Chimera (Barth novel) Chimera (Barth novel) Chimera is a 1972 fantasy novel written by American writer John Barth, composed of three loosely connected novellas. The novellas are "Dunyazadiad", "Perseid" and "Bellerophoniad", whose titles refer eponymously to the mythical characters Dunyazad, Perseus and Bellerophon (slayer of the mythical Chimera). The book is an example of postmodernism, which can be seen in its metafictional content and its incorporation of stylistic elements that go beyond the traditional novel genre. It shared the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction with "Augustus" by John Edward Williams. The Dunyazadiad is a retelling of the framing story of Scheherazade, the
King Chimera so, with this new King Chimera, it's a bit more metaphorical than that. I'll just leave it at that." In another interview with Newsarama, Sturges said, "King Chimera is a new character that kind of exemplifies the attitude, although he's an extreme case." Sturges also said that King wants to be "the most effective hero he can be and will do anything to achieve that goal." He also mentioned that King wants "to be trained as well as possible, and to take that training and use it effectively against the bad guys." In an Origins and Omens back-up story, Flash