Julian Barnes / Peter Childs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Childs, Peter, 1962-

Series:

Contemporary British novelists

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Barnes, Julian--Criticism and interpretation.

Barnes, Julian.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

166 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Summary:

"Julian Barnes" is a comprehensive introductory overview of the novels that situates his work in terms of fabulation and memory, irony and comedy. It pursues a broadly chronological line through Barnes's literary career, but along the way it also shows how certain key thematic preoccupations and obsessions seem to tie Barnes's oeuvre together (love, death, art, history, truth, and memory). Chapters provide detailed reading of each major publication in turn while treating the major concerns of Barnes's fiction, including art, authorship, history, love and religion. Lucidly written, and also satisfyingly comprehensive, this work analyzes the "canonical" Barnes texts, and includes brief but illuminating discussion of the crime fiction that Barnes has published under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. This detailed study of fictions of Julian Barnes from "Metroland" to "Arthur & George" also benefits from archival research into his unpublished materials. The book will be a useful resource for scholars, graduates and undergraduates working in the field of contemporary literature.

Contents:

1 About to be less deceived: Mctroland 19

2 Silly to worry about: Before She Met Me 34

3 What happened to the truth is not recorded: Flaubert's Parrot 46

4 Intricate rented world: Staring at the Sun 60

5 Safe for love: A History of the World in io ? Chapters 71

6 Tell me yours: Talking It Over and Love, etc 84

7 We won't get fooled again: The Porcupine 98

8 History doesn't relate: England, England 108

9 Retrospectively imagined memorials: Cross Channel and The Lemon Table 126

10 Conviction and prejudice: Arthur & George 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [159]-161) and index.

ISBN:

9780719081064

0719081068

OCLC:

687698438