Lost in the Funhouse
John Barth · 1968
Metafiction before the word existed. Barth writes stories about writing stories, and somehow it works.
The case against
Barth's self-interruptions are the whole act, and the act wears thin. 'Title' and 'Life-Story' are essays about the impossibility of writing dressed as stories; the Möbius-strip opener is a gag you get in ten seconds. When the metafiction works, in the title story, it's because Ambrose is real. Much of the rest is a writer watching himself type.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
