John Barth

John Barth , 1930-, American writer, b. Cambridge, Md. He attended Johns Hopkins (B.A. 1951, M.A. 1952), and, beginning in 1973, taught writing at its graduate school for nearly 20 years. Barth's postmodern novels—experimental, comic, self-referential, and often sprawling—reflect his anger and despair at a world he finds ludicrous and meaningless. While his early books were extravagantly praised, many critics have viewed his later work as verbose and bordering on incomprehensibility. Barth has a particular gift for parody. One of his best-known novels, The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), is set in 17th-century Maryland and deftly satirizes historical novels. His other fiction includes The Floating Opera (1956), The End of the Road (1958), Giles Goat-Boy (1966), Chimera (1972), Letters (1979), Sabbatical (1982), Once upon a Time (1994), Coming Soon!!! (2001), the stories and commentary of The Book of Ten Nights and a Night (2004), and the novellas of Where Three Roads Meet (2005).

Bibliography: See studies by C. B. Harris (1983) and E. P. Walkiewicz (1986).

Barth, John Simmons (1930– ) US writer and founder of post-modern literary pastiche. His best known novels include The End of the Road (1958), The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), and Giles Goat-Boy (1966). In 1973 he won the US National Book Award for three novellas, collectively entitled Chimera (1972). Later works include Sabbatical (1982), The Tidewater Tales (1987) and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991).