A Study On The Theme Of Pursuit In Julian Barnes' Novels

Julian Barnes(1946-),a famous contemporary British novelist and eritic,known as "the chameleon of British literature".His writing inherited the experimental tradition created by modern writers such as Woolf and Joyce,while continuing to be extended by the great humanism tradition and Swift's irony of English literature developed by Arnold,Rachel and Levis.He was deeply influenced by French culture.The skepticism represented by Montaigne and the tradition of critical realism represented by Flaubert deeply influenced his thought.His writing described marriage and love in British middle class families,as well as in the postmodern context of the:history and memory of the reflection on the meaning of life.In England.England,Julian Barnes described the protagonist's pursuit of:childhood memory and the construction of the theme park in England to explore the:crisis and reconstruction of his own identity and national identity.Memory is subjectiveand constructive.Identity and memory do not have a cognitive end point.Barnes pays attention to the importance of identity.Barnes himself has also experienced the transformation from the identity of popular literature writer of detective novel to the:literary identity of serious literary creator.At the same time,he also maintained a strong interest in historical events and historical figures,such as the historical events of biblical stories in A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters and the rewriting of Noah's Ark.Barnes reshapcd Flaubert inFlaubert's Parrot,Conan Doyle in Arthur&George and Shostakovich in The Noise of Time.Barnes liberating history from the victor on the basis of real material.His writing:dispels the uniqueness and monotonicity of the authoritative cliscourse of traditional historical writing,so that readers can understand the historical truth and historical'figures from different aspects.In The Sense of an Ending,Barnes revised personal history through the memory of the fictional character Tony,who has a constructional power over past history.Barnes realized the deceptiveness and unreliability of memory and deconstructed the false image of the protagonist Tony,who began the journey of:moral redemption in the process of self-examination and self-reflection.This work was:also the first the Barnes began to focus on moral redemption.It showed Barnes humanistic concern behind his pursuit of historical truth.Barnes sublimated the subject based on the pursuit of identity and historical truth He began to question the meaning of life,and finally put hope into love.In the text Barnes deals with the theme of death and his own fear of facing death.Julian Barnes faces the absence and existence of love and finds the unique role of memory in the eternal contradiction between existence and death.He reconstructing his own literary identity with memory.Arter the deconstruction of faith,philosophy,history,even in the digestion of the meaning of love,Barnes still constructs the value of love to lifeBarnes continues the pursuit theme of western literature,which is not only the main line through the story,but also the motive force to push forward the development of the novel.In his works,he repeatedly explores the relationship between historicaltruth and fiction,memory and self-identification,the weak voice of the individual covered by power discourse and what is the essence of life.Barnes has been thinking:and trying to use literature to communicate the fictitious nature of memory and the:unfinished construction of identity.He also talking about the uncertainty of history and:the ambiguity of moral responsibility in his works.It was the writer's duty to reflect life truthfully and to show it in an artistic way.He depicts the anxiety of existence and faces:up to the predicament,by which he shares his views and thoughts on life with various:readers.The pursuit of Barnes' works will continue all the time.In the process of continuous self-exploration,the writer realizes the identity of the writer and also helps modern human beings out of the predicament and anxiety of existence.It shows deephumanistic concern under the appearance of artistic exploration.