Came back to this video sadly after Mr. Barth's passing. RIP, truly my favorite novel of all time.

Oddly enough, I live in John Barth's house in Buffalo, NY.

I have a beautiful, signed leather bound copy that I’ve been meaning to get to for sometime. I just started it last night and just now discovered that Mr. Barth has passed. It will make this reading all the more special and I want to express my gratitude for this beautiful work, and honor of the great man’s memory!

I’m currently on Page 121 and am loving it! His control over the language is enviable.

I read this book over the summer. One of my favorite books ever. I literally couldn’t put it down. It’s an underrated classic

I just got into reading books about 6 months ago and upon finding your channel was pleasantly surprised to find someone so enthusiastic about reading. My journey into literature began 6 months ago with reading The Sorrows of Young Werther and at the current moment I am reading The Pensees from Pascal. Happy to have found your channel.

RIP John Barth

God, I love this book. What a pleasant surprise to see this discussed here. Hope it encourages more Barth readership.

Let’s get The Sotweed Factor available in audio form! I’ll gladly read it. It’s too good for it to not be available in audio

One of my favorite novels and writers. Something about his playfulness, his diction, his interweaving and juggling of the varied plot lines and stories within stories, does it for me like few authors can. One thing to emphasis with “The Sot-Weed Factor” is just how hysterical it is. Nearly impossible to go more than a few pages without at least smirking, if not outright belly laughing. Thoroughly enjoyed your review (and channel)! Would definitely recommend “The Tidewater Tales” if you haven’t read it already. And as a Marylander, I love watching interviews of Barth and hearing his Maryland accent. Barth is simply a wonderful chap!

One of my all time favorites!!

John Barth teaches us how to read, and so do you. Thank you for these videos.

can I just say I adore your channel and appreciate the work you put in and your videos are truly some of the best on KZfaq in my opinion.

When I first discovered those open Yale courses, I immediately gravitated toward the one you mention here - The American Novel since 1945: I would listen to each lecture on my long commute - so it's nice that you reference it. I hope everyone who hasn't watched/listened to those lectures can find the time to do so. Also want to add that your breakdown of Barth is similar to your previous videos in that it's amazingly well done!

I share your love of "Lost in the Funhouse." Turned me into an instant John Barth fan when I first read it in college.

The Ocean of the Stream of Story!

Love this. I’m getting a copy for sure and adding it to my list. Thank you.

I also like Floating Opera and Giles the Goat Boy.

This is getting added this to my list. I'm psyched that it seems to be getting reprinted in August by the same folks reprinting Miss Mackintosh, My Darling the following month. Thank you for continuing to wield your laser pointer in the endless stacks of literature!

Thanks for the video! More John Barth, please.

14:56 It’s always fun when books take on a life of their own as you’re writing them

Great content, as we have all come to expect on this channel. This is another of many lxl videos that make me want to read a book I never really considered reading before.

This was the very first novel in my very first Freshman college English class. Talk about culture shock!

I found this commentary not only illuminating but very persuasive in convincing me to pursue John Barth. So 'The Sot Weed Factor' is on my list for 2023. Thus far I have only read 'Lost in the Funhouse' and a buddy of mine at William and Mary often pushed me toward Barth. I am re-reading War and Peace and shall spend time on that video of yours. Well done and thanks!

so clever and so funny, i laughed out loud many times reading this

Awesome book! I read it last Summer. Amazing review as always!

Great to see you cover Barth (I remember a brief mention of The Floating Opera in an earlier video)… I found the grittiness of The End of the Road, which I think may be a one-off to the rest of his work, so satisfying I never felt compelled to get into his later playful and massive work… I like the discussion of place and how it tied into this writer for you, I believe Stephen Dixon may have been from the same region or at least worked there for a while

one of my favourites

I don't remember much of the book. I remember that I found a strong link to Mason & Dixon, but found the latter superior, I remember all kinds of touching points between the novels that I don't remember anymore in detail and the only scene that I vividly remember is the one when they exchange slang terms for prostitutes over many pages and I laughed until tears came into my eyes

As I re-listen to this and the Barth quote at around 8:00 I see that blurring the distinction between form and content is definitely a good description of his writing in my view

History is hysteria!

I found out about the Sot-Weed Factor by reading a 1965 article where it mentions Lesley Gore (one of my favorite singers) being "engrossed in reading" the book. 😊 I had to order it through interlibrary loan and it took weeks to arrive, but I finally started it and I'm enjoying it so far!

It's Mik-uhl-mus, not Michael-mas. Still in use among British public schools and Oxford and Cambridge colleges to designate what Americans would call the fall semester.

I had never heard of John Barth until Scott Bradfield made a couple of videos about him. I listened to Kevin Pariseau reading the first 3 novels on Audible and was blown away. He really brings The Sot-Weed Factor to life. How Barth held it all together I'll never know. I am sure he would have been cancelled if he had written it today. With all the rape and prostitution I am sure it would be written off as misogynistic.

I've come to know john barth in the same way as you, by finding yale courses on American authors.

The only Barth I’ve read was Giles Goat-Boy (found it for $1). It really gave me a love for over-bloated novels. It would be cool to see a review on it!

Good exposition. I'm procuring a copy.

Great video. If you like Barth, I really can’t recommend enough that you try Gene Wolfe. He’s more on the actual genre side of things with sci fi and fantasy, but he’s an incredible prose stylist, is obsessively specific and careful with language and words, and draws on that great wealth of story that Barth does. They feel like cousins, as does Nabokov and Borges.

The new edition of this book, due to be released next week, has been moved to November of this year.

I read The Sot-Weed Factor as an undergraduate, not for a literature class, but for a history class, a class in Colonial American history taught by the late Michael Kammen. He was convinced that the chaos of colonial society described in the book was an accurate depiction of the reality of late 17th century life in Colonial Maryland. It's been decades since I read it, and my cheap paperback copy is long lost, so before I can reread it, I'll first have to embark on a search for a used hardback in decent shape. So, a mini project all itself to look forward to.

Great vid, great channel

Really looking forward to the re-release later this year!

Great video, made me want to get this one and reread lost in the funhouse

Great pick, I’ve been reading to read this one for a while.

I read The Floating Opera a few months ago, and I ended up with more questions than answers but it was an excellently crafted novel. It didn't blow me away but some scenes and quotes still stick with me today. Is there a more entry level Barth you would recommend, and do you think The Sot Weed Factor would fit that bill? Thanks for the great content.

Lost In The Funhouse is, well, a lot of fun to get lost in. I've always wondered why it's not in Bloom's canon. But this other Künstlerroman of his is. Now I must get my hands on a copy of The Sot-Weed Factor, so thanks as usual for uinintentionally helping me squander my hard-earned wages- why save it for a rainy day when one can spend said day reading?

I’ve read sotweed, chimera, and floating opera. Which of his do you suggest I pick up next?

I read Lost in the Funhouse last year (right before reading David Foster Wallace's 'Westward...' story that was a response to it). Both of those stories felt so meta and trippy and academic that I think like I only partially understood them and what they were trying to do. So I haven't really had the urge to go back to John Barth. Should I? Is S-WF the place to start with Barth?

morning Chris. thank you for uploading. any possibility you’ll cover john hawkes in future, oh also gerald murnane !

Reading this right now! 200pgs in. The politics are hard to follow but there are just some amazingly funny episodes every few pages. Really amazing book. I think it’s the funniest I’ve ever read. Do you have funny books you enjoy?

Coming out in a new paperback edition this August! Can't wait!

One of the big ones I have yet to read, will get to it asap, just started 'The Books of Jacob' by Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel winner in 2018, 964 pages, she is dazzling, try 'Drive Your Plow Over' and 'Flights' both masterpieces. Also just finished 'The Nix' by Nathan Hill, 700+ pages that kept me turning pages till the end, excellent book.

Do you have any books about understanding poetry ?

Oh cool didn’t think anyone was gonna read and discus and explain and review this behemoth. Although, I couldn’t get through, “The Floating Opera,” “The End of the Road” or “The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor.”

Looooovvveee Barth

You should read François Rabelais or Kristin lavranstadatter I’d be very interested in what you have to say thank you so much you are such an inspiration😊

Managed to snag a tiny English hardback copy off of EBay not long ago. Need to get around to Barth at some point. Own four of his novels that are languishing on my shelves. Maybe this bad boy will finally get his time in the spotlight, at least after I finish Mircea Cartarescu’s Nostalgia. I picked up and read The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois on your recommendation. One of my professors did too. Can’t say I liked it as much as you. My professor wasn’t a fan either. Think the prose was a bit flat overall, and the plot and characters didn’t grip me much either. Though I have a feeling the latter two issues are a me problem, and not so much the novels fault. Judging by the Archival Coda at the end: “This is a black feminist novel. I am unapologetic about that”, I’m probably not the intended audience. I’m male, white and most of all European, so the intense focus on American race relations doesn’t resonate as strongly with me as it would with an American reader, especially one who also resonated with the racial and feminist aspects of the text. Cheers anyway. Another great video.

I've heard it's a great book. I've read some of Barth's shorter fiction.

Hello sir it's me, John. I was the one who asked you about Bergman and The Seventh Seal, and I asked you about Bach. My old account named 2001 Space is lost. So I am still here and watch your video. I wanna you about Ben Hur book ? Have you read it, if you have , do you like it ? Thanks 🙏❤

The Kathasaritsagara!

Rereading this book, and god is it hilarious and poignant. Unfortunately i feel a bit of kinship with our hapless protagonist, but love his exploits!

I love #DavidFosterWallace, and DFW speaks highly of #JohnBarth, just as you do #LeafByLeaf. So, maybe I'll dip my toe into Lost In The Funhouse. Thank you! 📚

good morning

You need an Amazon affiliate link. I buy a lot of the stuff you review

Thanks for the excellent appreciation of one of my favorite books -- one that is unfortunately not as well known as it should be. All I can add is that one doesn't really get a sense from your discussion as to how bat sh*t crazy this book is.