John Barth is the author of such classic works as The Sot-Weed Factor, The Tidewater Tales, Lost in the Funhouse,
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, and the National Book Award winner Chimera. He taught for many years in
the writing program at Johns Hopkins University, and he lives in Chestertown, Maryland.
Summary
In CHIMERA John Barth injects his signature wit into the tales of Scheherezade of the Thousand and One Nights,
Perseus, the slayer of Medusa, and Bellerophon, who tamed the winged horse Pegasus. In a book that the Washington
Post called �stylishly maned, tragically songful, and serpentinely elegant,� Barth retells these tales from varying
perspectives, examining the myths� relationship to reality and their resonance with the contemporary world. A winner
of the National Book Award, this feisty, witty, sometimes bawdy book provoked Playboy to comment, �There�s every
chance in the world that John Barth is a genius.�
