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.
Themes
The Individual’s Mythic Journey
A major theme in Lost in the Funhouse is the idea that each individual pursues their own mythic journey. The one sentence in the opening story, “Frame-Tale,” alludes to fairytale language: “Once upon a time there was a story that began” (1-2). The opening sentence of the next story, “Night-Sea Journey,” sets the theme of the book’s intentions: “No matter which theory of our journey is correct, it’s myself I address” (3). This sentence establishes the I, the individual, who’s exploring a personal journey.
As the collection progresses, Barth’s allusions to Greek mythology, in stories like “Autobiography,” “Ambrose His Mark,” and “Menelaiad,” frame the individual’s journey within the context of specific legends from the Odyssey. On numerous occasions, and at great length, Lost in the Funhouse alludes to the Trojan War and its major players: Odysseus, Helen of Troy, Paris, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra. In stories like “Auto-Biography,” when Barth calls attention to the artifice of narrative craft, he wants us to connect this artifice with the writing of books like the Odyssey,and ask what can be gained–as individuals interested in life’s personal journeys—from knowing these legends were written to enhance an 
