{"product_id":"the-floating-opera-and-the-end-of-the-road-9780385240895","title":"The Floating Opera and the End of the Road","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of National Book Award-nominated \u003ci\u003eLost in the Funhouse - \u003c\/i\u003eJohn Barth's first two novels are both existential comedies featuring strange, consuming love triangles and the destructive effects of an overactive intellect on the emotions. \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\u003eThe relationship between these two darkly comic novels is evident not only in their ribald and philosophical subject matter but in their eccentric characters and bitterly humorous tone. The protagonist of \u003ci\u003eThe Floating Opera \u003c\/i\u003eis Todd Andrews, an orphaned war veteran who has been sleeping with his friend's wife. Todd awakens in the morning determined to commit suicide, having concluded that nothing in life has intrinsic value--but then spends the day methodically reasoning his way into disregarding that fact and remaining a part of the floating opera of life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe End of the Road\u003c\/i\u003e, a man named Jacob Horner finds himself literally paralyzed by an inability to choose a course of action from all possibilities. He begins an unconventional course of \"mythotherapy\" treatment at the Remobilization Farm, but his eccentric doctor's directives lead him into a tragic love triangle and from there to the nihilistic end of the road. Separately these two novels give two very different views of the universal human quest for meaning, and together they form the beginnings of an illustrious literary career.\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; \u003ci\u003eThe End of the \u003c\/i\u003eRoad; and \u003ci\u003eThe Friday Book\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of essays.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Anchor Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50460165898514,"sku":"9780385240895","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1731391c-0129-4a53-9a4a-8ecfd7f0ec40.jpg?v=1730031889","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-floating-opera-and-the-end-of-the-road-9780385240895","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}