- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd (Feb 11 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0436200236
- ISBN-13: 978-0436200236
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Clever anachronisms and mock-Arthurian diction mark this madcap, absurdist 20th-century parable, in which Barthelme transposes King Arthur and his Round Table to 1940s England under Nazi bombardment.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The King is Arthur himself, even though Barthelme's brief novel is set during World War II. As "real" battles rage far offstage, the Knights of the Round Table are busy "rushing and riding, foining and striking." Meanwhile, Lord Haw-Haw keeps the populace abreast of Guinevere's infidelities in his broadcasts from Berlin. Sad to say, the late Barthelme doesn't do much with Arthur. The irony is tired, the whimsy facile, the language numbing in its archaic banality: "Yonder knights hurtle together like rams to bear either other down!" Faithful readers of Barthelme may appreciate The King ; others will wonder whether it would have seen publication without his name attached.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this.,
By A Customer
This review is from: King (Mass Market Paperback)
I paid a dollar for this book. God Bless used bookstores who carry out-of-print titles on clearance. The King is probably flawless - I've read it 10 or 11 times now, and each time the language is always as fresh as the previous reading. Donald Barthelme is indisputably the Alpha and Omega of contemporary American short fiction, and this is his very best. If you're not familiar with his stuff, go grab one of the anthologies (60 or 40 Stories), find a good place to read, and become quietly enthralled. The fact that this book is out-of-print either testifies to the current lifeless state of the publishing industry, or the existence of a cold, malevolent trickster-god. If you have personal contact with ANYONE involved in the publishing industry, PLEASE encourage them to read The King, to reproduce it, to lavish it with praise and vigorous marketing, etc. D.B. has slipped out of the American literary consciousness - if that isn't an oxymoron - these last ten years, being instead cruelly relegated to the pomp and ineffectual circumstance of that icy ninth ring of hell, THE LAND OF GRADUATE STUDIES. Unacceptable. Find this book, pay the search fee, abuse the mass-quantity machines at Kinko's, and leave copies on the street corners. Brighten a stranger's day.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I annoyed everyone around me with this book!,
By A Customer
This review is from: King (Mass Market Paperback)
Donald Barthelme's "The King" is the loudest laugh I've ever had from a book! It is the tale of Arthur and his knights fighting World War II, though the tale is told primarily through these characters' sad and outdated dialogue. I read this book almost non-stop through breakfast at a coffee shop, a trounce through my favorite bookstore and then dinner, all the while grabbing anyone close at hand to read passages to. Nasty looks and possibly even violent reactions would not assuage me, for the humor, joy and pure inventiveness of Barthelme's writing kept me as humble and courteous as a chivalrous knight
5.0 out of 5 stars
You absolutely must find and buy and -- finally -- READ this,
By A Customer
This review is from: King (Mass Market Paperback)
Hitler and King Arthur come to blows in this, a virtually dialogue-only novel. Absolutely incredible. Will be one of the top five novels you've ever read
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