he Dead Father Jerome Klinkowitzís remarkably insightful review of Donald Barthelmeís work begins with an anecdote about an evening they spent together in Greenwich Village (Barthelmeís home for most of his life as a writer), and how a perfectly Freudian remark by Barthelmeís wife put a stop to the writerís boorish mood:ìëWhy Donald,í she said, ëyour fatherís is bigger than yours.íShe was referring to their respective biosin Whoís Who in America.î It is Klinkowitz's well-argued contention that Barthelmeís mid-career novel The Dead Father (1975) not only represents the high-water mark of his skill as a technical master of postmodern prose, but that it also embodies the central neurosis/inspiration driving nearly all his work, from his first published story, ìMe and Miss Mandibleî in 1961, to his last novel, Paradise (1986).(Though The King is mentioned by Klinkowitz, it is clear he considers it to be barely part of the Barthelme canon.)For Klinkowitz, Barthelmeís near-obsessive goal as a post-modernist is to ìburyî his modernist father.For instance, Klinkowitz writes that, while at first glance ìMe and Miss Mandibleî seems a perfectly Kafkaesque tale of a man awakening to grotesquely transformed circumstances, in fact it is ì[f]ree of overweening anxiety and not painfully dedicated to existential questioning or angst ...î[1] ì[Barthelmeís] first inclination is to laugh at rather than flail angrily against the forms and themes of an earlier style ...î[2]Klinkowitz cites ìThe Indian Uprisingî and ìThe Balloonî as oft-anthologized stories which epitomize Barthelmeís work prior to The Dead Father; pieces which came to represent the postmodern short story with all its socially savvy and technically sophisticated style, yet stories whose primary tone is comic rather than the stilted existential dread of Barthelmeís modernist precursors.Thus anxiety of influence is defused through comedy and exaggeration.Klinkowitz implies that, in Barthelme we have our first authentic American Beckett, but one in whose work optimism is neither desperate nor self-canceling.... [tags: The Dead Father Donald Barthelmeis Essays] | 920 words
(2.6 pages) | FREE Essays | [view] | My Father Was My Hero - My life changed at the beginning of the new school year in 1965, I was 15 at the time. While to many of my peers it was like hell returning to our dungeon of a school with its heavy fireproof doors and tall staircases it was about to change for me. This was the year I met Mike Safford, he was my new teacher and he was my hero, a very tall black man with broad shoulders, with very large hands and dark brown hair… Before this first day arrived I was very depressed. Life had lost all meaning to me and there was nothing I could do about it, or so I was told.... [tags: heroes, father, adoption,] | 1065 words
(3 pages) | $29.95 | [preview] | Dr. Diver as Rosemary's Father-Figure in Tender is the Night - Dr. Diver as Rosemary's Father-Figure in Tender is the Night Parents are the basic role models for their children. Both parents play an important role in raising their children, but it is the father whom is normally portrayed as the protector, advisor, and provider of the family. He is the person whom the children look up to when they are young and whom the daughters compare all men to when they become older. The father sets the standards for his children. If there is no father, children must look other places for this type of comfort and information.... [tags: Tender is the Night Essays]
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(2.2 pages) | $9.95 | [preview] | Absence of a Father Figure as the Strongest Factor in Male Homosexuality - Absence of a Father Figure as the Strongest Factor in Male Homosexuality The condition "homosexuality" commonly evokes a negative impression from most people, especially in conventional societies as the Philippines. For many years most psychiatrists presupposed that homosexuality was a form of mental illness, until 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) decided to define such condition as a normal behavior. Homosexuals, as described by APA, are "individuals whose sexual interests are directed toward people of the same sex and who are either bothered by, in conflict with, or wish to change, their sexual orientations." As aforementioned, traditional societies consider homosexual relationships illicit and immoral.... [tags: Papers] | 1481 words
(4.2 pages) | $19.95 | [preview] | Free College Essays - A Father Figure in Huckleberry Finn - Huckleberry Finn: A Father Figure Mark Twain, the author of Huckleberry Finn, has written a story that all will enjoy. Huck is a young boy with not much love in his life, his mother died when he was very young, and he had drunk for a father. Huck lives with the widow and she tried to raise him right. While at the widow's, Huck went to school and learned to read and write. The widow also tried to civilize him. She would buy him nice clothes, and make him do his homework. The main character in this story is Huck Finn, Finn is a young boy with many problems going on in life.... [tags: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays] | 1231 words
(3.5 pages) | FREE Essays | [view] | The Hooded Figure - The Hooded Figure A musty wet cloud of deadness was all about the chamber as a hooded figure stepped into the chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a huge fountain. The fountain had a mysterious glow that came from the ceiling. The hooded figure stopped just before the fountain, confused about which path to take for there were four paths in any of the four cardinal directions. The hooded figure came to it stopped and turned circles in his mind about which [path to take. The figure decided to take a short nap and decide in a moment.... [tags: miscellaneous] | | | |