Donald Barthelme
Donald Barthelme
This article is about the author, Donald Barthelme Jr. For his father, the architect, see Donald Barthelme...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth7 April 1931
CountryUnited States of America
firsts enjoy wells
Well chaps first I'd like to say a few vile things more or less at random, not only because it is expected of me but also because I enjoy it.
tickets spots lottery-ticket
The center will not hold if it has been spot-welded by an operator whose deepest concern is not with the weld but with his lottery ticket.
ifs
Is it permitted to differ with Kierkegaard? Not only permitted but necessary. If you love him.
self criticism session
Self-criticism sessions were held, but these produced more criticism than could usefully be absorbed or accomodated.
home white snow
Take me home," Snow White said. "Take me home instantly. If there is anything worse than being home, it is being out.
shrinking fading world
The world is sagging, snagging, scaling, spalling, pilling, pinging, pitting, warping, checking, fading, chipping, cracking, yellowing, leaking, stalling, shrinking, and in dynamic unbalance.
intelligent garden agony
I keep wondering if, say, there is intelligent life on other planets, the scientists argue that something like two percent of the other planets have the conditions, the physical conditions, to support life in the way it happened here, did Christ visit each and every planet, go through the same routine, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and so on...
dripping instant-gratification seasons
Instant gratification is not as good as that gratification which comes dripping slow, over the sere seasons.
divorce thinking sticks
Who among us is not thinking about divorce, except for a few tiny-minded stick-in-the-muds who don't count?
success common achieve
Yes, success is everything. Failure is more common. Most achieve a sort of middling thing, but fortunately one's situation is always blurred, you never know absolutely quite where you are.
hard-work self ingenuity
The self cannot be escaped, but it can be, with ingenuity and hard work, distracted.
tasks problem solve
The task is not so much to solve problems as to propose questions.
prayer writing editing
Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation.
doubt action ends
Doubt is a necessary precondition tomeaningful action. Fear is the great mover in the end.