Sixty Stories (Penguin Classics)

--Lets get right to the meat. People are busy. Did you like this book? Is it worth reading?--Yes on both counts. "60 Stories" is a generous sampling of Bartheleme's work. You'll certainly discover whether he's to your liking or not based on what you're offered here. Because it bears saying that these stories are certainly not going to be everyone's cup of blue rooibos, to coin a phrase.--How so? Why not?--They aren't what most people would call "traditional" stories. It's somewhat inaccurate to call them "experimental" at this point since so many years have elapsed since they were written and published, so many years since the author died, and Barthelme's influence has been shaping literary experiments ever since, but a stunning number of readers still expect the short story to adhere to conventions established two or three centuries ago. I'd go back even further but the fact is that Barthelme's stories actually employ the conventions of what might be called the "original" short stories--fairy tales, myths, dreams, visions, and the like.--In other words, they're non-linear, ambiguous, full of fantastic and illogical occurences.--Yes, to name just a few. What's continually interesting about Barthelme is that every story--well, practically every story--is different in technique from the others. He attempts to find a mode of expression that suits what he wants to say and that changes from story to story. A hammer for a nail, a screwdriver for a screw. But more often, he invents new tools altogether. His stories are invented tools. So you never know quite what to expect when you begin a new story. A collection of Barthelme's stories is not like a box of saltine crackers. It's not even like a box of chocolates. It's like one of those Chinese boxes full of all sorts of tiny compartments, each with something different inside--a feather, a stone, a tooth, a bit of uranium, an octopus sucker...it could be anything.--You never know what you're getting.--Exactly. And that can be good or bad, depending on your taste. So in this collection there are stories you will love and others that won't appeal to you at all. It's a risky way to write and an exciting way to read...provided you want to be excited in that way. Lots of people like to know what they're getting beforehand. In life, in lovers, in stories. They read Hemingway because they like Hemingway. Story after story, Hemingway is a known quantity.--Many people don't like irony either.--And Barthelme's work is heavy with irony, World's Strongest Man type irony. If you aren't in good shape, the irony in these stories may be too heavy for you. It might crush you, that's how heavy the irony is. You might need a spotter.--Okay, I get it. They're very ironic.--Yes. But also heartfelt. Barthelme is a "double-minded" man, as most thinking folks are in this day and age. We see the shadow-side of every emotion we experience. The hate behind the love, the betrayal behind the loyalty, the resentment behind the generosity, etc. There's no such thing as a simple unalloyed motive, a true purity of heart. All expressions of such ring as insincere to our post-modern ears...they'd begun to ring that way to modern ears as well. What I'm trying to say is that irony, self-irony, is a way to get behind the mirror and the masks we wear on stage, it's a way to acknowledge that we can't be entirely truthful because we're always lying to one degree or another...it's a way of saying that we cannot say what we'd like to say, like being a prisoner of war paraded in front of a camera for propoganda purposes. We give a secret sign even while we're lying through our teeth, a kind of metaphorical wink that lets you know we can't tell the truth but we'd like to and we'd like you to know that. This is the function of the irony in Barthelme's stories, as I see it.--Anything else?--That's enough, I'd say. What more really needs to be said? Maybe only that its quite likely not possible to fully appreciate where cutting edge literature is today without reading Donald Barthelme, who directly influenced so much of it--a kind of bridge, he was, from someone like Beckett to what we have today.--Well, that might have been worth saying.--And it might not have. But I said it and I won't unsay it. I think I'll go make some more green tea. Good day.

Donald Barthelme is undeservedly under-read, perhaps because of too much experimentation on the short story form. Not every reader would like this intentional emphasis on an inventive structure and imaginative setups--more than on plot and other aspects of conventional storytelling. Others argue that he puts premium on the imaginative structure and style more than the meat of the story itself.But if one can keep an open mind, at least, Barthelme would definitely come out as a master stylist. And one would immediately recognize his tremendous influence on our now contemporary favorite authors like Dave Eggers and his bunch. .This book combines, as stated in the title, that many short stories in one book. So shallow it seems, but you're getting not just quantity for your money, but also variety upfront.Read the following first: Miss Mandible, Balloon, The School, I bought a little city, Sergeant, These at least will take you to explore the other stories (some even more `experimental' than the others) in this anthology. Read them in abandon, not knowing the author's intention to explore and experiment on the form. You'll love the stories as they are. Funny nonsequiturs, turn of events, turn of phrases will completely surprise and satisfy you. Enjoyable as hell.There's a blog that Ive read where Tobias Wolff (another fantastic short story master) is saying that in short stories, unlike in novels, it is still possible to achieve perfection. I think "I bought a little city" is one example of perfection. And there are others almost close to perfection in this book. Definitely worth your [...] and that time for weekend afternoon reading.

I bought this volume based on the review of a writer I encountered on the Internet. I find most of the stories to be curiosities and rather fun. I ended up not being as impressed with them as he is, but I'm glad I got this book and read the contents. The author is one I had missed over the years. He's obviously well respected, with much of his work appearing in various markets that 99% of writers could never crack. Good material. I'm glad I read them.

If you like real brainy stories then there is no better collection. I enjoyed some of the stories immensely, particularly The King Of Jazz and The School, but others were too smart for me (thus 4 out of 5 stars). Barthelme is a really fun author who is a master with language.

About a third of the 60 stories are absolute gems, I have enjoyed so much that I read them twice just for the fun of it. Black humor at its best, cynical and surprising.Another third I found difficult to read, too surreal even for one who likes the genre.The last third...well, it's hard to decide: the prose is so tight, so concise... that it becomes almost cryptic.Overall an interesting collection of an outstanding writer.

This is what I would call "experimental" literature. I've never found another author capable of writing in such a unique, inventive manner! Each story differs from the others in subject matter and style, but all of the stories are characteristically witty, bold, and evocative. This is a must-read.

"The Indian Uprising" is probably the most famous story in this collection. I think "A Dolt" might be D.B.s most powerful story. It might be worth you time to read "Hiding Man."

Practically new condition. Great read. Great price.

This is a compilation of the stories in some collections, that were not included in the Forty Stories. An excellent example of the authors mild irony and ability to write things that loses its tracks or where things get out of proportion, sometimes even the narrator does not see what is going on. It is pure joy reading, but also a serious reminder of how language could replace thought.

Hilarious, witty, trippy, and subversive; Barthelme's Sixty Stories is an incredibly fun read, and one that will render you a chuckling, dribbling moron.

Priceless collection. Needs to be savoured slowly. I found the stories with dialogue hard to follow, but the post-modern invention in the narrative is both approachable and compelling.

Donald Barthelme was of course actually a consortium of 13 American academics. The books were produced using postal correspondence, and would in all honesty be rather 'dry and dusty' (full of rare words, tergiversatious narratives, and a cussed determination to make each next sentence unpredictable) - if you didn't know about the curiously named Bela Bluebeard. She was the Appalachian woman who first discovered the 'con' being perpetrated on the reading public (because, it is said, she slept with one of the academics' wives). Bela audaciously pretended to be both a man, AND the 'real' Barthelme - and then, when the embarrassed academics came clean, not only refused to concede that they were telling the truth, but went on to write a novel ('Snow White') that was every bit the equal of the academics' work. Even more interesting than all of this is that while none of the above is remotely true - it still might be. Barthelme's stories use urban American furniture, but they are essentially a 'Literary Achievement'. They invite comparison with pantheon-class writers. He can be witty in a phrase, but repetitiously tedious (or, as he might say, 'battologically boring') in a page. The result is impressively clever but substantially unmemorable. It's like that Tibetan saying used by the Dali Lama (no, really!) : 'The man of great intelligence is like a burning field: the fire passes quickly away'. Eclectic, indulgent, absurdist and decidedly not plot driven: reading a book of 60 such short stories is akin to eating a bowl of peas with a set of tweezers - you think you are NEVER going to reach the end. Barthelme himself once said, "Fragments are the only forms I..." but, thenagain, it would be contradicting him to complete the whole quote.

Arrived promptly, as described...looks brand new even