From Publishers Weekly
Barthelme, a senior lecturer of English at Texas A&M University, was married to Donald Barthelme for a decade in the 1950s and '60s; here she ably recounts Donald's emergence as an important experimental American author who produced over 100 works of short fiction and several novels. This engaging, unpretentious recollection of "Don," who died in 1989 of cancer at age 58, covers events from his childhood in Houston as the son of a famous architect father, to his development into an "exciting," if often "puzzling," thinker and writer. The reader learns of Donald's various employments, from journalism (the Houston Post) to public relations. With the 1964 publication of Come Back, Dr. Caligari, a collection of short stories, he became recognized for "innovative work [that] challenged the accepted forms of fiction." Barthelme is able to reveal important, sometimes frivolous, often minute details, such as who paid the check when the Barthelmes went to dinner with Kenneth Koch and Robert Bly. She also conveys Donald's seemingly troubled (yet not quite tragic) life, including the alcoholism and intimacy phobia that plagued many modern and postmodern American male writers. Helen Barthelme's frank prose never passes personal opinion off as fact or fawns over its subject; clearly, her own life has been professionally and personally rich. One senses behind this account a pure impulse to document the life and work of a notable American artist; it will benefit scholars and general readers alike. Photos. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Helen Moore Barthelme (English, Texas A&M), who was married to the writer Donald Barthelme (1931-89) from 1956 to 1965, has written a touching memoir of their life together and a psychological and critical introduction to his life and art. Her personal insights into Barthelme's short story collection Come Back, Dr. Caligari and the novel Snow White are invaluable. The author describes Barthelme's family, friends, and reading habits, focusing on his time in Houston and New York, work as an editor and museum director, and struggles to create an individual voice. Whether she is addressing her ex-husband's marriages, his alcoholism, or her own life and career, the author writes with clear-sighted honesty. She is especially adept at describing Houston's cultural life, women's issues, and her poignant and sorrowful view of her relationship with Barthelme. In addition, she has a sharp eye for architectural and design elements of houses and cities. Recommended for literature collections. Gene Shaw, NYPL Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Library Journal
“Helen Barthelme . . . has written a touching memoir of their life together and a critical introduction to his life and art.”


—Publishers Weekly
“. . . engaging . . . Helen Barthelme’s frank prose never passes personal opinion off as fact...”

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Chronicling a literary life that ended not so long ago, this enlightening book begins with a detailed biographical sketch of Barthelme's life and spans his growth into one of the most original and imaginative American writers of the twentieth century.

Donald Barthleme was born in Philadelphia but raised in Houston. Educated at the University of Houston, he became a fine arts critic for the Houston Post, later becoming editor of Forum literary magazine. He was also director of the Contemporary Arts Museum while writing and publishing his first stories.

In the 1960s he moved to New York, where he became editor of Location and was able to practice the art of short fiction in such vehicles as the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar. In a witty, playful, ironic, and bizarrely imaginative style, he wrote more than one hundred short stories and several novels over the years.

In this literary memoir, Donald Barthelme's former wife, Helen Moore Barthelme, offers insights into his career as well as his private life, focusing especially on the decade they were married, from the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties—a period during which he developed the forms and genres that made him famous. In open, straightforward language she tells about their love for each other and about the events that finally divided them.

Scholars of avant-garde American literature will gain insider perspective on one man's life and the years which, for all their myriad joys and downturns, produced some of the best-remembered works in the literary canon.

About the Author:Helen Moore Barthelme is senior lecturer of English at Texas A&M University, College Station. A former professor at the University of Houston and Dominican College in Houston, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal