Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Julian Barnes
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He has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize (Flaubert's
Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005)).
In 1989 Barnes published A History of the World in 10 Chapters, which was also a nonlinear novel, which uses a variety of writing styles to call into question the perceived
notions of human history and knowledge itself.
He lived in London with his wife, the literary agent Pat Kavanagh, until her death on 20
October 2008. Barnes' most recent book, a non-fiction exploration of the meaning of death
called Nothing to be Frightened of, was published by Jonathan Cape in March 2008 and
was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize.
Julian Barnes has written numerous novels, short stories, and essays. He has
also translated a book by French author Alphonse Daudet and a collection of
German cartoons by Volker Kriegel. His writing has earned him considerable
respect as an author who deals with the themes of history, reality, truth and love.
There are all fictional stories, nevertheless referring the history or some
historical events (Starting from forefather Noah through i.e. Cold War,
up to space flight)
As Postmodernist book:
Elements of postmodernist literature in J. Barnes:
- Intertextuality ( referring to Noahs Ark, Bible, Gerricaults paintings)
III chapter:
The Wars of Religion
It is a translation of historical document a transcript of legal
proceedings brought by the inhabitants of the French town of Mamirolle
against those who desecrated and paritially destroyed church and in
particular the bishops seat. The defendants are woodworm who
infested the church and settled down on the holiest place in town.
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IV The Survivor
The Survivor tells of a woman who is sick of the world and its temporary situation (explosion in
Chernobyl, cold war). She leaves everything and decides to take a boat and sail off into the sunset.
When she becomes ill her real problems happens. She starts having nightmares in which there are
men in white coats. She tries to trick them or in particular her own mind (as she considers she is
still dreaming).
In this chapter we go into a psyche of the main protagonist and through the whole chapter we try
to figure out which reality is true.
V Shipwreck
This chapter consists of two parts
I tells the harrowing tale of those who were aboard The Medusa when it ran aground. Particularly
the story is focused on a raft and human behavior when people are
the rebellion and difficult choices they have to make e.g. who will be eaten next.
The second part describes The Raft of the Medusa a painting of the scene as those on the raft are
saved. Barnes describes the whole picture and how it was made. He tries to describe what people
see on the painting and contrast this with the real story of the Medusa surfivors.
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