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
art moving errors
One of the pleasures of art is that it enables the mind to move in unanticipated directions, to make connections that may be in some sense errors but are fruitful nonetheless.
educational important important-things
The important thing is the educational experience itself — how to survive it.
powerful mad insane
He is mad about being small when you were big, but no, that's not it, he is mad about being helpless when you were powerful, but no, not that either, he is mad about being contingent when you were necessary, not quite it... he is insane because when he loved you, you didn't notice.
evil way looks
There is no moment that exceeds in beauty that moment when one looks at a woman and finds that she is looking at you in the same way that you are looking at her. The moment in which she bestows that look that says, "Proceed with your evil plan, sumbitch.
new-york mayors
The much heaves and palpitates. It is multidirectional and has a mayor.
men goal despair
Goals incapable of attainment have driven many a man to despair, but despair is easier to get to than that -- one need merely look out of the window, for example.
particular
There was no particular point at which I stopped being promising.
war world formal
Painters, especially American painters since the Second World War, have been much more troubled, beset by formal perplexity, than American writers. Theyve been a laboratory for everybody.
art wish difficult
Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, but because it wishes to be art.
prayer writing editing
Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation.
tasks problem solve
The task is not so much to solve problems as to propose questions.
hard-work self ingenuity
The self cannot be escaped, but it can be, with ingenuity and hard work, distracted.
believe wife made
I believe that because I had obtained a wife who was made up of wife-signs (beauty, charm, softness, perfume, cookery) I had found love.
stupidity succeed done
Succeed! It has been done, and with a stupidity that can astound the most experienced.