I’m bored in the U.S.A
How did it happen?
– Father John Misty, 'Bored in the U.S.A.'
Recently I found myself teaching Donald Barthelme’s now classic postmodern story “The Balloon” to undergraduate students in an American literature survey. When I canvassed for reactions to the piece, I was surprised to hear a majority of the students describe the story as “boring.” Barthelme’s surrealistic tale, in which an enormous balloon inexplicably appears over a large swath of Manhattan one day and elicits a bevy of citizen reactions, isn’t exactly what one would call dull. That’s a little like calling Dali’s drooping clocks tiresome. Nevertheless, the story’s dizzying language, weirdness, and lack of plot failed to keep some students’ attention.
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