The School by Donald Barthelme

Teacher, what happens when you die?

Consider this my first attempt to catch up on some neglected reviews from years past. I could not have picked a better short-story to kick off 2023. Revisiting The School by Donald Barthelme filled me with such immense joy, awe and excitement that I somehow forgot could be evoked from great literature. I am hoping to ride this wave for as long as possible and slowly get back into the groove of reading again.

Despite only being a few 1000 words, this short-story is more thought-provoking, clever, darkly humorous and emotionally resonant than plenty of novels that I have read. If brevity is truly the soul of wit, then Mr. Barthelme accomplishes this feat with stylistic aplomb. 

On the surface, this is a very simple story narrated by a teacher in a classroom of young children who are fascinated with the subject of death. The playful and self-reflexive narrative voice is also childlike, demotic, colloquial. In essence, the story itself resembles a fast-paced dramatic monologue in the form of everyday speech, emphasized by short-sentences, pauses, ellipses. The use of irony and comedic satire does not allow for the absurdity to feel jarring or out of place. Instead, the author manages to pull off an astonishing balancing act between realism and absurdism that somehow meshes perfectly together, which is just another testament to Barthelme's deft writing skills. 

Children are generally inquisitive and ask questions that adults have difficulty answering or simply do not have the answers to. School is supposed to be an institution of learning and knowledge, yet cannot explain the great mysteries of the universe or provide the answers to some of life's BIG questions: What is the meaning of life and what happens when we die? The underlying philosophical discourse of this story centers around life and death and interestingly enough, religion is never explicitly brought into the fold. Instead, the story attempts to understand the complexity of death from the innocent perspective of children, with darkly humorous results...and that ending, wow! Totally preposterous and funny but also sad, beautiful and surprisingly poignant.