b.1930
John Barth is considered by some to be the greatest American writer of the twentieth century. Barth writes with a voice that is at once both
absurd and serious. His
postmodern novels seem as often concerned with form and style as they are characterization and plot.
Barth briefly attended Juilliard before realizing that he wasn't going to be a professional musician. He then went to John Hopkins University where he majored in Writing, Speech and Drama. He earned his BA in 1951 and an MA in 1952.
Barth went on to teach English and/or Creative Writing at Penn State University, SUNY Buffalo, Boston University, and his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University.
His first novel, The Floating Opera, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1956. His first short story collection, Lost In the Funhouse, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1968. He won a National Book Award in 1972 for Chimera.
In 1974 Barth was elected to both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Distinguished Achievement in American Fiction in 1997.
Works by John Barth
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: A Novel (1979)
Sabbatical (1982)
The Friday Book (1984) non-fiction
The Tidewater Tales (1987)
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991)
Once Upon a Time (1994)
Further Fridays (1995)non-fiction
On With the Story (1996)
Coming Soon!!! (2001)