Donald Barthelme at Sorbonne University: Narrative, Internet Memes, and “The Rise of Capitalism”

Abstract

This chapter critiques the way short fiction is taught to undergraduates at Sorbonne University. Bowyer considers the narrative workings of American writer Donald Barthelme’s short stories. Focusing particularly on Barthelme’s story “The Rise of Capitalism,” Bowyer argues that Barthelme’s work presents difficulties if one tries to directly analyse narrative. Faced with these difficulties, Bowyer takes an oblique approach to Barthelme’s writing, deploying an analogical methodology by turning to a widespread twenty-first-century cultural phenomenon: internet memes. By considering Barthelme in this context it may be possible to better understand the narrative workings of a writer who has often been too quickly dismissed as anti-narrative. Barthelme’s work refuses to cooperate with the Sorbonne’s teaching methodology; however, Bowyer argues that Barthelme’s writing is pedagogically helpful because it calls attention to the workings of narrative itself. By toiling with Barthelme’s stories one gains a better understanding of how short fiction is being taught in these Parisian classrooms.