The Absurd And Revolt In The Sense Of An Ending

Julian Barnes is one of the most brilliant contemporary British novelists,and enjoys a worldwide reputation.In 2011,he published a novel The Sense of an Ending,which was awarded the Men Booker Prize in the same year.Narrated by the hero Tony Webster,the novel is divided into two parts.The first part mainly recalls his early school life,focusing on his friendship with Adrian and his love relationship with Veronica.And the second part recounts his present life and the subversion and reconstruction of his previous memories.Short as it is,this novel is regarded by some critics as one of his most skilful works.Studies on The Sense of an Ending home and abroad can easily be found.But most of the them fall into the scope of analysing the themes,narrative strategies,and personal identity of this novel.Few of them touch upon the philosophical and moral issues.Therefore,this thesis tries to probe into the novel from the perspective of Camus,especially his philosophical contemplation on the absurd and revolt.This thesis consists of four chapters.The first chapter is the introduction in which Julian Barnes,the novel The Sense of an Ending,Camus and his viewpoints as well as the literature review and the significance of this thesis will be introduced.Chapter Two begins with the discussion of the definition of the absurd,and then detects the absurd in the novel from the perspective of alienation and time.Chapter Three firstly introduces Camus' s way to revolt against the absurd.Then Tony and Adrian,the two main characters,are selected as the subjects of the case study,during which a conclusion is made that they are “modern Sisyphus” who keep revolting so as to lead a meaningful life in the absurd world.Furthermore,the writer attempts to analyze the motivation behind Tony's memory reconstruction,and points out that the drive for Tony's active revolt is nothing but his moral anxiety.A conclusion is drawn in Chapter Four.The writer concludes that what Barnes presents to readers in this novel is a world of the absurd.And like Camus,he also believes that the absurd is something one cannot escape from.To revolt against the absurd like Tony and Adrian is one possible way to find the meaning of life in this absurd world.Furthermore,Barnes' s probe into the moral issues in Tony's revolt can be viewed as his attempt to reveal the motivation behind Tony's revolt.Barnes is a humanist.He deeply concerns about the existential predicament of humans in facing of the permissive absurdity in the postmodern world.