39 pages • 1 hour read
John BarthLost in the Funhouse
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Citing examples, explain how the title Lost in the Funhouse embodies major themes in the collection.
Explain the different modes of storytelling and narrative techniques Barth employs in Lost in the Funhouse.
Who is the narrator of Lost in the Funhouse? What evidence demonstrates or undermines this?
Do you think “Frame-Tale” is a story? Why or why not?
What does the narrator of “Night-Sea Journey” mean when he asks: “Is the journey my invention? […] How can I be both vessel and contents?”
Are there commonalties among the female characters presented in Lost in the Funhouse?
Describe Barth’s intentions in opening the story “Menelaiad” by saying, “Menelaiad here, more or less.”
Compare and contrast how the theme of a hero’s journey plays out in two different stories in Lost In The Funhouse.
Discuss the use of pastiche in Lost in the Funhouse.
Focus on what story in the collection and how Barth uses ambiguity in that story.
