Amateurs by Donald Barthelme
Amateurs by Donald Barthelme is a selection of his best satirical works rather than his experimental ones. There are some pretty entertaining writings, such as “Some of Us Have Been Threatening Our Friend Colby,” which is an impromptu story of some guys hanging their friend because he had “gone too far.” Who or what Colby had “gone too far” regarding is never really made clear.
Amateurs by Donald Barthelme
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Compared to the humorous writing tradition, Barthelme is more closely associated with the postmodern tradition. Not for laughs, but for jumbled narrative and philosophical musings, I would look to him. The majority of Barthelme’s writing was in that genre, although early in his career, he also released a handful of extremely amusing books. Even The Dead Father has a lot of fun. As we progress through Great Days, fragmented, dialogue-based stories that appear to be about philosophy begin to appear.
