Rate My Professor Donald Barthelme

Born in 1931 in Philadelphia and raised in Houston, Barthelme enrolled at the University of Houston in 1949, pursuing studies in journalism, literature, creative writing, and philosophy without earning a degree. His professional trajectory included journalism at the UH Cougar and Houston Post, public relations at UH where he founded the journal Forum, and acting director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in 1961. Barthelme's literary career featured innovative postmodern fiction, including short story collections such as Come Back, Dr. Caligari (1964), Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts (1968), City Life (1970), Sadness (1972), Amateurs (1976), Great Days (1979), Sixty Stories (1981), Overnight to Many Distant Cities (1983), and Forty Stories (1987); novels like Snow White (1967), The Dead Father (1975), Paradise (1986), and The King (1990, posthumous); and the award-winning children's book The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine (1972). He received the Guggenheim Fellowship (1966), National Book Award for Children's Literature (1972), and PEN/Faulkner Award (1982). With 129 pieces in The New Yorker, his experimental style marked a significant impact on modern Literature.