City Life

180 pp. Barthelmes latest collection of fiction is the most successfull example of a new strand of American writing that draws on surrealism, Kafka and Borges. Barthelme uses exact and simple language to describe dreamlike rearrangements of private, literary and public situations, in a play of elegant anachronisms and ambiguities. City Life seems notable less formalistic than Barthelme's previous works and is made even more accessible by his use of illustrations -collages in a witty Pop heroic style. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: "Donald Barthelme (April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989) was an American author known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the Houston Post, managing editor of Location magazine, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston (1961–1962), co-founder of Fiction (with Mark Mirsky and the assistance of Max and Marianne Frisch), and a professor at various universities. He also was one of the original founders of The University of Houston Creative Writing Program."