Great discussion on John Barth specifically and experimental fiction generally at The Reading Experience (and links from thereon out). Ray Davis posits the generic nature of Barth’s work in response to Dan Green’s claim that it is seminal, in an ongoing attempt to construct a taxonomy of experimental fiction. Is the father dead yet? Somewhere I read someone (was it Gregory Rabassa?) saying that Garcia Marquez cast such a shadow over Latin American fiction for so long that he provided a ready-made taxonomy for every new book coming down the pipe.
I exhausted what little I had to say on the subject earlier, but to hear someone speak passionately in favor of these works is always the best defense of them.
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