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
hate moon
See the moon? It hates us.
writing
Write about what you're afraid of.
messages has-beens
We are what we have been told about ourselves. We are the sum of the messages we have received. The true messages. The false messages.
firsts connected
How can you be alienated without first having been connected?
believe action arguing
I don't believe that we are what we do although many thinkers argue otherwise. I believe that what we do is, very often, a poor approximation of what we are -- an imperfect manifestation of a much better totality. Even the best of us sometimes bite off, as it were, less than we can chew.
angel strange position
The death of God left the angels in a strange position.
firsts enjoy wells
Well chaps first I'd like to say a few vile things more or less at random, not only because it is expected of me but also because I enjoy it.
wine class whiskey
The privileged classes can afford psychoanalysis and whiskey. Whereas all we get is sermons and sour wine. This is manifestly unfair. I protest, silently.
shoes looks frogs
How does one conquer fear, Don B.?" "One takes a frog and sews it to one's shoe," he said. "The left or the right?" Don B. gave me a pitying look. "Well, you'd look mighty funny going down the street with only one frog sewed to your shoes, wouldn't you?" he said. "One frog on each shoe.
angel despair looks
The death of God left the angels in a strange position. They were overtaken suddenly by a fundamental question. One can attempt to imagine the moment. How did they look at the instant the question invaded them, flooding the angelic consciousness, taking hold with terrifying force? The question was, "What are angels?" New to questioning, unaccustomed to terror, unskilled in aloneness, the angels (we assume) fell into despair.
success common achieve
Yes, success is everything. Failure is more common. Most achieve a sort of middling thing, but fortunately one's situation is always blurred, you never know absolutely quite where you are.
work men another-day
Capitalism arose and took off its pajamas. Another day, another dollar. Each man is valued at what he will bring in the marketplace. Meaning has been drained from work and assigned instead to remuneration.
found worst elusive
Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin.
ass casual passerby
[picket sign] COGITO ERGO NOTHING!....[casual passerby:] "Cogito ergo your ass"....