Humboldt University, Berlin

Does Our Life Have a Meaning If History Doesn′t?
An Examination of Parenthesis in Julian Barnes Novel
A History of the World in 10,5 Chapters

by

 Cornelia Neumann

Contents

1. Introduction 1
1.1. Problems 1
1.2. Focus 1

2. The Novel 2
2.1. Structure: Disconnection - Connection 2
2.2. Implications Considering History 5

3. ′Parenthesis′ As Synthesis 7
3.1. Voice 7
3.2. Title: Understatement 8
3.3. What Does ′Parenthesis′ Say About History? 8
3.4. What Does ′Parenthesis′ Say About Love? 9

4. Conclusion 18
4.1. Summary 18
4.2. Criticism 19

5. References 20
5.1. Primary Sources 20
5.2. Secondary Sources 20

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. PROBLEMS

A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes is neither easy to understand nor to classify. Both problems, comprehensibility and classification, emerge from the same root: The book′s complex structure. The 10 1/2 chapters seem to be autonomous episodes rather than parts of the same novel. Therefore, some critics have argued that it was rather ′a gathering of prose pieces, some fiction, others rather like essays′ (Oates, 1) and no homogeneous piece of prose. On the other hand, they have also discovered elements which do connect the chapters. Therefore, one could conclude that if A History [...] does not fit into established patterns of the genre novel, it must be a post-modern novel, as the linking elements make it more than just a collection ′of prose pieces′.
The other main problem, comprehensibility, is tightly connected with the issues structure and categorisation. Given that the reader has discovered the connecting elements and found that they add common meaning to the single chapters, he or she might still have open questions left. Does such a complicated structure imply a certain meaning that is beyond the content of the single stories and their common motifs?
Many post-modern books do not provide explanations, but A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters does.

1.2. FOCUS

The ′half chapter′, called ′Parenthesis′ (Barnes, 223-246), is the key to the novel. It contains clear, undoubtful statements about three major issues: history, love and truth. Although it does not explain the novel, it philosophies about its main topics and thus implies the significance of the book′s literary patterns.
I have chosen to examine the ′Parenthesis′ because it contains essential thoughts which make the book more accessible and are, above all, interesting in their own right. Consequently, I will consider the contents of the chapters as well as their linking elements only in regard to the ′Parenthesis′. This also holds true for literary aspects such as genre-transgression and the established concept of ′historical novel′, which will be part of the argument, but are not the object of this paper. Nevertheless, it is indispensable to introduce the whole novel, that is every chapter, in order to get an impression of the diversity as well as of common underlying issues, which are then reflected in the ′Parenthesis′.

2. THE NOVEL

2.1. STRUCTURE: DISCONNECTION - CONNECTION

Each of the ten chapters which are announced in the title contains a new story and introduces new protagonists. There are tales, myths and actual events, Biblical characters, stories which relate to real events, but deal with fictitious personae, sober reports of historical events and emotional diary entries. The reader is confronted with different literary genres, points of view, geographical and historical settings. In some stories, one can not figure out at all if they are fictitious or documentary. The most applied stylistic device is the allusion. There are allusions to texts, historical and contemporary events and characters. Elements of well-known stories and tales are synthesised to new narratives:

1. ‘The Stowaway’ tells the story of the deluge and Noah’s Ark from a new perspective. This version is different from the one we know. Noah, a decent person in the Bible, is presented as a violent-tempered man who neither treats his sons nor the animals properly. In fact, one gets to know him as a drunkard here. Only at the very end of the chapter, it is revealed who has been speaking: a woodworm living in the Ark.
2. ‘The Visitors’ deals with the hijacking of a cruise ship by Arab terrorists. It is told from a third person’s point of view. There are parallels to actual events: the hijacking of the $FKLOH/DXUR in the 1980s.
3. ‘The Wars of Religion’ focuses on woodworms again, this time in the shape of a protocol of legal proceedings: woodworms are on trial in a French town in 1520 - for eating parts of the church. It is not clear if it is an original archive-document or a piece of fiction. No matter if the story is fictitious or not, there is historical evidence for prosecution and excommunication of animals in the Middle Ages.

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