Glass Mountain - The - by Donald Barthelme
 |
"Don't look down, don't look down..." |
It's a Donald Barthelme double feature this weekend! "The Glass Mountain" is unlike any short-story I have encountered before--the entire narrative structure consists of 100 individual bullet points! It's clever, hilarious and surprisingly poignant without ever feeling like a mere gimmick. Not many authors could pull off this narrative technique, let alone deconstruct the fairly-tale genre in the process. It's a masterful literary achievement that I can't recommend highly enough, even for those readers who might not be familiar with postmodern literature. Despite the disjointed narrative framework, the essence of the story remains quite accessible, enriched with delightful tongue-in-cheek humor. The narrator is making this perilous climb up the glass mountain using only dual plungers or as he calls them, a "plumbers helper." The jeering audience and his "acquaintances" (see, he's new to city) watch from below, interjecting like a Greek chorus:
11. "shithead"
12. "asshole"
24. "Dumb motherfucker."
It's crude but very funny stuff.
The pathos of this absurd postmodern fairy-tale would be diminished if the sentences were structured into proper paragraphs. The sequential numbered sections is central to the metaphorical conceit of the hero's mythical quest to save the princess in the castle located at the top of this glass mountain. It is another joke as the author is playfully highlighting the knights' deluded pursuit of fame and glory as a superfluous endeavor. Ironically, as a reader, the numbers are going up but you're moving down as you read the story (ascending and descending simultaneously). The numbers seem to following a semi-linear sequential order but the narrative flow is constantly being interrupted by seemingly random anecdotes, quotes, diversions, tangents. For example, in the middle of the list, the actual fairly tale interjects and breaks up the narrative. Ultimately, the numbers are both arbitrary and essential to separate layers of meaning within this hyper-fragmented reality.
The story is also quite cinematic as it captures the different aspects of New York city (from junkies to old people walking dogs), especially the the grand spectacle of these knights scaling the towering glass mountain. The narrative perspective shifts like a camera lens, changing focus, zooming in and zooming out from different camera angles. Working within the postmodernist tradition, Barthelme's mosaic technique, self-reflexivity, repetition and the use of intertextuality show up again. He is also questioning the validity of signs and symbols in literature, which immediately reminded me of the Nabokov short-story with the same title. Symbols of the nightingale (reference to Keats' famous poem?) and the traffic light are worth paying attention to here. The climax is hilarious and absolutely brilliant. It is also a complete subversion of the fairy-tale ending; an unabashed middle finger to signs and symbols as meaningful representation of reality.
You can read this story HERE.