23): Now I’ve come back to read the rest, because I believe Barthelme, in his uninhibited yet exact imagination, can help me as a continuing model for my own way of writing, since I’m increasingly writing things which look more like his stuff than straight poetry. Comedy is becoming more important to me too.
(04/09/23) Finally finished.
(1/21/23): Now I’ve come back to read the rest, because I believe Barthelme, in his uninhibited yet exact imagination, can help me as a continuing model for my own way of writing, since I’m increasingly writing things which look more like his stuff than straight poetry. Comedy is becoming more important to me too.
(04/09/23) Finally finished.
August 13, 2023
The stories here are about a 70:30 ratio of “this is the greatest thing I’ve ever read in my life” to “this is so fucking stupid and dull.” There is no middle of the road here
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