Notes on Chimera by John Barth

Martin H. Fulmer

Professor Jeff Parker

Packet 2

March 15, 2012

Notes on John Barth’s Chimera

Chimera—1 a: capitalized: a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail b: an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts
2: an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially an unrealizable dream ∼ in my brain, troubles me in my prayer — John Donne>
3: an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution (Merriam-Webster)

“Chimera.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopeadia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encylopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 15 March 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/111597/Chimera>.

--Classic metafiction setup when Sharyar says, “…this is a good one you’ve got going, with its impostures that become authentic, its ups and downs and flights to other worlds. I don’t know how in the world you dream them up” (11).

--Dunyazade opens the novel and speaks to Sharyar’s brother (11).

--More metafiction when Sherry says, “… ‘pretend this whole situation is the plot of a story we’re reading, and you and I and Daddy and the King are all fictional characters” (15 – 16). Here Barth reminds the reader again that this is fiction and these are characters in a fiction. Barth makes it work, somehow. For me this works here.

--Barth inserts himself as a character, a genie. The magic words that make him appear are: “It’s as if—as if the key to the treasure is the treasure” (16). Note the repetition of “as if”—I’m reminded of the essay on structural repetitions in fiction.

--Barth makes himself a character, “a light-skinned fellow of…” (16). This works because the idea that Doony and Sherry think he’s a genie is fucking hilarious.

--A final repetition of the magic phrase occurs in the last line of the “Dunyazadiad” (64).

--In the “Perseid,” Perseus has a mid-life crisis and opens with, “Stories last longer than men, stones than stories, stars than stones. But even our stars’ nights are numbered, and with them will pass this patterned tale to a long-deceased earth” (67). This line is fucking rad, but I’m not sure I agree that stones last longer than stories. Also, the “patterned tale” shows Barth’s repetitions are meaningful, or at least purposeful.

--“Godhood was okay” (76). I chuckle at this.

--Also, “(I hadn’t guessed gods shat)” (76), is funny.

--A link to the first section appears when Perseus says, “…I might see the pattern, find the key” (80). This does add unity, but I was hoping for more of a connection between the sections.

--“…each in the second whorl echoed its counterpart in the first…” (105). Once more, Barth reveals exactly what he’s doing.

--Awesome action at the bottom of page 129 and top of 130.

--In “Bellerophoniad,” the third and final section, the first words repeat the final words of the previous section, “Good night,” and “Good night” (145).

--B is on the “eve of [his] fortieth birthday” (150). B feels sort of inferior to Perseus.

--Mentions the “Perseid” on page 153 and, thus, connects and unifies the final part with the middle one. Still, this seems to weakly unify the sections to me. Somehow I long for more of a connection; I’m not sure how.

--Melannipe, an Amazon, is B’s lover (153). Also, “alleged chronicler,” which strikes me as a very funny description of her.

--Discusses structures of fiction and “an internal narrative framed” on page 154.

--B’s “identity-crisis” is not an identity-crisis—“the tradition of the double in literature” (158).

--Uses epistles 251 – 256 and includes freitags on page 261. Three different ones, the last curls in on itself.

--See diagram of hero’s journey on page 271. May be useful for framing future works.

--I like when Anteia says to B, “Your life is a fiction” (293). Like the “Dunyazadiad,” the “Bellerophoniad” has three sections. The “Perseid” has no such divisions.

--Part 2 repeats the “good night” motif. Polyeidus narrates the last section. He says, “…look again at your famous Pattern” (308). This refers back to the hero’s wheel diagram page 271.

--Bellerophan says, “Perseid may be your model” (312). Bellerus calls the world “a beastly fiction” as he falls with Poly down into a swamp in Maryland. Poly has shifted their shapes, into paper, and the story ends when they hit the ground, right in the middle of a sentence, “It’s a” (320).

--I love the first section with Sherry and Doony and how they have the brother kings by the balls, so to speak. Seems the strongest of the three stories, to me. The sections are unified in interesting ways, as noted, but the unity seems forced. That’s part of the point, to pattern the fiction, but Barth is gradually more awkward with the attempts to unify as the reader progresses through each part.