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Donald Barthelme, Jr., was an American author best known for his playfully postmodern short stories. He was born in Philadelphia in 1931, but he was raised in Houston, Texas. His father, Donald, was an award-winning architect and professor at the University of Houston and Rice University. His mother, Helen, studied English and drama at the University of Pennsylvania. Barthelme called her “a great influence in all sorts of ways, a wicked wit.”
Barthelme showed an early interest in writing, despite his father’s objections. In high school, he won a Scholastic award for young writers and published humorous pieces in his school’s literary magazine.
In 1949, Barthelme enrolled at the University of Houston. He took courses in journalism, literature, creative writing, and philosophy. In addition, he worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for the school newspaper. He left the university in 1951 without graduating to review movies and local theater productions for the Houston Post.
In 1953, the U.S. Army drafted Barthelme to serve in the Korean War. He arrived in Korea on the day the war ended, so he saw no combat. However, he did write for the army’s public information office.
After his discharge from the army, Barthelme returned to Houston, where he resumed work at the Houston Post. He returned to the University of Houston as a student and employee. He never graduated, but he studied philosophy and founded the school’s literary magazine, Forum. He also worked in the university’s publications office.
From 1961 to 1962, he served as the director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. During his short time there he developed an appreciation for arranging physical things in unorthodox, dissonant ways. These placements forced viewers to see the subjects differently, an idea which found its way into his writing.
Barthelme moved to New York City in 1963 to become the managing editor of the arts and literature journal Locomotion. The chaotic energy of the city inspired Barthelme to produce his best writing. Also in 1963, he published his short story “L’lapse” in the New Yorker and soon became a regular contributor to the magazine. The next year he released Come Back, Dr. Caligari, his first collection of short stories. Critics lauded the book, and Barthelme became widely known as an innovator of the short story genre.
Barthelme pioneered exceptionally short fiction, sometimes called flash fiction. His stories frequently deviate from conventional plot structures. Rather than following a straightforward and linear trajectory, his narratives are often fragmented and, at times, chaotic. Through non-sequiturs and seemingly unrelated details, Barthelme builds impressions that reflect the randomness of life and individual experience instead of universal truths. His style embraces the witty and absurd, contrasting humor with serious subject matter.
Barthelme returned to Houston in 1983, where he helped found the creative writing program at the University of Houston. He continued to teach classes and mentor young writers until his death from throat cancer on July 23, 1989, at age 58.
