Most Popular Books by Julian Barnes

In his first collection of short stories, Barnes explores the narrow body of water containing the vast sea of prejudice and misapprehension which lies between England and France with acuity humor, and compassion. For whether Barnes''s English characters come to France as conquerors or hostages, laborers, athletes, or aesthetes, what they discover, alongside rich food and barbarous sexual and religious practices, is their own ineradicable Englishness. The ten stories that make up Cross Channel introduce us to a plethora of intriguing, original, and sometimes ill-fated characters. Elegantly conceived and seductively written, Cross Channel is further evidence of Barnes''s wizardry.

Conversations with Julian Barnes collects eighteen interviews, conducted over nearly three decades, by journalists and correspondents throughout the world with the author (b. 1946) of such highly praised novels as Flaubert''s Parrot and Arthur & George. The interviews collectively address the entirety of Julian Barnes''s varied works and provide readers the most vivid portrait yet of contexts and influences behind his ten novels, his short stories, and his essays. The interviews focus not only on the author''s fiction but also on his essays, translations, and pseudonymous writings. Barnes''s evolving understanding of the themes developed in his works (history, truth, love, art, and death), his views on the art of the writing process, and the role of authors in contemporary society are also discussed at length.

Sylvia Winstanley, the youngest and most competent resident in a home for the elderly and self-labelled maverick, begins a written correspondence with the author of Flaubert''s Parrot. We are treated to one half of the confused and hilarious dialogue between the two. Sylvia''s bout of ''epistolomania'' offers a charming perspective on growing old, and the associated difficulty of continuing to look forward rather than back. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.

An Everyman''s Library hardcover omnibus edition of two of the Booker Prize-winning author''s earliest and most admired novels, neither of which has been available in hardcover for more than two decades. With full-cloth binding, a silk ribbon marker, a chronology, and a new introduction. Flaubert''s Parrot, Julian Barnes''s breakthrough book—shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984—is the story of Geoffrey Braithwaite, a retired doctor who is obsessed with the French author and with tracking down a stuffed parrot that once inspired him. Barnes playfully combines a literary detective story with a character study of its detective, embedded in a brilliant riff on literary genius. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters is a mix of fictional and historical narratives of voyage and discovery—ranging from a woodworm''s perspective on Noah''s ark to a survivor from the sinking of the Titanic—that question our ideas of history. One of his most inventive works, it was praised by Salman Rushdie as "frequently brilliant, funny, thoughtful, iconoclastic, and a delight to read."

In ''Bark'', Jeanne-Etiene Delacour takes pleasure in the avoidance of any threat to his longevity. Formerly a gourmand and a gambler but now an ascetic, his fastidious new lifestyle is the result of an investment in a public works project - one which holds the promise of considerable reward for the last investor to survive. As he draws black lines through the thirty-nine names in his pocket book, the human capacity to rationalise any indulgence is explored. In ''The Silence'', a composer attests that silence is the logical conclusion to music. He considers the silence that has been in effect throughout the interminable wait for his Eight Symphony, and how it will segue into the silence that will follow the end of his life - a life he claims to have sacrificed on the altar of his art. Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.

In his latest novel, Julian Barnes, author of Talking It Over and A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, trains his laser-bright prose on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov''s guilt -- and the righteousness of his opponents -- would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs.

A seize ans, Christopher et Toni, deux inséparables copains, réalisent que c''est uniquement dans le métro qu''ils peuvent être vraiment seuls avec eux-mêmes et imaginer tout ce qui changera quand ils seront enfin dans la Vraie Vie. Il y aura le mariage - et l''amour huit fois par nuit -, de grandes quantités d''argent à la banque, les boîtes de nuit... Bref, les rêves de tous les garçons de leur âge. Mais sous la plume de Julian Barnes, qui signait là son premier roman, leur éducation sentimentale et autre devient un petit chef-d''œuvre de drôlerie... Un jour, ils auront vingt ans, puis davantage. Lequel des deux saura le mieux équilibrer les contraintes et les illusions ?

La historia del mundo que nos cuenta Julian Barnes comienza en el arca de Noe y termina en el Paraiso, y entretanto la cruzan navios diversos: la balsa de la Medusa, que inspira la celebre pintura de Gericault; el Saint Louis, un barco de B+condenadosB; , que tras zarpar rumbo a La Habana con 937 judios alemanes expulsados de carceles y campos de concentracion, recorrio medio mundo sin que ningun pais aceptara su cargamento, por lo que tuvo que poner rumbo a Alemania; la fragil barca en la que se hace a la mar australiana desesperada y quiza loca, convencida de que el mundo ha sido arrasado por la guerra atomica; y hasta la nave espacial de un astronauta que encuentra a Dios en los espacios - nunca mejor dicho que cada uno tiene el Dios que se merece - y acaba B+redescubriendoB; el arca de Noe en el monte Ararat, en uno de los ironicos equivocos con que Barnes obsequia a sus lectores.B+Un libro quiza muy dificil de resumir, pero en absoluto dificil de leer. Serio e impertinente, fantastico y absolutamente realista, poetico y satirico, enormemente inteligente y muy, muy divertidoB; (R. Irwing, The Listener).B+Julian Barnes ha escrito un libro brillante, imaginativo, audaz, iconoclasta, original, y un verdadero placer para el lector. Que mas se podria pedir?B; (Salman Rushdie).

SEGONA EDICIÓ Una obra magnífica, plena d''humor, profunditat i saviesa, finalista del Man Booker Prize. Probablement la millor creació de Julian Barnes. Un episodi real, oblidat, convertit en una magnífica novel·la: una obra que permet veure en acció el creador de Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, en un interessant cas d''intriga i prejudicis. Arthur Conan Doyle i George Edalji neixen a mitjan segle XIX a la Gran Bretanya. Els seus mons són distants: Arthur és metge i més tard escriptor de fama mundial gràcies a Sherlock Holmes; George, d''origen indi, fa d''advocat a Birmingham i treballa sense cap notorietat pública. Però a principis del segle XX uns misteriosos esdeveniments faran que els dos personatges coincideixin: es veuran involucrats en una trama policial amb cartes anònimes, atacs nocturns i enigmàtics assassinats que van trasbalsar l''opinió pública britànica. Fruit d''una intensa recerca, basada en un cas real, i de la brillant imaginació de Julian Barnes, Arthur i George retrata magníficament la societat victoriana i recrea les vides de dos personatges que esdevenen extraordinaris: George Edalji, acusat falsament i empresonat per motius racistes, i Arthur Conan Doyle, que va investigar el seu cas i va defensar públicament la seva innocència. Traducció d''Albert Torrescasana i Joan Puntí. ''Des del primer parràgraf, sabem que estem a les mans d''un gran novel·lista, que ens transporta a una irresistible narració, i que combina de manera genial biografia, història i l''emoció d''una trama d''intriga real. Barnes, en plena forma.'' [PD James, The Times] Julian Barnes Nascut a Leicester (Regne Unit) el 1946, Julian Barnes és un dels escriptors britànics més prestigiosos, de la generació de Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis i Graham Swift. Irònic, imprevisible i intel·ligent, Barnes és autor de les novel·les Metroland (1981), El lloro de Flaubert (1984) (Prix Médicis, 1986), Història del món en deu capítols i mig (1989), Anglaterra, Anglaterra (1998), Amor, etc. (2000), els reculls de contes Cross Channel (1996) i The Lemon Table (2004), entre altres. Ha rebut nombrosos premis literaris i importants distincions -E.M. Forster de l''American Academy of Arts and Letters (1986), William Shakespeare de la Fundació FvS (1993), el Premi Àustria de literatura estrangera (2004) i Commandeur de l''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2004). Arthur i George fou seleccionada per al Man Booker Prize el 2005. Julian Barnes viu actualment a Londres. Web de Julian Barnes Arthur i George, de Julian Barnes (Portàtil) Res a témer, de Julian Barnes Pulsacions, de Julian Barnes