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John Barth

ジョン・バーズ

Jon Bāsu

Aliases: ジャック（Jack）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1930-05-27 （Cambridge, Maryland, U.S.）
Died
2024-04-02 （Bonita Springs, Florida, U.S.） age 93
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Cambridge, Maryland → Pennsylvania (while at Pennsylvania State University) → Buffalo, New York (University at Buffalo) → Baltimore, Maryland (Johns Hopkins University) → Bonita Springs, Florida (later life)

Career

Occupations
novelist, academic, essayist
Active Years
1956-2022
Affiliations
Pennsylvania State University (faculty), State University of New York at Buffalo (faculty), Johns Hopkins University (faculty, emeritus), Boston University (visiting professor)
Influenced By
Jorge Luis Borges, Modernist writers (e.g., James Joyce)
Influenced
Postmodern writers in general

Education

Juilliard School (brief study)
Elementary Theory / Advanced Orchestration (studies)
Period: 短期間（1940年代後半）
Country: United States
Brief studies in music theory and orchestration before attending Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
Arts / Writing
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1949–1951（学生期間）
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United States
Received B.A.; thesis novel The Shirt of Nessus drew on Hopkins experiences
Johns Hopkins University
Arts / Writing
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1951–1952（大学院）
Year of Graduation: 1952
Country: United States
Received M.A.

Awards

National Book Award finalist
1956
Work: The Floating Opera
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 最終候補
Brandeis University creative arts award
1965
Organization: Brandeis University
Result: 受賞
Rockefeller Foundation grant
1965
Organization: Rockefeller Foundation
Result: 受給
National Institute of Arts and Letters grant
1966
Organization: National Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: 受給
National Book Award nomination
1968
Work: Lost in the Funhouse
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: ノミネート
National Book Award (Fiction)
1973
Work: Chimera
Category: フィクション
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞（共同受賞）
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
1974
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: 選出
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1974
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result: 選出
F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Fiction
1997
Organization: (awarding organization)
Result: 受賞
Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
1998
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN/Malamud Award
1998
Organization: PEN/Malamud
Result: 受賞
Enoch Pratt Society's Lifetime Achievement in Letters Award
1999
Organization: Enoch Pratt
Result: 受賞
Roozi Rozegari (Iran) prize for best foreign work translation
2008
Work: The Floating Opera (translation award)
Organization: Roozi Rozegari
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Floating Opera

1956 early novel; realist/existential

Barth's early novel dealing with suicide and moral dilemmas in a realist mode.

existencemoral dilemma

The Sot-Weed Factor

1960 postmodern historical novel

A whimsical, expansive reimagining of colonial Maryland; a landmark work marking Barth's move into postmodernism.

rewriting historyparodynarrative play

Giles Goat-Boy

1966 satirical fantasy

A lengthy satirical fantasy that allegorizes the Cold War through a university-world; follows George Giles's quest for identity.

satireidentityauthority vs. freedom

Lost in the Funhouse

1968 short story collection (metafiction)

An experimental, self-referential collection foregrounding the writing process and metafictional techniques.

self-referencenarrative structureauthor-work relationship

Chimera

1972 novellas/episodic novel (metafiction)

A collection of novellas assembled into an episodic whole; highly metafictional. Shared the National Book Award in 1973.

self-referencelinked narrativesexploration of authorship

Bibliography

  • The Floating Opera (1956)
  • The End of the Road (1958)
  • The Sot-Weed Factor (1960)
  • Giles Goat-Boy (1966)
  • Lost in the Funhouse (1968)
  • Chimera (1972)
  • LETTERS (1979)
  • Sabbatical: A Romance (1982)
  • The Tidewater Tales (1987)
  • The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991)
  • Once Upon a Time: A Floating Opera (1994)
  • Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative (2001)
  • Where Three Roads Meet (2005)
  • Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons (2011)
  • On with the Story (1996)
  • The Book of Ten Nights and a Night: Eleven Stories (2004)
  • The Development: Nine Stories (2008)
  • Collected Stories (2015)
  • The Friday Book: Essays and Other Nonfiction (1984)
  • Further Fridays: Essays, Lectures, and Other Nonfiction, 1984–1994 (1995)
  • Final Fridays: Essays, Lectures, Tributes & Other Nonfiction, 1995–2012 (2012)
  • Postscripts (or Just Desserts): Some Final Scribblings (2022)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
postmodernmetafictionalparodicself-referential experimental prose
Recurring Motifs
self-referential narrativesrepetition and reprisereinterpretation of historyexploration of author-work relations

Legacy

John Barth was a leading American postmodern writer whose metafictional experiments expanded the possibilities of the novel in the late 20th century. He won the National Book Award for Chimera and received many honors; his academic contributions are also significant.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Archives

  • Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries (John Barth collection)

Quotes

  • "The process [of making a novel] is the content, more or less."
    Source: Interview (circa 1972) (1972)
  • "Novels which imitate the form of a novel, by an author who imitates the role of author."
    Source: Essay 'The Literature of Exhaustion' (1967) (1967)

Trivia

  • Had a twin sister, Jill.
  • His father ran a candy store.
  • Played drums and wrote for his high school newspaper.
  • Shared the 1973 National Book Award for Chimera.
  • Retired as emeritus from Johns Hopkins University in 1991.