About Donald Barthelme: is about the author, Donald Barthelme Jr. For his father, the architect, see Donald Barthelme (architect).
All men that are ruined are ruined on the side of their natural propensities," the note concludes. This is surely true. Yet the vivacity with which he embraces ruin is unexampled, in my experience.
--Why are we fighting them? --They're mad. We're sane. --How do we know? --That we're sane? --Yes. --Am I sane? --To all appearances. --And you, do you consider yourself sane? --I do. --Well, there you have it. --But don't they also consider themselv...
Painters, especially American painters since the Second World War, have been much more troubled, beset by formal perplexity, than American writers. They've been a laboratory for everybody.