Julian Barnes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Julian Patrick Barnes | |
|---|---|
| Image:J Barnes.JPG Barnes as Francophile and Francophone in Bernard Pivot's Double je (France 2, March 2005) | |
| Pseudonym | Dan Kavanagh (crime fiction), Edward Pygge |
| Born | 19 January 1946 Leicester, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
| Genres | Fictional prose |
| Influences | Gustave Flaubert, Frank O'Connor, Ford Madox Ford |
| Website | Official Website of Julian Barnes |
Julian Patrick Barnes (born January 19, 1946 in Leicester, England) is a contemporary English writer of postmodernism in literature. He has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize (Flaubert's Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005)). He has written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh.
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[edit] Personal life
Following an education at the City of London School and Merton College, Oxford, he worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary. Subsequently, he worked as a literary editor and film critic. He now writes full-time. His brother, Jonathan Barnes, is a philosopher specialized in Ancient Philosophy.
He lives in London with his wife, the literary agent Pat Kavanagh.
[edit] Career
His first novel, Metroland, is a short, semi-autobiographical story of Christopher, a young man from the London suburbs who travels to Paris as a student, finally returning to London. It deals with themes of idealism, sexual fidelity and has the three-part structure that is a common theme in Barnes' work. In 1983, his second novel Before She Met Me features a darker narrative, a story of revenge by a jealous historian who becomes obsessed by his second wife's past. Barnes's breakthrough novel Flaubert's Parrot broke with the traditional linear structure of his previous novels and featured a fragmentary biographical style story of an elderly doctor, Geoffrey Braithwaite, who focuses obsessively on the life of Gustave Flaubert. The novel was published to great acclaim, especially in France, and it established Barnes as one of the pre-eminent writers of his generation.[citations needed] Staring at the Sun followed in 1986, another ambitious novel about a woman growing to maturity in post-war England who deals with issues of love, truth and mortality. In 1989 Barnes published A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, which was also a non linear novel, which uses a variety of writing styles to call into question the perceived notions of human history and knowledge itself.
In 1991, he published Talking it Over, a contemporary love triangle, in which the three characters take turns to talk to the reader, reflecting over common events. This was followed ten years later by a sequel, Love, etc.., which revisited the characters ten years on.
Barnes is a keen Francophile, and his 1996 book, Cross Channel, is a collection of 10 stories charting Britain's relationship with France. He also returned to the topic of France in Something to Declare, a collection of essays on French subjects.
Other works include England, England, a satire on Britishness and the culture of tourism; and Arthur and George, a detailed story based on the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His 1992 book, The Porcupine, deals with the trial of a fictional former Communist dictator, and was published simultaneously in English and Romanian (the Romanian title is Bodlivo svinche).
Barnes' new book, Nothing to be Frightened of, is due to be published by Jonathan Cape in March 2008.
[edit] Works (novels unless otherwise indicated)
- Metroland (1980)
- Before She Met Me (1982)
- Flaubert's Parrot (1984)
- Staring at the Sun (1986)
- A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989)
- Talking it Over (1991)
- The Porcupine (1992)
- Letters from London (Picador, London, 1995) — journalism from The New Yorker, ISBN 0-330-34116-2
- Cross Channel (1996) — stories
- England, England (1998)
- Love, Etc. (2000)
- Something to Declare (2002) — essays
- The Pedant in the Kitchen (2003) — journalism on cooking
- The Lemon Table (2004) — stories
- Arthur & George (2005)
[edit] Works as Dan Kavanagh
- Duffy (1980)
- Fiddle City (1981)
- Putting the Boot In (1985)
- Going to the Dogs (1987)
[edit] About Barnes
- Merritt Moseley, Understanding Julian Barnes, University of South Carolina Press (1997)
- Vanessa Guignery, The fiction of Julian Barnes: A reader's guide to essential criticism, Palgrave Macmillan (2006)
- Matthew Pateman, Julian Barnes: Writers and Their Work, Northcote House, (2002)
- Bruce Sesto, Language, History, And Metanarrative In the Fiction of Julian Barnes, Peter Lang (2001)
[edit] See also
- Edward Pygge, a pseudonym used by Barnes
- Eastwick, fictional location in Metroland
[edit] External links
- Official Website of Julian Barnes
- Official Website of Dan Kavanagh (pseudonym)
- British Council site
- Publisher's Website - includes facts about Barnes and Arthur & George
- Guardian Books "Author Page" - with profile and links to further articles.
- {{WiredForBooks|julianbarnes|1991 interview with Julian Barnes] by [[Don Swaim]}}
- Julian Barnes at www.contemporarywriters.com
- Julian Barnes at the Internet Book List
- Interview on BBC HARDtalk Extra programme - broadcast on 22nd September, 2006
- Audio interview from Writing Lab on open2.netbg:Джулиан Барнс
de:Julian Barnes es:Julian Barnes fr:Julian Barnes gl:Julian Barnes ko:줄리언 반스 it:Julian Barnes no:Julian Barnes pl:Julian Barnes ro:Julian Barnes ru:Барнс, Джулиан sr:Џулијан Барнс fi:Julian Barnes sv:Julian Barnes tr:Julian Barnes zh:朱利安·巴恩斯
