Sixty Stories

Sixty Stories brings together Barthelme’s most famous works and hidden gems—a dazzling, subversive collection where language bends, reality warps, and the absurd reigns supreme.

With these subversive, razor-sharp stories, Donald Barthelme dismantles the familiar and rearranges it into something dazzlingly strange. Sixty Stories is a literary fun house where language is bent, meaning is slippery, and the absurd is never far from the truth.

Here, the ordinary mutates into the uncanny—an enormous balloon hovers over the city, its purpose debated by those below; a classroom lesson spirals into something darker and more profound; two men locked in a Cold War bunker teeter on the edge of madness. Elsewhere, a friend struggles to coax the Phantom of the Opera out of his shadowy refuge, and an entire town is made up of nothing but churches.

Barthelme moves effortlessly between deadpan satire, dream logic, and moments of startling beauty, crafting stories that are as unsettling as they are irresistible. Whether you’re encountering his work for the first time or returning for another descent into his linguistic labyrinth, Sixty Stories is a testament to a writer who saw the world askew—and showed us how thrilling that could be.

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Sixty Stories

Sixty Stories brings together Barthelme’s most famous works and hidden gems—a dazzling, subversive collection where language bends, reality warps, and the absurd reigns supreme.

With these subversive, razor-sharp stories, Donald Barthelme dismantles the familiar and rearranges it into something dazzlingly strange. Sixty Stories is a literary fun house where language is bent, meaning is slippery, and the absurd is never far from the truth.

Here, the ordinary mutates into the uncanny—an enormous balloon hovers over the city, its purpose debated by those below; a classroom lesson spirals into something darker and more profound; two men locked in a Cold War bunker teeter on the edge of madness. Elsewhere, a friend struggles to coax the Phantom of the Opera out of his shadowy refuge, and an entire town is made up of nothing but churches.

Barthelme moves effortlessly between deadpan satire, dream logic, and moments of startling beauty, crafting stories that are as unsettling as they are irresistible. Whether you’re encountering his work for the first time or returning for another descent into his linguistic labyrinth, Sixty Stories is a testament to a writer who saw the world askew—and showed us how thrilling that could be.

12.99 Pre Order
Sixty Stories

Sixty Stories

by Donald Barthelme
Sixty Stories

Sixty Stories

by Donald Barthelme

eBook

$12.99 
Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on May 26, 2026

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Overview

Sixty Stories brings together Barthelme’s most famous works and hidden gems—a dazzling, subversive collection where language bends, reality warps, and the absurd reigns supreme.

With these subversive, razor-sharp stories, Donald Barthelme dismantles the familiar and rearranges it into something dazzlingly strange. Sixty Stories is a literary fun house where language is bent, meaning is slippery, and the absurd is never far from the truth.

Here, the ordinary mutates into the uncanny—an enormous balloon hovers over the city, its purpose debated by those below; a classroom lesson spirals into something darker and more profound; two men locked in a Cold War bunker teeter on the edge of madness. Elsewhere, a friend struggles to coax the Phantom of the Opera out of his shadowy refuge, and an entire town is made up of nothing but churches.

Barthelme moves effortlessly between deadpan satire, dream logic, and moments of startling beauty, crafting stories that are as unsettling as they are irresistible. Whether you’re encountering his work for the first time or returning for another descent into his linguistic labyrinth, Sixty Stories is a testament to a writer who saw the world askew—and showed us how thrilling that could be.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781250420329
Publisher: Picador
Publication date: 05/26/2026
Sold by: Macmillan
Format: eBook
Pages: 480

About the Author

Donald Barthelme (1931–1989) was a longtime contributor to The New Yorker, winner of a National Book Award, a director of PEN and the Authors Guild, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His sixteen books—including Snow White, The Dead Father, and City Life—substantially redefined American short fiction for our time.
Donald Barthelme was a longtime contributor to The New Yorker, winner of a National Book Award, a director of PEN and the Authors Guild, and a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His sixteen books–including Snow White, The Dead Father, and City Life–substantially redefined American short fiction for our time.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Barthelme can focus our feeling into a bright point that can raise a blister. These 60 stories show him inventing at a fever pitch." —The Washington Post

"Donald Barthelme may have influenced the short story in his time as much as Hemingway and O' Hara did in theirs." —The New York Times

"The delight he offers to readers is beyond question, his originality is unmatched." —Los Angeles Times

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