The Compleat BarthelmeFor over fifty years academics and scholars have studied， reviewed， and critiqued Barthelme's short stories， so I don't figure that a few words from me are going to be especially illuminating。 Suffice to say that I started to read Barthelme in the 60's when these stories were first being published， and I was just on the cusp of becoming a critical reader。 For me， Barthelme's work is the epitome of postmodern elegance and craftsmanship， and even now over fifty years later I The Compleat BarthelmeFor over fifty years academics and scholars have studied， reviewed， and critiqued Barthelme's short stories， so I don't figure that a few words from me are going to be especially illuminating。 Suffice to say that I started to read Barthelme in the 60's when these stories were first being published， and I was just on the cusp of becoming a critical reader。 For me， Barthelme's work is the epitome of postmodern elegance and craftsmanship， and even now over fifty years later I compare the contemporary， experimental， or transgressive pieces I read to Barthelme's work。Anyway， it's always good to have Barthelme close at hand， and this single volume collects everything of importance as well as a few extraneous， but interesting， items。 All of his story collections are included， in the order published and with the contents in their original arrangements。 So， we start with "Come Back， Dr。 Caligary" and proceed to "Overnight to Many Distant Cities"， which is then followed by some later and/or previously uncollected work。 If I could have only one collection I'd choose "Sadness"， just to always have "Critique de la Vie Quotidienne" and "The Genius" readily at hand， but fear not because everything is in here。Pre-publication blurbs promise a "sharp and discerning essay" by editor Charles McGrath， and an annotation that clarifies some of Barthelme's allusions， （which I guess will help readers unfamiliar with 60's and 70's references）。 My ARC didn't have that content， but how could it be bad？Bottom line？ You could trek around with yellowing， small print， paperback originals of these collections， or you can luxuriate in a sharp and complete single volume collection。 If anything counts as essential reading for a modern reader， this is it。 It doesn't hurt that the stories are funny， sad， trivial/profound， and subversively entertaining。 A master collection that constitutes a master class in writing。（Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement， or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review。 Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book。） 。。。more