In Pursuit Of The Real--A Study Of Flaubert's Parrot

Julian Barnes' most celebrated Flaubert's Parrot is generally hailed as an epitome of postmodernist fiction that brims with formal innovation. Barnes himself, however, argues that the novel starts with life. He claims that he never sees himself as an empty technician. This thesis explores some of the implications of Barnes' self-characterization and examines the ways in which Barnes expresses his concern for life and reality in Flaubert's Parrot. Bringing the notion of reality in the postmodern context under investigation, Flaubert's Parroi shows the narrator pursuing the historical reality of Flaubert on the one hand, searching for the reality of his personal life on the other hand. In so doing, the novel portrays a postmodern man who finds himself in a situation where there is not an easy answer. Extending beyond traditional mimesis, Barnes depicts the dilemma of human beings when confronting realities in the postmodern era in Flaubert's Parrot,This thesis consists of four parts.Part One introduces the reception of Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot, in relation to the changing perceptions of the relationship between the novel and reality when fiction writing developed from Realism to Postmodernism.Part Two investigates the ways in which the self-conscious narrator engages in his frustrated chasing of the historical reality of Flaubert and the parrot Flaubert once used as a model when writing A Simple Heart and his various attempts to construct an innovative biography of Flaubert.Part Three examines the ways in which the narrator tries to make sense of his life. Not an "autonomous source of meaning" the narrator has much difficulty giving an account of his personal reality because he could not understand his relationship with his unfaithful wife or his wife's suicide.Part Four is a conclusion in which I argue that in Flaubert's Parrot Barnes portrays the dilemma of human beings who, in the postmodernist era, while aware of the constructedness and uncertainty of reality, history and truth, still do not want tolose the assurance of reliable reality. I believe that shining through the narrator's pursuit of the real is Barnes' strong concern for life and reality. Barnes' humane and liberal spirit combines with his formal awareness to distinguish him as one of the most uniquely humanistic contemporary British writers.