more barthelme

[MalignD at aol.com]

I read, with pleasure, most (many, anyway) of Barthelme's books in the 
seventies and eighties.  I've revisited them since and find I don't enjoy 
them now as I did.  What seemed like "fictional strategies" then seem now 
like exercises in style to no particular end or purpose other than their 
being clever or different.

Probably me, but perhaps Barthelme is a writer for a particular to a time and 
place (New York) and your troubles with him stem from that.