The Development of a Postmodernist Aesthetics in the Fiction of John Barth From "The Floating Opera" to "Letters"

This study of the development of a postmodernist aesthetics in the novels of John Barth from The Floating Opera to LETTERS has three main purposes. First, emonstrating that this development has taken place - albeit not in a simple linear fashion - from the early dissatisfactions with the realist mode to a complete postmodernist form. Secondly, reinforcing this claim by employing a variety of critical methods to prduce a detailed analysis of the works and examining some of the weaknesses inherent in a structuralist reading of Barth's fiction. Finally, analysing Barth's relationship with the various forms of postmodernism