Donald Barthelme Forum Collection , 1956-1960

Biographical Note

Donald Barthelme, short story writer, novelist, editor, journalist, and teacher, was born in Philadelphia on April 7, 1931. In 1933, his family moved to Houston, Texas where his father, Donald Barthelme, Sr., soon established himself as a well-known architect in the style of Mies and Corbusier. Barthelme got an early start in journalism at St. Thomas and Lamar High Schools in Houston.

In the fall of 1949, he enrolled at the University of Houston where he worked on the staff of the Daily Cougar and, as a 20-year-old sophomore journalism major, was the youngest student in the Cougar's history to hold the position of editor. Before graduating, he was drafted into the Army in February of 1953, served in Korea and worked on an Army newspaper there. When he returned to Houston in late 1954, he began working as a reporter for the Houston Post. In September of 1955, he began working for Farris Block at the University of Houston News Service, writing speeches for the President of the University, and, the next year, he succeeded Block as editor of Acta Diurna, a weekly newsletter for University of Houston faculty and staff.

The University of Houston published the first issue of Forum in September 1956. Founded by Barthelme and edited by him until 1960, this quarterly journal featured articles on a wide range of topics including philosophy, literary criticism, economics, anthropology, psychology, biology, mathematics, architecture, film, music, and theater. In 1961, Barthelme became director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston but resigned the following year to move to New York and pursue his career as a writer.

Once in New York, he began to publish frequently in the New Yorker where Roger Angell became his editor and mentor. As a writer, Barthelme has been characterized as an avant-garde or postmodern stylist who relies more on language than plot or character. Upon arriving in New York, he also served as editor of Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess's art and literature journal, Location, for the publication's short life of two issues. He lived in New York for 18 years, occasionally teaching at the City University of New York, and then, in 1980, moved back to Houston to serve as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. Barthelme died of throat cancer in 1989 at the age of 58.

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Scope and Contents

The collection contains three manuscript boxes of materials related to Barthelme's tenure as editor of Forum. Researchers may be interested in the Forum collection of materials post-dating Barthelme's time as editor.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research.

Restrictions

Special Collections owns the physical items in our collections, but copyright normally belongs to the creator of the materials or their heirs. The researcher has full responsibility for determining copyright status, locating copyright holders, and abiding by current copyright laws when publishing or displaying copies of Special Collections material in print or electronic form. For more information, consult the appropriate librarian.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Donald Barthelme Forum Collection, Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries

Acquisition

The papers in this collection were donated by the Forumoffice.

Processed by

Heather Moore, August 1993, Andrea Bean, July 1994. Updated by Julie Grob, 2004.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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