Within the context of English contemporary
writing, Julian Barnes has merely deserved one of the most oustanding places.
Books such as England, England, have
earned him a reputation recognized all over the world, but specially
in Europe. Reviews on his books are translated into several languages (Italian,
Russian,
French...),
showing up to what extent Julian Barnes is known within the literary scene.
This confirmation of Barnes as one of the best English
writers at present, is also shared by myself, who first met Barnes's writing
in England, England. I should like to point out a series of factors
that made me decide to work on this author.
First of all, Julian Barnes's writing is undoubtedly
full of cleverness. In other words, in his books, Barnes shows a high degree
of maturity, of intelligence, specially when attempting to give reasons
for his characters' behaviours, as well as when trying to face difficult
situations that spring from any particular reason in his novels. We could
mention other situations which allow Barnes to make use of his witty techniques,
but it will suffice to say that this fact is also considered to be valid
in our author's writing by most of the reviewers on, for instance, England,
England. Andrew Marr , Ann
Skea , Andro Linklater , John
Carey... All this critics consider Barnes to be one of the most witty
and elegant writers. Actually, the fact of considering Barnes that way
has to do also with the idea held by some people about what literature
stands for in England. In other words, not only nowadays, but sometimes
looking at earlier periods.
England remains being an extraordinary source for
literature, if we take into account the large amount of English writers
whose fame spreads beyond the island: Shakespeare, Chaucer... are examples
of this extraordinary England-based literary wave. Questions regarding
this matter are to be found in one of the interviews we have included in
this page, that written for Booksonline.
But, at the same time, we may find other opinions
disagreeing with what has been said above. It is the case of
Lesley Hazleton, who, having interviewed Julian Barnes, has a quite
curious impression on this author; the title of the review is useful in
considering this critic's point of view: "Julian barnes is just a normal
guy". Probably, what the critic thinks about barnes is in no way thought
by the English writer. Is Barnes supposed to behave as a Postmodern writer?
With regard to this question, Barnes told one interviewer: "I can't say
I'm a Postmodern writer because, frankly, I don't think of myself that
way2 (See history review).
It is difficult to define Julian Barnes as a Postmodern
writer, because it is also difficult to explain what Postmodernism stands
for, actually; no agreement has been made on this fact among contemporary
criticism (See Postmodernism article, related
to this subject). While A History of the World
and Flaubert's Parrot may be included in
that category, Metroland or The
Porcupine are considered much more realistic. And what about england,
England, should be consider the appearance of a new writing? In my opinion,
England, England is one of the funniest novels i have ever read. We are
to find in this novel a lot of influences, but there are some specially
worth mentioning: these are that of Tom
Sharpe, in relation to the humour, and that concerning the French culture,
somethin Julian barnes is really fond of. There are several critics that
mention Tom Sharpe as
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© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Javier Herrera Sáez
Universitat de València Press
Creada: 04/10/2000 Última Actualización:
04/12/2000
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