It is no great secret to any attentive student of John Barth's career that he is dedicated to narrativity, to the telling and retelling of stories. Unlike Samuel Beckett, who throughout his career moved ever closer to the minimal conditions of narrative, Barth has cultivated an exuberant expansiveness of the concept of story such that it threatens to absorb or overwhelm other aspects of the fictive enterprise. It is as if the sinister threat of writer's block can only or best be held at bay by never allowing a/the story to stop, by continuing to spin increasingly intricate permutations and combinations on the original or initial formulation. In a diachronic sense, clearly the later works are, at least potentially, elaborations on the earlier ones.

Now, as a strategy for maintaining narrativity per se, and with it creativity and life itself, this requires ceaseless actual, physical authorial activity, which to the writer must sooner or later come to look increasingly like running in place, with all of the attendant problems of fatigue and futility. Clearly, if narrativity is to become authorial salvation, it must find some means for ceasing to be a one-directional movement into an ever-receding future and become, at least as a model, a cyclical or double-helix looping back on itself so that the author ceases to be the causative agent and becomes part of an inexhaustible process. This Barth does principally by having his characters participate in shape-changing [End Page 427] activities of such fluidity as to challenge any concept of actual identity as such and by having at least some of them assume a protean authorial role. In doing so, he implicitly creates a generic cycle of narrativity throughout the forms of narrative, which assures its logical or epistemological perpetuation apart from authorial effort.

A particularly cogent illustration of how this process plays out in Barth's fiction is afforded by Chimera. When Jerome B.

Languange: en. Publisher by: Abela Publishing Ltd. Format Available: PDF, e. 2/2 Chimera John Barth. Other Files Available to Download. Mar 26, 2011. And John Barth, to argue both that the postmodern turn was occasioned by an interest in digression, and. Such cannot exist in Melville's novel—his logic aims to convert digression into its opposite, the. Allows Barth, as he puts it in Chimera, to avoid a plot that rises 'and fall[s] in meaningful stages' in.

Bray, the purported author of John Barth's works and self-proclaimed descendant of Napoleon's brother, appeals for grant support to Todd Andrews, who in Chimera at any rate is the Executive Secretary of a philanthropic foundation, it is discovered by Bellerophon (who is actually his own ostensibly dead brother Deliades) through the shape- and nature-changing activities of Polyeidus, the unreliable tutor and writer whose pen is capable of slaying spurious dragon-like beasts, that Bray has been reduced 'to writing out for public sale a kind of myths called novels ' (248). Well, what to make of this? Clearly the unreliability of the narrators and the dubiety and implausibility of the tale generate a host of questions. Are we to assume that Barth's novels are in some sense of the word actually 'myths' or are they only ' novellas, longish tales' (28) as the Genie, another Barthian surrogate, contends in Dunyazadiad? Does Bellerophon-Deliades correctly interpret Bray's notes to Andrews when he paraphrases them as identifying myths and novels?

Or is that a function of his having 'comprehended most imperfectly what they signified?' Or is Bray, who is clearly afflicted with a delusion complex and a compulsion to verbal gigantism, simply indicating his lunatic nature in yet another way when he links, if he does, myths and novels? What all of these questions, as well as numerous others adducible, reduce themselves to is the veracity of the word, the truth-value of statements in fiction, and the credibility of the teller. And looked at concretely and practically, it appears clear, at least to this eye, that no uncontestable decision-procedure is available in these instances.

Or if there is, it lies in a different direction and under a different guise than what we are inclined to pursue most immediately. Put most simply, I would submit that the answer to the Ur-question of the nature of myth in Chimera may best be sought in the function or functions of myth in that work. At the same time, it is important to recognize that this answer is likely to prove as unwieldy, multi-stranded, and complex in its totality. • If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution that supports Shibboleth authentication or have your own login and password to Project MUSE, click 'Authenticate'. • • • You are not currently authenticated. • View freely available titles: OR.

Publication date November 1, 1972 Media type Print ( and ), Pages 308 PZ4.B284 Ch PS3552.A75 Chimera is a 1972 novel written by American writer, composed of three loosely connected novellas. The are Dunyazadiad, Perseid and Bellerophoniad, whose titles refer to the mythical characters, and (slayer of the mythical ). The book is an example of, which can be seen in its metafictional content and its incorporation of stylistic elements that go beyond the traditional novel genre. It shared the U.S. Contents • • • • • • • • Plots [ ] Dunyazadiad [ ] The Dunyazadiad is a retelling of the framing story of, the famed storyteller of the. The story is told from the point of view of Scheherazade's younger sister Dunyazade. Its characterization as can be understood as a result of the use of several literary devices, most notably the introduction of the author as a character and his interaction with Scheherazade and Dunyazade.

The author appears from the future and expresses his admiration for Scheherazade and the 1001 Nights as a work of fiction, of which Barth's Scheherazade has no knowledge. Realizing that he has appeared to Scheherazade on the eve of her first encounter with Shahryar, and seeing her without a solution to her predicament, the author himself suggests the stratagem of using a chain of interrupted stories to forestall her execution, and offers to tell her a new story every day with which to regale the king the following evening. Taking the author for a, Scheherazade agrees. Perseid [ ] The second novella entitled Perseid follows the middle aged Greek hero in his struggle to obtain immortality. Told from Perseus' point of view, the first part of the story revolves around the retelling of Perseus' life history while the following part details his rise to, and eventual immortalization as a constellation of stars.

Bellerophoniad [ ] The final novella, Bellerophoniad, chronicles the story of, yet another ancient Greek hero. While somewhat rooted in the myth as told by the Greek and Roman poets, Barth's version of the story is not a direct retelling, but instead a.

Much like the Perseid, the Bellerophoniad surrounds a middle aged mythic hero who struggles with coming to terms with his past accomplishments and a desire to secure his future glory. It is, for the most part, told from the point of view of Bellerophon, with various interjections by unknown narrators, one of which is presumed to be the author Barth. Of the three novellas, it is by far the longest and—more so than in Dunyazadiad and Perseid—makes numerous references to the other novellas, further connecting common themes and events between the three. Central characters [ ] Dunyazadiad Scheherazade: Also referred to as 'Sherry,' she is the key storyteller from and much of this novella's plot revolves around her and her power of crafting stories. She is nevertheless not the principal narrator of the Dunyazadiad.

Dunyazad: Also referred to as 'Doony,' Dunyazad is the sister of Scheherazade and being held captive by the King. Doony narrates the first and longest of the three chapters in the novella. Shahryar and Shah Zaman: The King and his brother. Both men were cuckolded by their wives, so together they devise a revenge plan whereby they each deflower and then kill a new woman from their kingdom each night, initializing the conflict of the story. The Genie: Actually a writer - likely a representation of Barth - who magically transports through time and space from 20th century America to Sherry and Doony's room. Rg Mechanics Need For Speed Most Wanted Crack more. Scheherazade is his favorite author/narrator and he falls intellectually in love with her. With the help of the Genie, Sherry and Doony devise the plan to tell the King stories every night to forestall sex and execution.

This plan involves the Genie reading a section of One Thousand and One Nights every day and then reporting back to Sherry, complicating notions of authorship. Perseid Perseus: The hero of Greek Mythology who beheaded the. He narrates his own life story to Calyxa with the aid of elaborate temple murals, paying particular attention to his life after most of his great deeds are over. In the novella, he suffers through a midlife crisis and struggles to understand his relevance now that he is no longer a heroic young man.

He repeatedly struggles with impotence through his story. Andromeda: Perseus's wife who's grown dissatisfied with marriage and Perseus's obsession with his past triumphs. Calyxa: A nymph and priestess charged with the task of caring for certain gods' and heroes' temples, including Perseus's. A very devoted individual, Calyxa appears obsessed with Perseus's stories and craves his sexual attention, despite his impotence. Medusa: Beheading Medusa had been Perseus's major heroic accomplishment, but now the figure troubles Perseus because of his lost glory and issues of guilt.

Bellerophoniad Bellerophon: The Greek mythic hero who first tamed Pegasus and slayed the Chimera, becoming the King of Lycia. Also called 'Bell,' he's Perseus's younger cousin and he constantly compares himself self-consciously to the older hero. The Narrator: Somewhat a version of Bellerophon, he was 'transformed by the seer Polyeidus into a version of Bellerophon's life' in order to tell this story (138).

He constantly questions his own adequacy for the task, and his narrative doubts perpetually intrude in the story. Philonoe: Bellerophon's wife. She loves Bellerophon and is comfortable in her life, but she sees every delight in life as a 'net loss' (148) Melanippe: An Amazonian woman that Bellerophon has as a 'lover and alleged chronicler' in the second half of his life (146). Intrudes on narration periodically. Polyeidus: He tutors Bellerophon and his twin, Deliades, when they were children, and he is the marsh seer who turns Bellerophon into the narrator of the 'Bellerphoniad.' Polyeidus has trouble controlling his magical abilities and prophesying.

Intrudes on narration periodically. Style and structure [ ] Chimera is written in three loosely related sections, or novellas, similar to the way the mythical Chimera is a hybrid creature composed of three animals (typically some combination of a lion, a goat, and a snake). There are a number of Q&A sessions and diagrams, all occurring in Bellerophoniad: a classification of human actions (175), a genealogical chart of demigods (182), a geometric 'schema' for the course of dramatic action (251), and a cyclic depiction of the heroic journey (261). References [ ].