John Barth
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Barth, John (Simmons)
(1930– ) writer, educator; born in Cambridge, Md. He graduated from Johns Hopkins, where, during a long academic career, he joined the English faculty (1973). His novels, some set on Maryland's Eastern Shore, were distinctive for their formal ingenuity and an existential questioning bordering on nihilism. They include The End of the Road (1958), Chimera (1972, National Book Award), and Tidewater Tales (1988). A major exception was his second novel, The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), a long, playful parody written in the style of an 18th century novel.The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.