The New Yorker: Fiction cover image

Donald Antrim Reads Donald Barthelme 2021

The New Yorker: Fiction

CHAPTER

The Balloon Is a Manifestation of My Longing and My Deprivation

"This balloon is a manifestation of my longing and my deprivation while this lover was away," he says. "It's stored in west virginia. Why? Why? Yes, because he doesn't have a use for it any longer." At the very last line makes me think, you know, it's waiting there in case it's needed again. If they'd become angry with each other, right? So why would anger cause the balloon to be inflated? Because it would be a break in their relationship, and it would be rift. It would put him into discomfort again, longing. And the balloon is his solution for discomfort, or it's his representation of discomfort. We say that

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