{"product_id":"lost-in-the-funhouse-9780385240871","title":"Lost in the Funhouse","description":"\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - John Barth's lively, highly original collection of short pieces is a major landmark of experimental fiction exploring themes of purpose and the meaning of existence. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[Barth] ran riot over literary rules and conventions, even as he displayed, with meticulous discipline, mastery of and respect for them.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom its opening story, \"Frame-Tale\"--printed sideways and designed to be cut out by the reader and twisted into a never-ending Mobius strip--to the much-anthologized \"Life-Story,\" whose details are left to the reader to \"fill in the blank,\" Barth's acclaimed collection challenges our ideas of what fiction can do. Highlights include the Homerian story-wthin-a-story-within-a-story (times seven) of \"Menalaiad, ' and \"Night-Sea Journey,\" a first-person account of a confused human sperm on its way to fertilize an egg. All of the characters in \u003ci\u003eLost in the Funhouse \u003c\/i\u003eare searching, in one way or another, for their purpose and the meaning of their existence. Together, their stories form a kaleidescope of exuberant metafictional inventiveness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Barth\u003c\/b\u003e (1930-2024) was an American writer celebrated for his postmodern and metafictional fiction. Barth's first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Floating Opera\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1956, followed by \u003ci\u003eThe End of the Road. \u003c\/i\u003eBarth achieved critical and commercial success in the 1960s with \u003ci\u003eThe Sot-Weed Factor \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eGiles Goat-Boy\u003c\/i\u003e. His collection of interconnected stories, \u003ci\u003eLost in the Funhouse\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1969. His other works include \u003ci\u003eChimera\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of three novellas that won the National Book Award in 1973; \u003ci\u003eLetters\u003c\/i\u003e, an epistolary novel; \u003ci\u003eSabbatical: A Romance\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eThe Friday Book\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of essays.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Anchor Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50523560247570,"sku":"9780385240871","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8d6a9d68-2503-404e-9ce0-1cb4c113aff9.jpg?v=1731152425","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/lost-in-the-funhouse-9780385240871","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}