John Barth

John Simmons Barth (/bɑːrθ/;[1] May 27, 1930 – April 2, 2024) was an American writer best known for his postmodern and metafictional fiction. His most highly regarded and influential works were published in the 1960s, and include The Sot-Weed Factor, a whimsical retelling of Maryland's colonial history; Giles Goat-Boy, a satirical fantasy in which a university is a microcosm of the Cold War world; and Lost in the Funhouse, a self-referential and experimental collection of short stories. He was co-recipient of the National Book Award in 1973 for his episodic novel Chimera.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barth

Styles, approaches and artistic criteria

Barth's work is characterized by a historical awareness of literary tradition[24] and by the practice of rewriting typical of postmodernism. He said, "I don't know what my view of history is, but insofar as it involves some allowance for repetition and recurrence, reorchestration, and reprise [...] I would always want it to be more in the form of a thing circling out and out and becoming more inclusive each time."[25][26] In Barth's postmodern sensibility, parody is a central device.[27]

Awards

• 1956: National Book Award finalist for The Floating Opera[36]
• 1965: The Brandeis University creative arts award[13]
• 1965: The Rockefeller Foundation grant[13]
• 1966: National Institute of Arts and Letters grant[13]
• 1968: Nominated for the National Book Award for Lost in the Funhouse[37]
• 1973: Shared the National Book Award for Chimera with John Edward Williams for Augustus[23]
• 1974: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters[38][39]
• 1974: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[40]
• 1997: F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Fiction[39]
• 1998: Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award[41]
• 1998: PEN/Malamud Award[13]
• 1999: Enoch Pratt Society's Lifetime Achievement in Letters Award[42]
• 2008: Roozi Rozegari, Iranian literature prize for best foreign work translation, The Floating Opera[43][44]

Family

• Son of John Jacob Barth and Georgia (Simmons) Barth
• Brother of William Barth and Jill Barth
• Ex-husband of Harriet Anne (Strickland) Barth
• Husband of Shelly (Rosenberg) Barth
• Father of Christine Ann Barth; John Strickland Barth and Daniel Stephen Barth

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References

1. John Barth (1930-2024) (April 12, 2024) < locusmag.com >