Lost Name

[Whosis]

There was an author I came across when I was searching through the likes of Thomas Pynchon, and it was said he would use something like "D----" to denote a person's name, using the first letter only. In his novels, the characters were thus victims of their naming in a way. I only ever came across it briefly, and I have since been unable to locate this author's name. I think he is a recent author, publishing around the 1980s or later. Can anyone help?

[Whosis]

Does anybody know if this is John Barth? He writes about Alphabetic Priority in The End of the Road, which makes me think it is possibly him since it is getting there. I now recall coming across Barthelme and probably then Barth, and I think it was this way that I may have found the person who would use the first letter of a name only. Barth certainly is different from what I'm reading. That he is still alive also strongly suggests it is him.