Studies On Julian Barnes's Conception Of History

Julian Barnes is a famous novelist in contemporary British literature.He is regarded as one of the three giants in contemporary British literary circle,together with Martin Amis and Ian McEwan.Even though Barnes emphasizes that each book is a new departure,but it can be found that the same strain of his novels is his concern and thinking about history through the close reading of his novels.Barnes,a novelist with an acute historical consciousness,is close to New Historicism in his reflection and description of history,historical writing and the power network behind history.As a contemporary British literary celebrity,Julian Barnes is undoubtedly favored by literary critics and various media,and he tends to express his views in interviews.This thesis attempts to interpret Conversations with Julian Barnes and other interviews with Barnes published by various media including newspapers,magazines and television station from the perspective of New Historicism,to collect firsthand materials about Barnes.By doing so,this thesis no longer ignores that the author is also the speaker and makes Barnes' s interpretation of his works and his conception of history be heard.It can make the one-way criticism orient to dialogue criticism and provide a new perspective for the study of Barnes' s conception of history,in order to further excavate the deep connotation of his novels and explore Barnes' s conception of history with his novel The Noise of Time.This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter introduces Barnes and his works,Barnes' s concern of history in his works,Conversations with Julian Barnes and The Noise of Time,and literature review.This chapter also briefly introduces the historical development and the main ideas of New Historicism to establish the theoretical framework of this thesis,and points out the purpose and significance of this thesis.Chapter Two points out that Barnes questions the truth of History because of the untenable historical evidence,unreliable memory and ubiquitous Power.Historical evidence is fragmental and incomplete.It is the personal imprint of the historical creators.Memory is unreliable because people always forget,improve and reconstruct their memory consciously or unconsciously.Besides,Barnes deems that History is shaped by Power.It is the history of power and struggle.Chapter Three explores the reason why Barnes insists on his own way to interpret history.New Historicism points out that the work of art is the product of a negotiation.Barnes' s works are no exception.The thesis points out that as a writer,Barnes' s interpretation of history is the product of his negotiations with the social,historical and cultural environment.His negotiations with his experiences lead him to focus on and think about the nature of history.His negotiations with society result in his focus on the relationship between literature and politics,and his close to political elements in his historical writings and power network behind history.His negotiations with readers drive him to express his view of truth and his conception of history by creating a game rule in his novels to immerse readers in his novels and shape his own dominant position.Chapter Four points out that Barnes replaces the plural histories with the unified History through the image of “anti-hero” Shostakovich,discontinuity in narration and mixture of anecdotes to deconstruct grand narratives,so as to get closer to the truth of history and rewrite histories.Finally,this thesis finds that Barnes' s conception of history in his interviews and his texts are mutually corroborative.His conception of history coincides with New Historicism's in some way.He questions the known history because he states that history is another literary genre,a soothing fabulation,and it is shaped by Power,so he pays attention to individuals' histories beyond the unified History.Barnes negotiates with his personal experience,his views on history and art,the socio-political and cultural background,and readers' aesthetic taste in the process of his creation to interpret history and shape his own dominant position.Through the creation of the “cowardly hero”—Shostakovich,the mixture of anecdotes and discontinuity in narration,Barnes shows his concern for ordinary people and his reflection on the relationship between history and art.As long as music is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time,it is transformed into the whisper of history.