John Barth

Essays cover a variety of topics, from postmodern fiction and chaos theory to memory, imagination, and the arabesque

Essays, Lectures and Other Nonfiction, 1984-1994

Further Fridays

Daryl Houston

Although I had read a bit of Barth's fiction, it hadn't occurred to me to chase down his nonfiction until I found this in a used book store. I have kind of a love-meh relationship with Barth's fiction, in that his work is often very rewarding but also often damnably tedious. It turns out that I feel the same way about his nonfiction. He's a little rambly but also at times insightful, and when reading a lot of these pieces, I felt like he'd be great fun to eavesdrop on at a party, though far too erudite and intimidating (though he tends toward self-deprecation) to actually speak to. There are a few gems in this collection, most notably his lectures on chaos theory and the Postmodern.

Further Fridays Essays, Lectures and Other Nonfiction, 1984-1994

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