Cover design by Todd Radom

The dead father, who is some 3,200 cubits long, is being hauled across the landscape by means of a cable pulled by nineteen or so of his followers. Except the dead father is not really dead. He is past his prime, sexhｔｔｐ://ｗｗw•９９lｉb.ｎｅｔually and authoritatively. He is vain and foolish, but he looms large. He has been a confessor -- his huge, hollow mechanical leg is large enough to contain confessionals -- and an autocrat. A manual for sons, offering samp９9ｌiｂ•ｎeｔle fatherly monologues and tips on identifying fathers by color and general habit, is included for the confused. Barthelmes extraordinary retelling of the universal myth of fathers carries echoes of Beckett, Kafka, James Joyce, and Sylv藏书网ia Plath. His tale evokes memories of Orpheus and King Lear, but also, perhaps, Woody Allen. The Dead Father, wildly comic and provocative, brims with energy and literary antics.

"Fathers are like blocks of marble, giant cubes, highly polished,wｗｗ•９９liｂ•ｎeｔ with veins and seams, placed squarely in your path. . . They cannot be climbed over, neither can they be slithered past."

Cover illustration by Lonnie Sue Johnson

"The Dead Father is funny, angry, marvelous -- an astonishing book, the best 藏书网book so far by an already prodigious writer." -- Susan Sontag

"The delight he offers to readers is beyond question; his individuality is unmatched. He has now moved to the forefront of the contemporary comic nihilists . . ." -- Los Angeles Times