Not-Knowing

The wildly varied essays in "Not-Knowing" combine to form a posthumous manifesto of one of America s masters of literary experiment. Here are Barthelme s thoughts on writing (his own and others); his observations on art, architecture, film, and city life; interviews, including two previously unpublished; and meditations on everything from "Superman III" to the art of rendering Melancholy Baby on jazz banjolele. This is a rich and eclectic selection of work by the man Robert Coover has called one of the great citizens of contemporary world letters. "