John Barth

John Simmons Barth (Born 1930) is an American teacher and novelist. His works include The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), Giles Goat-Boy (1966), Chimera (1972), and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991).[1]

## Life and Works[edit]

Barth was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 27, 1930, and attended Johns Hopkins University.[2] Upon graduating high school, he attended Julliard School of Music to study jazz, and then attended Johns Hopkins to study in journalism and creative writing.[3] He wrote his first two novels, The Floating Opera (1956) and The End of the Road (1958) about those who recognize a futility in action.[4] His first notable novel, The Sot-Weed Factor, describes a poet who wrote a poem by the same name, and illustrates him as an innocent confused with why his poem became a satire about the colonization of Maryland.[5] Besides writing, he taught at Penn State, SUNY Buffalo, Boston University, and Johns Hopkins.[6] Penn State was the setting of his mythical satires Giles Goat-Boy and Chimera. He was very popular as a teacher on the Eastern Seaboard.[7]

He is still alive and continues to produce short stories for a living.

## See also[edit]

* Donald Barthelme

## References[edit]

1. ↑ The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. Prentice Hall, New York, 1993.
2. ↑ "John Barth." Biography.com http://www.biography.com/people/john-barth-37922
3. ↑ http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Barth__John.html
4. ↑ "Barth, John." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
5. ↑ "John Barth." Biblio.com, http://www.biblio.com/john-barth/author/1796
6. ↑ Clavier, Berndt. "John Barth." February 25, 2016. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0121.xml
7. ↑ Davies, Tristan. "Teacher, teacher: A tribute to John Barth." Johns Hopkins Magazine. https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2015/spring/john-barth/