john barth/nights

[David Casseres]

It's really hard to pick a "best Barth."  My personal favorite is
Chimera, but it's somewhat atypical: short, very tightly put together,
a masterpiece of story structure.  Involves the Arabian Nights.

My next-best favorite is The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, which
also heavily involves the Arabian Nights.

And I love the early ones: A Floating Opera, End of the Road, and that
huge parable of the American university, Giles Goat-Boy, or the
Revised New Syllabus.

And inescapably, The Sot-Weed Factor, my introduction to Barth and to
the post-modern novel.  It was utterly unlike anything else I'd ever
read.

On 9/27/06, bob mccart <lebishar at gmail.com> wrote:
> What's the best Barth? What Barth stories involve Arabian Nights?
>