The English writer Julian Barnes has developed an experimental style during his writing career, which spans twenty-two novels as well as numerous essays and short stories. His novel Flaubert's Parrot, which was his third published book in 1984, marked an important milestone in his career and shaped his image as an outstandingly talented writer who is fearless of unconventional writing. In the year 2005 Julian Barnes wrote an article in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the book called "When Flaubert took wing" for the Guardian. In that article he described how the idea for the novel came to his mind when he experienced finding two different parrots in Flaubert's hometown, which both claimed to be the original parrot Flaubert worked with. The result was the Booker Prize short-listed novel Flaubert's Parrot. In the novel he merges a postmodern style within a biographical story that is profoundly thought provoking. Neil Brooks described the novel in his comparison to The Good Soldier as "part novel and part criticism of both modern and postmodern theories of textuality". Meanwhile, Barnes presents his impressively extensive research on Gustave Flaubert and incorporates his knowledge into the text in a very entertaining way. Due to its experimental style and unconventional structure the book caused a controversial debate whether or not it is still accurate to call it a 'novel'. The extensive sections that do not follow a coherent storyline and the excursions on literary critical topics complicated the book's classification and categorization into a specific genre. However, Barnes himself claimed that he considers his work as nothing else than a novel. Therefore and due to the fact that different publishers decided to define it as novel as well, this thesis will refer to Flaubert's Parrot as novel, too. After all, literary studies deal with Flaubert's Parrot as a postmodern novel and it has often been categorized within the genre of fictional metabiography. Scholars focused often on the two stories the book offers. Namely, the one story is the search for Flaubert's parrot and the other one is about the main character's past. Both stories are connected through intertextual references that are an interesting issue for literary critics. In particular, the intertextual devices in the novel were often subject for literary studies that aimed to interpret its deeper meaning.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Theory of Intertextuality
2.1 History and Development
2.2 Definition and Terminology
3. Ulrich Broich's and Manfred Pfister's Application of Intertextuality
3.1 Manfred Pfister's Qualitative Criteria
3.2 Ulrich Broich's Quantitative Criteria
4. Julian Barnes's Intertextuality in Flaubert's Parrot
5. Intertextuality between Flaubert's Parrot and Flaubert's written remains
5.1 Flaubert's Parrot as Historiographic Metabiography, Biographical Metafiction, or Fictional Metabiography?
5.2 Flaubert's Parrot as Fictional Metabiography
5.3 Intertextuality in terms of Fictional Metabiography
6. Intertextuality towards Flaubert's works
6.1 Intertextuality between Flaubert's Parrot and Madame Bovary
6.2 References in the Text
6.2.1 Emma Bovary's Eyes
6.2.2 Geoffrey Braithwaite's Search for Ellen
6.2.3 Geoffrey Braithwaite's Escape from Loneliness
6.2.4 Geoffrey Braithwaite's Identification with Charles Bovary
6.2.5 Dissatisfying Ending
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography
8.1 Primary Literature
8.2 Secondary Literature
8.3 Online Resources
Objectives and Research Themes
This work aims to analyze the role and impact of intertextuality within Julian Barnes's novel Flaubert's Parrot. By applying the theoretical frameworks of Ulrich Broich and Manfred Pfister, the thesis explores how the novel functions as a fictional metabiography, examining the complex, often unreliable relationship between historical facts, Flaubert's written remains, and the fictional narrative.
- The theoretical foundations and terminology of intertextuality in poststructuralist literature.
- The classification of Flaubert's Parrot within the genre of fictional metabiography.
- The intertextual parallels between Julian Barnes's text and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.
- The role of the unreliable narrator in shaping the interpretation of the novel's biography.
- The function of intertextual references in the construction of identity and reality within the story.
Excerpt from the Book
6.2 References in the Text
Firstly, Madame Bovary is already mentioned after seven pages text and is an intensive comment on Flaubert in relation to the fictional character Emma Bovary. The narrator Braithwaite tells about how a sentence in the doctoral thesis of Flaubert's brother reminded him of a cartoon showing "Flaubert dissecting Emma Bovary [...] flourishing on the end of a large fork the dripping heart he has triumphantly torn from his heroine's body" (Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot, 16). The episode is set right before Braithwaite detects the first parrot and the story takes its course: "Then I saw the parrot." (Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot, 16). This incidence establishes the basis for the oncoming interference of Madame Bovary throughout the whole novel. It already hints to the close relation between the writer Flaubert and his figure Emma Bovary and simultaneously directs the reader's attention on the link between Emma and the parrot.
Additionally, quotations provide a direct intertextual reference to Madame Bovary. One citation even serves at two different occasions as regard to Flaubert's novel. At the first time Braithwaite takes the sentence "‘Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity’" (Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot, 19) for describing one feature of Flaubert's character. He repeats this quotation in The Flaubert Bestiary chapter that discusses animals in Flaubert's fiction and hereby it substantiates some episodes with bears. In the same chapter Madame Bovary even is used as the only evidence for the section about dogs. Accordingly, quotations from Madame Bovary are used as constant proof of Braithwaite's statements and give them a reliable and thoughtful appearance.
The novel and its characters are used in almost every major argument Braithwaite carries out and serves as evaluation for most of the situations described in the book. For example, in Flaubert's characterization of his travel customs to England the date of Madame Bovary's publishing is an expected turning point: "And what of subsequent visits, when he had become
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces Julian Barnes's experimental novel Flaubert's Parrot and establishes the research goal of examining the role of intertextuality in its narrative structure.
2. The Theory of Intertextuality: Defines the historical development and key terminology of intertextuality, focusing on its emergence in poststructuralist studies and its application to literary analysis.
3. Ulrich Broich's and Manfred Pfister's Application of Intertextuality: Explains the specific methodological guidelines for identifying intertextuality, distinguishing between qualitative and quantitative criteria.
4. Julian Barnes's Intertextuality in Flaubert's Parrot: Analyzes the novel's unique position in postmodern literature and how it utilizes intertextual devices to create a self-reflective plot.
5. Intertextuality between Flaubert's Parrot and Flaubert's written remains: Explores the genre of fictional metabiography and examines how the narrator interacts with the historical traces of Flaubert's life.
6. Intertextuality towards Flaubert's works: Investigates the specific parallels between the novel and Flaubert's broader body of work, with a primary focus on Madame Bovary.
7. Conclusion: Summarizes the thesis, confirming that Flaubert's Parrot relies on intertextuality as an indispensable element for achieving its deeper meaning and thematic depth.
Keywords
Flaubert's Parrot, Julian Barnes, Intertextuality, Fictional Metabiography, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Geoffrey Braithwaite, Postmodernism, Literary Theory, Ulrich Broich, Manfred Pfister, Narrative, Unreliable Narrator, Historiographic Metafiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this thesis?
This work explores the essential role of intertextuality in Julian Barnes's 1984 novel Flaubert's Parrot, arguing that the intertextual connections are critical for understanding the novel’s meaning.
Which specific themes are prioritized?
The core themes include the intersection of history and fiction, the construction of biographical narratives, the nature of unreliable narration, and the analysis of literary intertextual references.
What is the primary objective of this research?
The objective is to demonstrate how intertextuality functions as an architectural element of the novel, specifically by connecting the narrator's personal journey with Gustave Flaubert's historical literary works.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The thesis utilizes the analytical framework provided by literary theorists Ulrich Broich and Manfred Pfister to categorize and measure the intensity of intertextual markers within the novel.
What topics are discussed in the main part?
The main part covers the historical development of intertextual theory, the definition of fictional metabiography, and an in-depth examination of the parallels between Barnes's text and Flaubert's Madame Bovary.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Flaubert's Parrot, Intertextuality, Fictional Metabiography, Unreliable Narrator, and Postmodern literature.
How does the narrator's status affect the credibility of the research described in the book?
The narrator, Geoffrey Braithwaite, is portrayed as an unreliable and "reluctant" narrator; his subjective, trauma-informed perspective means the reader must interpret his "biographical" findings with caution.
Why is Madame Bovary significant to the analysis of Flaubert's Parrot?
Madame Bovary serves as the primary intertextual reference point; the narrator identifies his own life and his late wife's struggles with those of the characters in Flaubert's masterpiece, thereby creating a parallel structure.
- Quote paper
- Lisa Hyna (Author), 2013, The Intertextuality between Julian Barnes's "Flaubert's Parrot" and Gustave Flaubert's Works and Written Remains, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/444237
