by John Barth
|
by John Barth
|
by John Barth
|
by John Barth
|
by John Barth
|
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
John Barth has the paradoxical ability to turn literature on its head in a post-modern sense at the same time he employs a tour-de-force of traditional literary devices. In On with the Story, he tells a story within a story within a collection of short stories. To wit, an affluent and sophisticated retirement age couple is on vacation when the woman receives terrible news about her husband. Is he dying of cancer? Or is that another story? Have they faced death or have they not? With Barth, only the reader can say for sure, having engaged in an experience as unique as it is fascinating.
From Publishers Weekly
In novels like the National Book Award-winning Chimera, Barth has displayed an ingenious fusion of postmodern, metafictional narrative style and seductive tales. The deconstructive bent is still firmly intact in this collection of 11 short stories. Unfortunately, the tales told are mostly slim and self-indulgent. Many involve middle-aged to elderly academics or writers as they take vacations to places like Club Med, ponder flirtations with other academics or writers or worry about their careers. It's surprising, since Barth links these tepid pieces with clever interludes in which an unnamed, beach-vacationing couple, who are supposedly reading the stories along with the reader, provide contentious running commentary on them. But the stories themselves are remarkably strained: "And Then One Day..." has Elizabeth, a 40-something novelist, wondering about a possible love affair with her old writing teacher, a man 20 years her senior, filtered through the very male perspective of the chatty, "omniscient" narrator. Another attractive 40-something woman, Alice, is the central character of "On with the Story." While on a plane from Boston to Oregon, she has a friendly conversation with an older man (a writer) sitting next to her; ponders her recent divorce, literature and the stages of being a baby boomer; and reads a story that is, unbeknownst to her, written by her seatmate. It's a pity there aren't more pieces like "Goodbye to the Fruits," in which Barth forgoes his stable of stereotypical characters for a joyous, beautifully written and sometimes hilarious ode to fruit. When he's got a subject worth subjecting to his metafictional gamesmanship, Barth remains a sly, inventive and uniquely talented writer. Rights: Wylie, Aitken & Stone.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
. . . As I was saying, ladies and gentlemen, before that little unpleasantness: I have just been assured, by those in position to know, that this evening's eminent "mystery guest" has arrived, and should be with us any time now. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
puddled dew, suspension points, ground situation Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Amien Richard, Freeze Frame, Grand Bahama, Frank Pollard, Fenwick Island, Gulf Stream, Happy Hour, Marsh Arabs, Port Lucaya, Chef du Village, Chesapeake Bay, Claudia Tully, Island Paradises, Joan Pollard, Milky Way, Ocean City, Planck's Constant, Club Med, Comet Swift-Tuttle, Dead Man's Reef, Fred Sims, Hurricane Emile, Mimi Adler, Miss February, Operation Seven New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
. . . As I was saying, ladies and gentlemen, before that little unpleasantness: I have just been assured, by those in position to know, that this evening's eminent "mystery guest" has arrived, and should be with us any time now. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
puddled dew, suspension points, ground situation Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Amien Richard, Freeze Frame, Grand Bahama, Frank Pollard, Fenwick Island, Gulf Stream, Happy Hour, Marsh Arabs, Port Lucaya, Chef du Village, Chesapeake Bay, Claudia Tully, Island Paradises, Joan Pollard, Milky Way, Ocean City, Planck's Constant, Club Med, Comet Swift-Tuttle, Dead Man's Reef, Fred Sims, Hurricane Emile, Mimi Adler, Miss February, Operation Seven New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 35
books:
See all 35 books this book cites
21
books
cite this book:
See all 21 books citing this book
- David Copperfield (Modern Library Classics) by Charles Dickens on page 17, and page 197
- Floating Opera by John Barth in Front Matter
- Lost in the Funhouse (The Anchor Literary Library) by John Barth in Front Matter
- The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library) by John Barth in Front Matter
- Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost on page 234
See all 35 books this book cites
- From Modernism to Postmodernism: Concepts and Strategies of Postmodern American Fiction (Postmodern Studies 38) (Textxet Studies in Comparative Literature) by Gerhard Hoffmann on 7 pages
- Beyond Postmodernism: Reassessments in Literature, Theory, and Culture by Klaus Stierstorfer on 4 pages
- Chimera by John Barth in Front Matter
- The Tales We Tell: Perspectives on the Short Story (Contributions to the Study of World Literature) by Rick Feddersen in Back Matter
- 21st Century International Encyclopedia (10 Volume Set) by Bart Drubbel on page 115
See all 21 books citing this book
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
58% buy the item featured on this page: On With the Story: Stories |
 |
14% buy Chimera $10.17 |
 |
14% buy Lost in the Funhouse (The Anchor Literary Library) $10.04 |
 |
9% buy The Floating Opera and The End of the Road $11.53 |
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
Look for Similar Items by Category
Look for Similar Items by Subject
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
