My Thoughts
I don’t remember where I first saw this short story collection referenced (probably in another book), but I picked it up last fall and pulled it off my book pile a few months ago. Sixty Stories does what it says on the box - it’s sixty short stories compiled from collections that came out in the 60s and 70s, as well as a handful of previously uncollected stories. Here’s what I know about Donald Barthelme: he was from Houston, he had a lot of his short stories published in The New Yorker, and he’s considered a postmodernist. I know what the first two of those things mean - all I really know about the third is that Thomas Pynchon’s work is also considered postmodern and I enjoyed The Crying of Lot 49 (even though I’m not sure I actually understood it). It seems to indicate there aren’t clear plots, you’re probably going to get dropped in medias res, and you probably won’t get a tidy conclusion that ties things up.
From the very start, I knew I was in for a challenge - the first story, which is the oldest (the collection is chronological), starts with two men talking on the sidewalk and ends with them suddenly backhanding each other in the face. Since authors don’t seem to move closer to conventions as they progress in their careers and further develop their own voices, this made it pretty clear to me that I needed to let go of my expectations of complete narratives or clearly articulated messages. As much as I’d like to think I’m not somebody who wants to be spoon-fed the ideas in the books I read…I am. Fortunately, I found this awesome blog to accompany me as I made my way through these. I didn’t read more than a couple stories in most sittings, and usually I’d go check out the relevant post on that blog after each one to see if there were parts of the story I didn’t catch or context I wasn’t aware of. This ended up helping a lot because the stories became more formally challenging the further in I read. Since they cover a couple decades of Barthelme’s writing, the changes are gradual—it barely fazed me late in the collection when every story was a dialogue with no narration, often between interlocutors who seem to be discussing different topics (or not sticking to any topics at all).
For me, the content of most stories wasn’t as important as Barthelme’s use of language. He uses words I’ve never encountered before whose meanings feel secondary, and repetition with slight variations in a way that feels like he’s reciting spells. In my favorite story, “Game”, the narrator immediately repeats himself over and over, mirroring the setting where almost nothing new could possibly happen.
I had to take lots of breaks while reading this to survive the formal challenges. When I started, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever finish the collection. By the time I was done, though, I was looking for a copy of Forty Stories.
Favorite Quotes
“Similarly Shotwell pretends to watch my .45 but he is really watching my hand resting idly atop my attaché case, my hand resting idly atop my attaché case, my hand. My hand resting idly atop my attaché case.”
“The best way to approach a father is from behind. Thus if he chooses to hurl his javelin at you, he will probably miss.”
“A woman says to another woman: ‘These guys are zombies!’ ‘Yes,’ says the second woman”