"The Floating Opera" and "The End Of The Road" are John Barth's first
two novels. Their relationship to each other is evident not only in
their ribald subject matter but in the eccentric characters and bitterly
humorous tone of the narratives. Both concern strange, consuming love
triangles and the destructive effect of an overactive intellect on the
emotions. Separately they give two very different views of a universal
human drama.