Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme (1931-1989) was an American author renowned for his playful postmodernist short stories and novels featuring experimental collages, irony, and fragmented narratives. Notable works include the short story collections Come Back, Dr. Caligari, Sixty Stories, and City Life, novels like Snow White and The Dead Father, and the National Book Award-winning children's book The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine or the Hithering Thithering Djinn. He received the PEN/Faulkner Award for Sixty Stories and a Guggenheim Fellowship, establishing him as a key innovator in 20th-century American literature.