In a 1971–1972 interview with Jerome Klinkowitz (now collected in Not-Knowing), Barthelme provides a list of favorite writers, both influential figures from the past and contemporary writers he admired. Throughout other interviews in the same collection, Barthelme reiterates a number of the same names and also mentions several others, occasionally expanding on why these writers were important for him. In a 1975 interview for Pacifica Radio, Barthelme stresses that, for him, Beckett is foremost among his literary predecessors,[2] saying, "I'm enormously impressed by Beckett. I'm just overwhelmed by Beckett, as Beckett was, I speculate, by Joyce".[9] What follows is a partial list gleaned from the interviews.
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Barthelme was also quite interested in and influenced by a number of contemporary artists, particularly the "found object" collage techniques of Robert Rauschenberg.[2]
