Untouchable Truth

The search for truth is a main theme of Julian Barnes’ novels. In his novels truthin historical records, art, and memory is unreliable and real truth is untouchable.Truth only exists in the past, and the so-called truth in historical things, art and eventhe most believable human memory, is of uncertainty. Barnes’ view on truth can bedetected in his three works respectively. The first chapter is about the uncertainty ofthe truth in historical records. In Flaubert’s Parrot Barnes probes into the uncertaintyof Gustave Flaubert’s uncertain identity. The different attitude and the faked parrotsshow that historical records are of uncertainty and the truth they express is unreliable.The second chapter is about the uncertainty in art. In A History of the World in101/2Chapters, truth in artistic works is influenced by the artists’ subjective preference andthe social discourse. Different understanding of the artistic works makes differenttruth. Therefore truth in art is unreliable. The third chapter is on the unreliability ofthe truth in memory. In The Sense of an Ending Tony’s individual memory isinfluenced by the change of his physical condition and the environment. And readers’collective memory about Tony’s self–recognition is also unreliable because theconclusions they make are from subjective prediction and emotional preference.From the three aspects Barnes’ understanding of the truth is clear.