Julian Barnes Libri

Siamo creature destinate a vivere coi piedi per terra, ma aspiriamo a elevarci. Da spettatori terragni, occasionalmente raggiungiamo gli dèi, spesso attraverso l'amore. Tuttavia, se possiamo elevarci, rischiamo anche di precipitare. Tre pionieri ottocenteschi rivivono in un originale intreccio di fatti e finzione: Fred Burnaby, colonnello della cavalleria inglese e viaggiatore, la «divina» Sarah Bernhardt, la grande attrice, e Félix Tournachon, noto come Nadar, caricaturista e fotografo. Un comune impulso per il volo li unisce, spingendoli a sganciarsi dal regno terrestre per conquistare lo spazio degli dèi, una metafora per ogni storia d'amore. L'immaginata relazione tra Burnaby e Bernhardt rappresenta l'aria e l'eccentricità, mentre Nadar e la moglie Ernestine incarnano una devozione duratura. Anche la storia d'amore di Julian Barnes e Pat Kavanagh è un esempio di come due elementi apparentemente incompatibili possano cambiare il mondo. Volare è esaltante ma pericoloso; un errore può portare a una caduta devastante. Dopo la perdita dell'altezza e della prospettiva, cosa rimane? Non possiamo scendere negli Inferi come Orfeo, ma possiamo esplorare i sogni e la memoria, che diventano baluardi di una vita intensa e di un amore che continua a vivere, in attesa di un vento che ci riporti in alto.

Chi è l’uomo con la vestaglia rossa nel dipinto di John Singer Sargent? È il dottor Samuel-Jean Pozzi, ginecologo della nobiltà parigina di fine Ottocento, un uomo di scienza ed esteta decadente. Seguendo le sue tracce, Julian Barnes ci guida nella vivace Belle Époque europea, popolata da celebrità come Gustave Flaubert, Oscar Wilde e Sarah Bernhardt. Nel 1885, tre francesi giungono a Londra: due aristocratici e un borghese, formando un "strano trio". Il conte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, il principe Edmond de Polignac e Pozzi, tutti frequentano gli stessi salotti parigini, influenzando l'arte e la letteratura del tempo, con figure come Marcel Proust e John Singer Sargent che li immortalano. Pozzi, figlio di un pastore, diventa un chirurgo di fama grazie a tecniche pionieristiche e ottiene l'ammirazione dell'aristocrazia, curando e amando diverse esponenti femminili, tra cui Sarah Bernhardt, che lo soprannomina "Docteur Dieu". La sua affinità con poeti e artisti è alimentata dal suo fascino e dal suo amore per la razionalità. Barnes dipinge un vivace affresco dell'epoca e delle sue figure monumentali, utilizzando testimonianze, lettere, diari e articoli, creando un'opera che esplora la tensione tra realtà e rappresentazione, fiction e non-fiction, vita e letteratura.

Quando le cronache ufficiali descrissero l’impresa di Noè, sorvolarono su una serie di episodi poco edificanti che, se fossero stati rivelati, avrebbero potuto ridimensionare il valore mitico dell’epopea. Nessuno, però, sapeva che un animaletto, salito a bordo da clandestino, era stato testimone di quei retroscena non proprio eroici, e aveva deciso di raccontarli. Come si conclusero i processi ecclesiastici celebrati nella Francia medievale contro quei tarli accusati di avere rosicchiato gli arredi sacri? Che cosa capitò a Spike Tiggler, l’astronauta che, dopo aver portato un pallone sulla luna, svelò il mistero del Monte Ararat? E quale fine fece l’unicorno che godeva di cosí tante attenzioni da parte della moglie di Noè? Rimbalzando di continuo tra epoche e situazioni diverse, Julian Barnes ripercorre le grandezze e le follie dell’umanità, lanciando una sfida ambiziosa alla fantasia del lettore: immaginare un mondo completamente nuovo.

Discusses choosing and caring for pet puppies, including information about their physical characteristics, behaviors, and health requirements

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.

From the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending and one of Britain’s greatest writers: a brilliant collection of essays on the books and authors that have meant the most to him throughout his illustrious career. • "[A] blissfully intelligent gathering of literary essays." —Financial Times In these seventeen essays (plus a short story and a special preface, “A Life with Books”), Julian Barnes examines the British, French and American writers who have shaped his writing, as well as the cross-currents and overlappings of their different cultures. From the deceptiveness of Penelope Fitzgerald to the directness of Hemingway, from Kipling’s view of France to the French view of Kipling, from the many translations of Madame Bovary to the fabulations of Ford Madox Ford, from the National Treasure status of George Orwell to the despair of Michel Houellebecq, Julian Barnes considers what fiction is, and what it can do. As he writes, “Novels tell us the most truth about life: what it is, how we live it, what it might be for, how we enjoy and value it, and how we lose it.”

The updated edition of Julian Barnes' best-loved writing on art, with seven new exquisite illustrated essays'Flaubert believed that it was impossible to explain one art form in terms of another, and that great paintings required no words of explanation.

Duffy is summoned to a country manor for his hairiest case yet Vic Crowther’s housekeeper found the body. Ricky bled out after crashing through the French windows of the manor’s library. Crowther doesn’t know who did this to Ricky, but he does know whom to blame. Duffy, the security consultant who installed the dodgy burglar alarm, will have to answer for this murder. When Duffy rushes out to the country to smooth things over, he finds more than one surprise. First of all, Ricky was a dog. And Braunscombe Hall is filled to capacity with strange folks—even by Duffy’s rarefied standards. His country sojourn is extended—as are his headaches—when he finds that each of the eccentric guests has a problem that needs his expertise.

Since 1990 Julian Barnes has written a regular ‘Letter from London’ for the New Yorker magazine. These already celebrated pieces cover subjects as diverse as the Lloyd’s insurance disaster, the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher, the troubles of the Royal Family and the hapless Nigel Short in his battle with Gary Kasparov in the 1993 World Chess Finals. With an incisive assessment of Salman Rushdie’s plight and an analysis of the implications of being linked to the Continent via the Channel Tunnel, Letters from London provides a vivid and telling portrait of Britain in the Nineties.

As Julian Barnes notes in his introduction to Alphonse Daudet’s La Doulou, the writer, who lived from 1840 to 1897, was once celebrated as a leading literary figure. Henry James referred to him as “the happiest novelist” and “the most charming story-teller” of his time. However, Daudet was also part of a tragic group of nineteenth-century French writers afflicted by syphilis. In the Land of Pain—notes toward an unwritten book—Daudet offers a poignant response to his illness. With quick, incisive strokes, he details his symptoms, describing pain as a “one-man-band” and his treatments as “morphine nights” filled with sleeplessness and existential void. He reflects on his fears, seeking meaning in pain and urging it to be his philosophy and science. Daudet shares observations of fellow patients at spas, noting the cultural contrasts in their experiences, and he contemplates the deceptive nature of death, which seems to merely thin out life. Barnes’s translation captures the essence of these notes, creating a record that is both shattering and lighthearted, haunting yet beguiling. This work reveals the dual nature of physical suffering—its banality and transformative power—while celebrating the complex resilience of the human spirit.