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الیزابت فینچ
«نیل»، راوی داستان در کلاس فوق برنامه� و آزاد «فرهنگ و تمدن» که مختص بزرگسالان است، شرکت می‌کن�. او در طی این کلاس‌ه� به این استاد دانشگاه علاقه‌من� می‌شود� استادی که در عین عزلتنشینی� شخصیتی عجیب استوار و راسخ دارد. در ادامه متوجه می‌شوی� افسار روابط شخصی و حتی خانوادگی «نیل» از دستش خارج شده و او اهمیت چندانی به آنه� نمی‌ده� و بااین‌حا� الیزابت فینچ و هر چه به او اندک ارتباطی دارد، حتی بعد از مرگ او، تبدیل به بزرگ‌تری� دغدغهٔ تمام زندگیا� میشو�. جذابیت‌های� که همیشه در آثار جولین بارنز سراغ داشتهای� در رمان کوتاه «الیزابت فینچ» نیز مشهود است؛ ماجرای عاشقانها� غریب، گریز به ناداستان (این بار از طریق علاقهٔ نیل به جولین مرتد و جستاری که دربارهٔ او مینویس� و همچنین یادداشت‌ها� الیزابت فینچ که بعد از مرگش به دست نیل میرس� و راهنمای او در مسیر نوشتن این جستارند)، اشارات نه‌چندا� آشکار اما هوشمندانه به تاریخ، زندگینامه� فلسفه و همچنین دعوت به اندیشیدن مستقل.
چاپ اول ۱۴۰۱
چاپ اول ۱۴۰۱
227 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2022
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8,462 people want to read
About the author
Julian Barnes
161books6,563followersJulian Patrick Barnes is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with The Sense of an Ending, having been shortlisted three times previously with Flaubert's Parrot, England, England, and Arthur & George. Barnes has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh (having married Pat Kavanagh). In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories.
In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize.
In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize.
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April 20, 2022
Barnes, Barnes, Barnes. You really do know what you’re doing, don’t you? This is beyond annoying � at one level. Why? Because I genuinely had every intention not to particularly like Elizabeth Finch � Part Two! Why put your devoted readers through Part Two? � but there is just so much Barnes for the Barnes reader that it still ends up being irresistible. (Too much of him might also be the thing to note here.)
Him? Isn’t it Elizabeth Finch’s story? Well, yes, it is. But all you need to know on that front is that she is one very idiosyncratic lecturer and intellectual, teaching Culture and Civilisation � no less! � and made known to the reader through one of her adult students, Neil. The rest, is ‘history�.
Let’s proceed, therefore, with some problematic ‘conclusions�, rather than ‘narratives� � this being, ambivalently, one of the solid recurring concepts and features of Barnes’s fiction.
First: that Elizabeth Finch is, in and of itself, an act of interpretation. Not unlike his other fiction, for that matter.
What kind of interpretation, you ask? A seemingly absurd, highly experimental one, at that. One that was bound to ‘make a noise�. Okay, I will tell you, because its seeds are meticulously planted in Part One, in any case. And, this is Barnes: so irresistibly taken by his counterintuitive conception of history. Actually, so much so that he works his entire narrative around the concept that ‘getting history wrong� is just what the ‘crooked timber of humanity� does; it is our speciality, if you will.
Therefore, by testing a hypothesis � an alternative to the rise of Christianity � that would have paganism prevail, this text in turn gives rise to a moderate sense of disillusionment and disappointment that is so typical of Barnes. Needless to say, the wryness and bluntness are all there.
What of this history, on a purely historical level? It is, quite simply, that history arrives to us as always and necessarily an interpretation � an interpretation by the people. A Barnes reader knows this, but here what we get is the Barnes-historian, doing research and interpreting his findings around the idea of monotheism � and all its mono-counterparts � as the disaster of civilisation. One could argue that it was only a matter of time. He had to do this. To take his conception of history to its extreme consequences. There is, in fact, something in the incongruity between Parts One and Two (and the coming together of both in Part Three) that is blatantly deliberate. I would venture to say that it relates to Barnes's ultimate project: that of to some extent disqualifying or contradicting itself, thereby revealing the overarching principle of paradox in and of history � and the inexorability of it. It’s a do-a-double-take move for the reader. Much of Part Two is simply repulsive. And yet the logic of it is not defective. Barnes also has fun with it, of course. Julian the Apostate: he dismantles him!
Second: he really, quite literally, dismantles Julian the Apostate! What’s up with that? Well, I will say that it is fairly impossible not to register a pronounced element of self-importance in this text. It is, however, counteracted and problematised in more ways than one. The narrator, Neil, is a bit of a loser: far inferior to and in awe of the stoic Elizabeth Finch, his lecturer from times past, with whom he stays in touch until he can no longer do so. I would say that there is, in this sense, a sort of displacement of self-importance, though it is by no means complete. The narrative proceeds, almost entirely, on Elizabeth Finch’s terms. But why? You might well ask that question. Because, as you will find out, the fascination between student-lecturer does lead to certain fairly reasonable fantasies that rework the dynamics of the story, or suggest that other perspectives ought to be taken into account - the primary filter being ineluctably defective. Also, Neil takes great pains to specify, time and time again, that ‘This is not [his] story�. Another time he states: ‘In my case - but my case isn't relevant.� Yet again: ‘This is not my story, as I may have mentioned.� Barnes knows. He knows that he is pushing it. With all the ‘Julian� talk. Is it all self-importance and postmodernist self-referentiality?
Third: and, is it all, merely, a Myth? Is that all there is?
While capturing the immanent contradictoriness of history, as well as its inconsistencies and ultimate inventiveness, Barnes also questions the mythologising tendencies of the human, and the human’s relations to other humans. Is EF, as he tends to call Elizabeth Finch throughout the narrative, merely a myth? ‘I sometimes get confused between memory and research�, he admits towards the end of the narrative.
There is definitely a painstaking effort to intensify contrasts and polarities, formally and otherwise. It is, moreover, excruciatingly painful for Neil to allow such an idea � EF, a myth! � to seep through. EF, the one person in his life who inspired in him some level of openness; who gave him ‘an idea to follow�, and follow through. He, the King of Unfinished Projects!
Is it all on EF, then? How much of it is (self)constructed? These are some of EF's preferred topics, to be fair: artificiality and authenticity. And, well, there is much to be said about her. Perhaps the time has come for one important endorsement: I absolutely love Elizabeth Finch. There, I have said it. I love everything she represents. The quiet yet passionate life led within the walls of a wholly unassuming apartment. The life of the independent mind, perhaps a tad (no, scratch that � profoundly) exiled, but never completely so, despite being Shamed. Her calm-and-collected stance. Her lucidity. The fact that she matter-of-factly, reasonably, and seemingly effortlessly opens up spaces for the inconsistencies of human nature, and affords no judgement. Her directness of vision, and � why not? � also her apartness, her quirkiness, and her hidden vulnerabilities. Not to mention, the full spectrum of her system of belief. Oh, there we go: that myth we were talking about just a minute ago. Mythologising literary characters!
Which reminds me:
I have, quite frankly, warmed up to Barnes’s at times eccentric or unpopular character choices. Yes, even the protagonist, who is rarely presented as the ideal candidate to make head or tail of events, but is one who � probably out of boredom or some concealed desire � is willing to take the time and explore the implications of the said events. There is also an aloneness about Barnes� characters, usually unmarried or with a bunch of marriage failures to look back on, that I am drawn to. It is not uncommon for the isolated protagonist, following a trail in his ‘exploration�, to contact an old acquaintance out of the blue, and re-establish a sense of momentary though awkward intimacy. Some kind of fleeting connection. And � this is important � it occurs through a piece of writing. Notebooks, this time around, that lead to more writing, and the usual emailing. Contact tracing, we could say. What else?
***
Barnes’s vision is ultimately one that I find interesting, almost against my better judgement (that is, the voice of judgement in me that registers an excess of privilege in his writing). He certainly does a more serious � less formally playful and ‘abundant� � kind of postmodernism, which I am more partial to these days. His is a literature that knows itself to be ‘mere dispersal�, ‘merely an assembly of fragments�. There is everlasting passion in this � think of how he develops the hypothesis of ‘Apostasy�! � and yet: ‘maybe a consistent narrative is a delusion, as is trying to reconcile conflicting judgements.� Stoicism or cynicism? What would the compromise between the two look like? The tentative answer to that, I would say, is dissimulated in the complex movements of this text.
I feel that readers of Barnes should definitely look into this and make up their own mind about it. Fair warning: it might test your love for him. (Could he really be testing our loyalty? I wonder.) But you do have to read it.
Thanks go to NetGalley, publisher, and author for this one special ARC. All thoughts expressed here are my own.
Him? Isn’t it Elizabeth Finch’s story? Well, yes, it is. But all you need to know on that front is that she is one very idiosyncratic lecturer and intellectual, teaching Culture and Civilisation � no less! � and made known to the reader through one of her adult students, Neil. The rest, is ‘history�.
Let’s proceed, therefore, with some problematic ‘conclusions�, rather than ‘narratives� � this being, ambivalently, one of the solid recurring concepts and features of Barnes’s fiction.
First: that Elizabeth Finch is, in and of itself, an act of interpretation. Not unlike his other fiction, for that matter.
What kind of interpretation, you ask? A seemingly absurd, highly experimental one, at that. One that was bound to ‘make a noise�. Okay, I will tell you, because its seeds are meticulously planted in Part One, in any case. And, this is Barnes: so irresistibly taken by his counterintuitive conception of history. Actually, so much so that he works his entire narrative around the concept that ‘getting history wrong� is just what the ‘crooked timber of humanity� does; it is our speciality, if you will.
Therefore, by testing a hypothesis � an alternative to the rise of Christianity � that would have paganism prevail, this text in turn gives rise to a moderate sense of disillusionment and disappointment that is so typical of Barnes. Needless to say, the wryness and bluntness are all there.
What of this history, on a purely historical level? It is, quite simply, that history arrives to us as always and necessarily an interpretation � an interpretation by the people. A Barnes reader knows this, but here what we get is the Barnes-historian, doing research and interpreting his findings around the idea of monotheism � and all its mono-counterparts � as the disaster of civilisation. One could argue that it was only a matter of time. He had to do this. To take his conception of history to its extreme consequences. There is, in fact, something in the incongruity between Parts One and Two (and the coming together of both in Part Three) that is blatantly deliberate. I would venture to say that it relates to Barnes's ultimate project: that of to some extent disqualifying or contradicting itself, thereby revealing the overarching principle of paradox in and of history � and the inexorability of it. It’s a do-a-double-take move for the reader. Much of Part Two is simply repulsive. And yet the logic of it is not defective. Barnes also has fun with it, of course. Julian the Apostate: he dismantles him!
Second: he really, quite literally, dismantles Julian the Apostate! What’s up with that? Well, I will say that it is fairly impossible not to register a pronounced element of self-importance in this text. It is, however, counteracted and problematised in more ways than one. The narrator, Neil, is a bit of a loser: far inferior to and in awe of the stoic Elizabeth Finch, his lecturer from times past, with whom he stays in touch until he can no longer do so. I would say that there is, in this sense, a sort of displacement of self-importance, though it is by no means complete. The narrative proceeds, almost entirely, on Elizabeth Finch’s terms. But why? You might well ask that question. Because, as you will find out, the fascination between student-lecturer does lead to certain fairly reasonable fantasies that rework the dynamics of the story, or suggest that other perspectives ought to be taken into account - the primary filter being ineluctably defective. Also, Neil takes great pains to specify, time and time again, that ‘This is not [his] story�. Another time he states: ‘In my case - but my case isn't relevant.� Yet again: ‘This is not my story, as I may have mentioned.� Barnes knows. He knows that he is pushing it. With all the ‘Julian� talk. Is it all self-importance and postmodernist self-referentiality?
Third: and, is it all, merely, a Myth? Is that all there is?
While capturing the immanent contradictoriness of history, as well as its inconsistencies and ultimate inventiveness, Barnes also questions the mythologising tendencies of the human, and the human’s relations to other humans. Is EF, as he tends to call Elizabeth Finch throughout the narrative, merely a myth? ‘I sometimes get confused between memory and research�, he admits towards the end of the narrative.
There is definitely a painstaking effort to intensify contrasts and polarities, formally and otherwise. It is, moreover, excruciatingly painful for Neil to allow such an idea � EF, a myth! � to seep through. EF, the one person in his life who inspired in him some level of openness; who gave him ‘an idea to follow�, and follow through. He, the King of Unfinished Projects!
Is it all on EF, then? How much of it is (self)constructed? These are some of EF's preferred topics, to be fair: artificiality and authenticity. And, well, there is much to be said about her. Perhaps the time has come for one important endorsement: I absolutely love Elizabeth Finch. There, I have said it. I love everything she represents. The quiet yet passionate life led within the walls of a wholly unassuming apartment. The life of the independent mind, perhaps a tad (no, scratch that � profoundly) exiled, but never completely so, despite being Shamed. Her calm-and-collected stance. Her lucidity. The fact that she matter-of-factly, reasonably, and seemingly effortlessly opens up spaces for the inconsistencies of human nature, and affords no judgement. Her directness of vision, and � why not? � also her apartness, her quirkiness, and her hidden vulnerabilities. Not to mention, the full spectrum of her system of belief. Oh, there we go: that myth we were talking about just a minute ago. Mythologising literary characters!
Which reminds me:
I have, quite frankly, warmed up to Barnes’s at times eccentric or unpopular character choices. Yes, even the protagonist, who is rarely presented as the ideal candidate to make head or tail of events, but is one who � probably out of boredom or some concealed desire � is willing to take the time and explore the implications of the said events. There is also an aloneness about Barnes� characters, usually unmarried or with a bunch of marriage failures to look back on, that I am drawn to. It is not uncommon for the isolated protagonist, following a trail in his ‘exploration�, to contact an old acquaintance out of the blue, and re-establish a sense of momentary though awkward intimacy. Some kind of fleeting connection. And � this is important � it occurs through a piece of writing. Notebooks, this time around, that lead to more writing, and the usual emailing. Contact tracing, we could say. What else?
***
Barnes’s vision is ultimately one that I find interesting, almost against my better judgement (that is, the voice of judgement in me that registers an excess of privilege in his writing). He certainly does a more serious � less formally playful and ‘abundant� � kind of postmodernism, which I am more partial to these days. His is a literature that knows itself to be ‘mere dispersal�, ‘merely an assembly of fragments�. There is everlasting passion in this � think of how he develops the hypothesis of ‘Apostasy�! � and yet: ‘maybe a consistent narrative is a delusion, as is trying to reconcile conflicting judgements.� Stoicism or cynicism? What would the compromise between the two look like? The tentative answer to that, I would say, is dissimulated in the complex movements of this text.
I feel that readers of Barnes should definitely look into this and make up their own mind about it. Fair warning: it might test your love for him. (Could he really be testing our loyalty? I wonder.) But you do have to read it.
Thanks go to NetGalley, publisher, and author for this one special ARC. All thoughts expressed here are my own.
October 2, 2023
Povestea acestei lecturi sună cam așa. Mai întîi, am citit o groază de recenzii (două numai în The Guardian), cîteva furioase și o parte dezamăgite. Am rămas cu impresia că romanul lui Barnes e neîmplinit, un eșec chiar. După aia, mi-am continuat lectura și mă gîndeam că trei steluțe sînt de ajuns. Cînd am terminat, mi-am dat seama că nu greșisem deloc în elanul meu generos. Romanul e, fără nici o îndoială, reușit. Își merită fiecare steluță și chiar și jumătatea din urmă.
Firește că ridică dificultăți de înțelegere (fragmentele din agendele lui Elizabeth Finch sînt abstracte și paradoxale), firește că sufletele pioase îl pot socoti pe narator nedrept (frivol) în judecățile (mult prea) aspre despre creștinism. Și unii, și alții poate că au dreptate. Dar așa sînt cele mai multe dintre cărțile lui Julian Barnes, mai degrabă eseuri decît narațiuni tradiționale. Prin încercarea de a aproxima portretul unei profesoare iconoclaste, Elizabeth Finch, autorul sugerează imposibilitatea de a rezuma (a cunoaște, a descifra) un om și distanța inevitabilă dintre biografie și adevăr. Pentru că Elizabeth Finch e o biografie, o bioficțiune - cam ca Papagalul lui Flaubert -, cu diferența că de data asta personajul descris e, probabil, inventat. Deși nu exclud posibilitatea ca Julian Barnes să fi avut un „model�.
Căutarea naratorului pornește de la o fascinație (l-a fascinat austera lui profesoară de istorie, Elizabeth Finch) și se încheie prin constatarea că identitatea unui om se compune, în fond, din suma întotdeauna contradictorie și neterminată a părerilor divergente despre el. Altfel spus, e imposibil de sesizat sinele unui om, oricît de mult i-ai investiga viața și oricîți martori ai consulta. O existență este, în definitiv, o pată în mișcare. Și nici moartea nu o poate transforma în destin (chiar dacă Malraux a crezut asta), adică în ceva fix, determinat, precum o inscripție lapidară (în piatră, adică). Din fericire, un Judecător „final� (care să pună capăt diversității părerilor) nu există.
Cea mai nedreaptă observație e că legătura dintre cele trei părți ale romanului e vagă. Asta se întîmplă în Niveluri de viață, dar nu aici. Romanul descrie o investigație. Pentru a afla cine (și cum a fost) Elizabeth Finch, naratorul discută cu fratele lui Elizabeth (nu întotdeauna sincer), Chris, apoi cu fosta lui prietenă, Anna, o olandeză din Alkmaar, și, în fine, are un schimb de mesaje cu veninosul lor coleg de studii, Geoff, care nu a simpatizat-o cîtuși de puțin pe „bătrîna Finchy�, din contra...
Așadar, romanul cuprinde o biografie (a naratorului), care cuprinde o biografie (a profesoarei Finch) care cuprinde o biografie a unui erou (împăratul Iulian) care a obsedat-o și pe ea, și pe Neil (numele naratorului). Iar meditația privește însăși posibilitatea acestor (auto)biografii, dar și a cunoașterii de sine. Mai mult n-am voie să spun...
P. S. Cel mai neînțelept lucru este să ceri unui prozator să scrie despre un alt prozator:
Firește că ridică dificultăți de înțelegere (fragmentele din agendele lui Elizabeth Finch sînt abstracte și paradoxale), firește că sufletele pioase îl pot socoti pe narator nedrept (frivol) în judecățile (mult prea) aspre despre creștinism. Și unii, și alții poate că au dreptate. Dar așa sînt cele mai multe dintre cărțile lui Julian Barnes, mai degrabă eseuri decît narațiuni tradiționale. Prin încercarea de a aproxima portretul unei profesoare iconoclaste, Elizabeth Finch, autorul sugerează imposibilitatea de a rezuma (a cunoaște, a descifra) un om și distanța inevitabilă dintre biografie și adevăr. Pentru că Elizabeth Finch e o biografie, o bioficțiune - cam ca Papagalul lui Flaubert -, cu diferența că de data asta personajul descris e, probabil, inventat. Deși nu exclud posibilitatea ca Julian Barnes să fi avut un „model�.
Căutarea naratorului pornește de la o fascinație (l-a fascinat austera lui profesoară de istorie, Elizabeth Finch) și se încheie prin constatarea că identitatea unui om se compune, în fond, din suma întotdeauna contradictorie și neterminată a părerilor divergente despre el. Altfel spus, e imposibil de sesizat sinele unui om, oricît de mult i-ai investiga viața și oricîți martori ai consulta. O existență este, în definitiv, o pată în mișcare. Și nici moartea nu o poate transforma în destin (chiar dacă Malraux a crezut asta), adică în ceva fix, determinat, precum o inscripție lapidară (în piatră, adică). Din fericire, un Judecător „final� (care să pună capăt diversității părerilor) nu există.
Cea mai nedreaptă observație e că legătura dintre cele trei părți ale romanului e vagă. Asta se întîmplă în Niveluri de viață, dar nu aici. Romanul descrie o investigație. Pentru a afla cine (și cum a fost) Elizabeth Finch, naratorul discută cu fratele lui Elizabeth (nu întotdeauna sincer), Chris, apoi cu fosta lui prietenă, Anna, o olandeză din Alkmaar, și, în fine, are un schimb de mesaje cu veninosul lor coleg de studii, Geoff, care nu a simpatizat-o cîtuși de puțin pe „bătrîna Finchy�, din contra...
Așadar, romanul cuprinde o biografie (a naratorului), care cuprinde o biografie (a profesoarei Finch) care cuprinde o biografie a unui erou (împăratul Iulian) care a obsedat-o și pe ea, și pe Neil (numele naratorului). Iar meditația privește însăși posibilitatea acestor (auto)biografii, dar și a cunoașterii de sine. Mai mult n-am voie să spun...
P. S. Cel mai neînțelept lucru este să ceri unui prozator să scrie despre un alt prozator:
March 14, 2022
A short philosophical novel that focuses on the need to constantly re-examine and re-evaluate what we think we know about history from Julian Barnes. A former student, Neil, inherits the papers and library of the eponymous teacher, Elizabeth Finch, a rigorous, inspiring and charismatic teacher of the adult education course on Culture and Civilisation intent on teaching them to become independent thinkers. Their unexpected relationship continued beyond the course with their intellectual lunches for over two decades, although she remained a distant, self contained and elusive presence. He seeks to get to know Finch better through her papers which point to her obsession with Julian the Apostate, of whom there is a essay in the middle of this novel, from which can be charted the rise of Christianity in Europe. Although not a read for everyone, it is an engaging enough read, thought provoking, although the section on Julian the Apostate was a little too dry for me, on the impact of history on the present, on memory, truth and how difficult it is to know a person. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
April 30, 2022
Memory, thoughts on life not lived and how much another person (can’t) really be known plus an ode to unconventional teachers coalesce with the story of the last pagan Roman emperor
But perhaps all these meetings and exchanges, and my memory of them - memory being after all a function of the imagination- are and were like rhetorical tropes.
as a book was more interesting in themes then in the overall execution as a novel in my view, with the Wikipedia article like essay in the middle dampening my enthusiasm in particular. Also the level of ironical intellectualism (or stoicism) of the book is at times so high it left me rather cold towards the characters.
A divorced man look back at his life and his interaction with the titular teacher of one of his classes on Civilization, when he was in his early 30's. As often zooms into how in these formative years the interactions and relationships develop that turned out to shape a life, and only in hindsight can be seen as missed opportunities.
There are no wrong answers, even though all answers are wrong Elizabeth Finch notes in one of her early socratic classes, and she isn't the right teacher for everyone in the group the narrator finds himself in. She excels in aphorisms (A politician’s main function is to disappoint or And there are many others who confuse feeling guilty with being absolved) but remains enigmatic. Even lunch dates don't beget more intimacy:
What are you then?
I am not vain enough to attach a label to myself.
Interwoven with this story line is the history of Julian, the last pagan emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He is seen as a missed opportunity, far in the past, to a different and more enlightened world:
Despite his history being interesting enough, Barnes his writing doesn't add much compared to the article linked above, and the thematic link of missed chances is rather heavy handed, and even explicitly made twice:
The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past. And that task becomes all the more urgent when the past can’t be corrected. &
Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.
As the main character can't see the trajectory his life might have had under different choices, so we can not clearly see if Julian his life would have changed much to our current world.
Overall I enjoyed the writing, and the book definitely felt erudite and interesting enough in terms of ideas, but the main characters for me felt rather bloodless. Or to stay more in the whole socratic concept of the teachings of Elizabeth Finch, only shadows of a true human essence that he author normally is more apt in reaching and depicting on the page.
But perhaps all these meetings and exchanges, and my memory of them - memory being after all a function of the imagination- are and were like rhetorical tropes.
as a book was more interesting in themes then in the overall execution as a novel in my view, with the Wikipedia article like essay in the middle dampening my enthusiasm in particular. Also the level of ironical intellectualism (or stoicism) of the book is at times so high it left me rather cold towards the characters.
A divorced man look back at his life and his interaction with the titular teacher of one of his classes on Civilization, when he was in his early 30's. As often zooms into how in these formative years the interactions and relationships develop that turned out to shape a life, and only in hindsight can be seen as missed opportunities.
There are no wrong answers, even though all answers are wrong Elizabeth Finch notes in one of her early socratic classes, and she isn't the right teacher for everyone in the group the narrator finds himself in. She excels in aphorisms (A politician’s main function is to disappoint or And there are many others who confuse feeling guilty with being absolved) but remains enigmatic. Even lunch dates don't beget more intimacy:
What are you then?
I am not vain enough to attach a label to myself.
Interwoven with this story line is the history of Julian, the last pagan emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He is seen as a missed opportunity, far in the past, to a different and more enlightened world:
Despite his history being interesting enough, Barnes his writing doesn't add much compared to the article linked above, and the thematic link of missed chances is rather heavy handed, and even explicitly made twice:
The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past. And that task becomes all the more urgent when the past can’t be corrected. &
Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.
As the main character can't see the trajectory his life might have had under different choices, so we can not clearly see if Julian his life would have changed much to our current world.
Overall I enjoyed the writing, and the book definitely felt erudite and interesting enough in terms of ideas, but the main characters for me felt rather bloodless. Or to stay more in the whole socratic concept of the teachings of Elizabeth Finch, only shadows of a true human essence that he author normally is more apt in reaching and depicting on the page.
November 9, 2022
Wow, Julian Barnes: This edgy, challenging, formally experimental novel doesn't exactly aim to be a crowd pleaser, and I respect that. Told as a retrospective, our narrator Neil depicts how he, when he was in his-mid-thirties, attended a class on "Culture and Civilization" that was specifically aimed at grown-ups. His rigorous teacher was the title-giving Elizabeth Finch, with whom he developed an unusual friendship. After her death, Neil inherits her notes, and starts writing...her biography? His autobiography? The biography of ?
Elizabeth Finch, as Neil describes her, took a Socratic approach to teaching, involving her students in debates, and she deeply believed that Greek and Roman history and culture still influence people living today. Neil calls the distant, composed, discrete teacher whom he then proceeded to meet for regular lunch dates for more than 20 years, a "Romantic Stoic"; much about her life has remained unknown to him, so he sets out to investigate with the help of the notebooks she left behind, her brother Christopher and some other of her former students.
Now that description might make it seem as if Barnes straight up tells us a story, but that would be way too easy and, furthermore, it wouldn't illustrate the point he is trying to make. So Barnes gives us a semi-structured narrative from an, as Neil himself professes, unreliable narrator, intersects it with many, many notes quoted from Elizabeth's notebooks, and then tops it off by turning the whole middle section of the book, a substantive chunk of the novel, into a paper on Julian the Apostate which Neil writes because he had failed to do so back in Finch's class. While Barnes' latest effort, the fantastic , was a history-heavy ode to past scientific and cultural exchanges between the UK and continental Europe, "Elizabeth Finch" ponders the relationship between ancient history and average people, and how we can learn to think about and grasp the world by trying to understand the people we have lost, be it the famous Julian or the infamous Elizabeth.
"The Man..." required a decent amount of focus to process its content, but "Elizabeth Finch" really pushes the envelope in that area, and I applaud Barnes for that: This celebrated author could just relax and serve some easygoing -type of stuff, but no, Julian the literary Apostate Barnes attacks us with philosophy, history, and extravagant structural choices. Elizabeth saw truth in artifice, Neil is a trained actor, and Barnes also knows a thing or two about aesthetics. While Neil's life seems to be mentioned only at the side, there is a sub-story running through the text in which he reflects himself in Elizabeth and emperor Julian, pondering his career, divorces and children. Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, the man whose death Elizabeth describes as "the moment history went wrong", becomes a foil for both of them. But did the lives of the three of them go wrong? Who is the judge of that?
At the same time, Neil contradicts any easy conclusions his intellectual efforts might suggest: For him "life, much as we would like it to be, does ot amount to a narrative - or not a narrative such as we understand and expect." This is why his book has no clear text form, and the connections between Elizabeth, the historic figure and him are not fully resolved or brought to a conclusion: "Perhaps the fact is that I 'know' and 'understand' Elizabeth Finch no better - if in a different way - than I 'know' and 'understand' the emperor Julian."
Yup, that's complex, but there is also an accessible theme that's easier to grasp, but (as in real life) cannot be fully unpacked: Neil has loved Elizabeth in a multi-faceted manner. Barnes frequently investigates different forms of love, and how he deals with the topic in this novel, also relating to other characters Neil meets or has met, is particularly interesting.
This is a book to be discussed, re-read and dissected, an ambitious work of art that challenges those who dare to pick it up. While I have to admit that I, too, struggled with some sestions, I see what Barnes aims to do here. This 75-year-old literary superstar still surprises readers, there is zero complacency in his texts. I'm already curious what he will come up with next.
Elizabeth Finch, as Neil describes her, took a Socratic approach to teaching, involving her students in debates, and she deeply believed that Greek and Roman history and culture still influence people living today. Neil calls the distant, composed, discrete teacher whom he then proceeded to meet for regular lunch dates for more than 20 years, a "Romantic Stoic"; much about her life has remained unknown to him, so he sets out to investigate with the help of the notebooks she left behind, her brother Christopher and some other of her former students.
Now that description might make it seem as if Barnes straight up tells us a story, but that would be way too easy and, furthermore, it wouldn't illustrate the point he is trying to make. So Barnes gives us a semi-structured narrative from an, as Neil himself professes, unreliable narrator, intersects it with many, many notes quoted from Elizabeth's notebooks, and then tops it off by turning the whole middle section of the book, a substantive chunk of the novel, into a paper on Julian the Apostate which Neil writes because he had failed to do so back in Finch's class. While Barnes' latest effort, the fantastic , was a history-heavy ode to past scientific and cultural exchanges between the UK and continental Europe, "Elizabeth Finch" ponders the relationship between ancient history and average people, and how we can learn to think about and grasp the world by trying to understand the people we have lost, be it the famous Julian or the infamous Elizabeth.
"The Man..." required a decent amount of focus to process its content, but "Elizabeth Finch" really pushes the envelope in that area, and I applaud Barnes for that: This celebrated author could just relax and serve some easygoing -type of stuff, but no, Julian the literary Apostate Barnes attacks us with philosophy, history, and extravagant structural choices. Elizabeth saw truth in artifice, Neil is a trained actor, and Barnes also knows a thing or two about aesthetics. While Neil's life seems to be mentioned only at the side, there is a sub-story running through the text in which he reflects himself in Elizabeth and emperor Julian, pondering his career, divorces and children. Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, the man whose death Elizabeth describes as "the moment history went wrong", becomes a foil for both of them. But did the lives of the three of them go wrong? Who is the judge of that?
At the same time, Neil contradicts any easy conclusions his intellectual efforts might suggest: For him "life, much as we would like it to be, does ot amount to a narrative - or not a narrative such as we understand and expect." This is why his book has no clear text form, and the connections between Elizabeth, the historic figure and him are not fully resolved or brought to a conclusion: "Perhaps the fact is that I 'know' and 'understand' Elizabeth Finch no better - if in a different way - than I 'know' and 'understand' the emperor Julian."
Yup, that's complex, but there is also an accessible theme that's easier to grasp, but (as in real life) cannot be fully unpacked: Neil has loved Elizabeth in a multi-faceted manner. Barnes frequently investigates different forms of love, and how he deals with the topic in this novel, also relating to other characters Neil meets or has met, is particularly interesting.
This is a book to be discussed, re-read and dissected, an ambitious work of art that challenges those who dare to pick it up. While I have to admit that I, too, struggled with some sestions, I see what Barnes aims to do here. This 75-year-old literary superstar still surprises readers, there is zero complacency in his texts. I'm already curious what he will come up with next.
August 25, 2022
Julian Barnes wrote a novel that, being short, comprises so much! Portrayal of EF, enigmatic and charismatic teacher whose objective was to make her students think independenly, is executed in a most challenging way that kept me involved both in her story and Neil's inner analysis of himself and his interaction with EF. I was drawn to her immediately as I believe her to be a teacher with vocation, such a rare quality .... Neil, as a part of his course which he undertook being in his thirties, prepares a project on the last pagan emperor Julian the Apostate, and this part of the novel was unexpectedly fascinating for me.
I thoroughly enojed this novel and it is not easy to say exactly why. I suppose I was captured by the unreliable narrator and his efforts to comprehend who Elizabeth Finch really was.
*A big thank-you to Julian Barnes, RB Media, and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
PS I recommend Barnes & Noble interview with Mr Barnes on YT.
I thoroughly enojed this novel and it is not easy to say exactly why. I suppose I was captured by the unreliable narrator and his efforts to comprehend who Elizabeth Finch really was.
*A big thank-you to Julian Barnes, RB Media, and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
PS I recommend Barnes & Noble interview with Mr Barnes on YT.
April 28, 2022
Published today 14-4-22
Julian Barnes previous 13 literary novels have between them garnered 3 Booker shortlistings and a Booker win (in 2011) � this is his latest novel due to be published in April 2022 and I have to be honest the only of his that I have read that left me disappointed in very large part down to the non-fictional biography at the heart of the novel (both in how it is executed and in my own lack of interest in the subject).
The book can perhaps be best characterised as a layered (auto-)biography � with the narrator Neil giving us details of his own life (two times divorced � the second time shortly before the book begins, a stop start acting career, a kind of drift in life and desire to educate himself) but really fascinated by the book’s titular character � a singular “Romantic-Stoic� (in Neil’s much considered description) who he first encounters in what is ostensibly an adult education course she runs on “Culture and Civilisation� but which ends up, for those who embrace her teaching (with Neil at the centre of this) as more of an intellectual guide to religion, history and philosophy and an invitation to question assumptions.
One of her key tenets seems to be a view of Roman imperial history and its interaction with the rising religion of Christianity which follows in the footsteps of the Enlightenment as well as Edward Gibbon � she is particularly obsessed with Julian the Apostate and the famous quote attributed to him by Swinburne: she instead seeing Julian as a hero whose death fatally altered the flow of human history.
At one point (when rather oddly suggesting her pupils study Hitler) she says:
And to be honest this challenge is the only reason I carried on reading the book as I found myself almost entirely disagreeing with the world view expressed by her � a view of history which rather than abandoned truths I would describe as discredited distortions.
Neil and Elizabeth Finch (he only really sees her � even he confesses in his fantasies � as having her full name) strike up a many year friendship meeting for lunch monthly when she puts him through his intellectual paces. After her sudden (to Neil) death he finds she has left him her notes and library � initially unsure what to do with them (other to reproduce some of them in the text � which makes for a slightly oddly aphoristic few pages, he decides to write a short biography of Julian: this forms the middle third of the book and I have to be honest and say I could not engage any real interest in it at all.
The third part of the novel returns to Neil trying to piece together more clues about Elizabeth’s Finch’s life � which does allow for some musing on the difficulty of really knowing another.
I struggled a little with the author’s choice of his own namesake as the base for the book � is he trying to claim some form of mantle for himself as an Apostate or provocative and independent thinker, as the anti-Christian views expressed seem to be both completely dominant in literary fiction and lacking in depth.
Overall this was a novel that I was interested to read but which did not really work for me at all � but will I think for others .
As a final comment for the many readers who I think will be fascinated by and find themselves agreeing with Finch’s views � then taking her instructions to engage with opposite views I would suggest Tom Holland’s “Dominion: The Making of the Western World�
My thanks to Random House, UK Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley
I sometimes wonder how biographers do it: make a life, a living life, a glowing life, a coherent life out of all that circumstantial, contradictory and missing evidence. They must feel like Julian on campaign with his retinue of diviners. The Etruscans tell him this; the philosophers tell him that; the gods speak, the oracles are silent or obscure; the dreams alarm him this way, his visions propel him that way, the animals� viscera are ambivalent; the sky says this, the dust storm and the advisory thunderbolt insist otherwise. Where is the truth, where is the way forward? Or maybe consistent narrative is a delusion, as is trying to reconcile conflicting judgements. Maybe you could equally account for someone by a mere list of snagging, indicative facts.
Julian Barnes previous 13 literary novels have between them garnered 3 Booker shortlistings and a Booker win (in 2011) � this is his latest novel due to be published in April 2022 and I have to be honest the only of his that I have read that left me disappointed in very large part down to the non-fictional biography at the heart of the novel (both in how it is executed and in my own lack of interest in the subject).
The book can perhaps be best characterised as a layered (auto-)biography � with the narrator Neil giving us details of his own life (two times divorced � the second time shortly before the book begins, a stop start acting career, a kind of drift in life and desire to educate himself) but really fascinated by the book’s titular character � a singular “Romantic-Stoic� (in Neil’s much considered description) who he first encounters in what is ostensibly an adult education course she runs on “Culture and Civilisation� but which ends up, for those who embrace her teaching (with Neil at the centre of this) as more of an intellectual guide to religion, history and philosophy and an invitation to question assumptions.
You might think me old-fashioned (but my case is not relevant). You might think Elizabeth Finch equally, if not more, old-fashioned. But if she was, it was not in the normal way, that of embodying a previous generation whose truths had now proved wan and withered. How can I put it? She dealt in truths not from previous generations but previous eras, truths she kept alive but which others had abandoned. � . She was outside of her age in many ways.‘Do not be taken in by time,� she once said, ‘and imagine that history � and especially intellectual history � is linear.�
One of her key tenets seems to be a view of Roman imperial history and its interaction with the rising religion of Christianity which follows in the footsteps of the Enlightenment as well as Edward Gibbon � she is particularly obsessed with Julian the Apostate and the famous quote attributed to him by Swinburne: she instead seeing Julian as a hero whose death fatally altered the flow of human history.
At one point (when rather oddly suggesting her pupils study Hitler) she says:
‘I am suggesting that we familiarise ourselves with those who oppose us and whom we oppose, whether it be a living or a dead figure, whether it be a religious or political opponent, or even a daily newspaper or weekly magazine.
And to be honest this challenge is the only reason I carried on reading the book as I found myself almost entirely disagreeing with the world view expressed by her � a view of history which rather than abandoned truths I would describe as discredited distortions.
Neil and Elizabeth Finch (he only really sees her � even he confesses in his fantasies � as having her full name) strike up a many year friendship meeting for lunch monthly when she puts him through his intellectual paces. After her sudden (to Neil) death he finds she has left him her notes and library � initially unsure what to do with them (other to reproduce some of them in the text � which makes for a slightly oddly aphoristic few pages, he decides to write a short biography of Julian: this forms the middle third of the book and I have to be honest and say I could not engage any real interest in it at all.
The third part of the novel returns to Neil trying to piece together more clues about Elizabeth’s Finch’s life � which does allow for some musing on the difficulty of really knowing another.
I struggled a little with the author’s choice of his own namesake as the base for the book � is he trying to claim some form of mantle for himself as an Apostate or provocative and independent thinker, as the anti-Christian views expressed seem to be both completely dominant in literary fiction and lacking in depth.
Overall this was a novel that I was interested to read but which did not really work for me at all � but will I think for others .
As a final comment for the many readers who I think will be fascinated by and find themselves agreeing with Finch’s views � then taking her instructions to engage with opposite views I would suggest Tom Holland’s “Dominion: The Making of the Western World�
My thanks to Random House, UK Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley
Read
August 28, 2023(жила-була й наперекладала)
"Елізабет Фінч" - це класичний Барнз із його типовим меланхолійним вдивлянням у ненадійне й непізнаване баговиння минулого.
Головний герой роману на схилі віку озирається на свою юність і захоплення/закоханість/дружбу зі старшою професоркою, тією самою Елізабет Фінч із назви, яка змінила панораму його інтелектуального життя на роки вперед. Зазвичай у Барнза туга за нездійсненним і неможливість окреслити відчуте й пережите стосується особистих історій. Тут це мерехтіння непевного минулого - "а що, якби? а було чи не було взагалі?" - стосується не лише особистих історій, а й історії континенту. Захоплення викладачкою, яка йде проти течії інтелектуальних мод і загальноприйнятих гасел, переплітається з роздумами про те, що в принципі може змінити одна людина, яка самотньо йде проти течії.
А що, якби Юліан Відступник (улюблений історичний герой Елізабет Фінч) - останній римський імператор-язичник і відносно ліберальний правитель у часи, що загалом не славилися вегетаріанством - не загинув на полі бою? А що, якби історія Європи поточилася іншим шляхом, і не було б ніякого Відродження, бо не було розриву тяглості між Античністю й Середньовіччям, а Просвітництво настало значно раніше?
Якщо ви не знайомі з Барнзом досі, то, напевно, варто починати не з "Фінч" із її жанровим балансуванням між красним письменством і елегантною есеїстикою, але мене дуже розчулює ця тема про тихий людський голос проти шуму часу, який насмілюється ставити запитання до загальноприйнятих переконань.
Цитата на пробу: "Монотеїзм, � сказала Елізабет Фінч. � Мономанія. Моногамія. Монотонність. Нічого доброго не починається з «моно». � Вона спинилася. � Монограма � це ознака марнославства. Так само монокль. Монокультура � провісник смерті європейських сіл. Утім, я готова визнати, що від монорейок є користь."
(Я досі не вірю, що книжка вийшла! Переклад мусив вийти навесні, одночасно з оригіналом, але останні правки ми затверджували за три дні до повномасштабної війни, тож логічно було припустити, що він не вийде взагалі ніколи. У результаті він таки вийшов, і то з мінімальним відставанням. Спасибі ЗСУ за наші острівці нормального життя посеред війни. І видавництву, яке вірить, що добра література нам усім іще знадобиться.)
"Елізабет Фінч" - це класичний Барнз із його типовим меланхолійним вдивлянням у ненадійне й непізнаване баговиння минулого.
Головний герой роману на схилі віку озирається на свою юність і захоплення/закоханість/дружбу зі старшою професоркою, тією самою Елізабет Фінч із назви, яка змінила панораму його інтелектуального життя на роки вперед. Зазвичай у Барнза туга за нездійсненним і неможливість окреслити відчуте й пережите стосується особистих історій. Тут це мерехтіння непевного минулого - "а що, якби? а було чи не було взагалі?" - стосується не лише особистих історій, а й історії континенту. Захоплення викладачкою, яка йде проти течії інтелектуальних мод і загальноприйнятих гасел, переплітається з роздумами про те, що в принципі може змінити одна людина, яка самотньо йде проти течії.
А що, якби Юліан Відступник (улюблений історичний герой Елізабет Фінч) - останній римський імператор-язичник і відносно ліберальний правитель у часи, що загалом не славилися вегетаріанством - не загинув на полі бою? А що, якби історія Європи поточилася іншим шляхом, і не було б ніякого Відродження, бо не було розриву тяглості між Античністю й Середньовіччям, а Просвітництво настало значно раніше?
Якщо ви не знайомі з Барнзом досі, то, напевно, варто починати не з "Фінч" із її жанровим балансуванням між красним письменством і елегантною есеїстикою, але мене дуже розчулює ця тема про тихий людський голос проти шуму часу, який насмілюється ставити запитання до загальноприйнятих переконань.
Цитата на пробу: "Монотеїзм, � сказала Елізабет Фінч. � Мономанія. Моногамія. Монотонність. Нічого доброго не починається з «моно». � Вона спинилася. � Монограма � це ознака марнославства. Так само монокль. Монокультура � провісник смерті європейських сіл. Утім, я готова визнати, що від монорейок є користь."
(Я досі не вірю, що книжка вийшла! Переклад мусив вийти навесні, одночасно з оригіналом, але останні правки ми затверджували за три дні до повномасштабної війни, тож логічно було припустити, що він не вийде взагалі ніколи. У результаті він таки вийшов, і то з мінімальним відставанням. Спасибі ЗСУ за наші острівці нормального життя посеред війни. І видавництву, яке вірить, що добра література нам усім іще знадобиться.)
August 16, 2022
Goodness, but it's so much easier to write a review for a book you loved than for one you found disappointing. Especially a book by an author whose books one usually enjoys. Let me explain. The first part I found somewhat interesting. I've had history teachers that were fantastic, one in particular sparked my lifelong love for the subject. Never quite rose to the level of an obsession as it did for the student in this book, though it would bring a long friendship between teacher and student. Elizabeth Finch was indeed, I believe an unusual teacher in that she taught her students to think for themselves, not just go with the popular opinions. We could definitely use more of that in our current time.
The second part is where Barnes lost me. A treatise on Julian the Apostate, which I found dry. Excessive so. A connection is made between the first and second part, but unless one has a keen interest in Julian which obviously I didn't, one wanders in a subject which quite frankly I found boring.
The second part is where Barnes lost me. A treatise on Julian the Apostate, which I found dry. Excessive so. A connection is made between the first and second part, but unless one has a keen interest in Julian which obviously I didn't, one wanders in a subject which quite frankly I found boring.
September 8, 2022
So...What have you got for me, then?
Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and Recorded Books for the ARC audio book of ELIZABETH FINCH by Julian Barnes.
The line I quoted above is one of the most titillating lines I've ever heard spoken from a female character, and it marks the intensity between two people sharing and enjoying an unrequited love affair. Unrequited love is one of my favorite tropes, and I love that this book explores this sort of love with courage, and without the burden of agrandizing or effacing self-analysis.
Barnes writes ELIZABETH FINCH in an arguably experimental form, which I typically enjoy, but didn't in this case, for its blockiness. One long section, for example, removes entirely from the narrative and delivers an essay on Julian the Apostate, which is essentially a literary metaphor Barnes uses throughout the book. Yes, very clever and meta, but difficult. The section could be interpreted romantically, as a metaphor also for Neil, the narrator's, affection for Elizabeth Finch. But the narrator is so unrelentingly dry that it's difficult to read into this very academic material and see the romance.
In the end, I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it. I wish Barnes had spent more time developing Elizabeth Finch. I still feel like i don't know enough about her. But Bob, my turtle 🐢 really loved the narration, so I listened to it with her the whole time!
Rating 3 stars
Finished September 2022
Recommended to fans of Jane Austen, unrequited love stories, romance from the Romantic period, lit fic, historical romance, academic fiction with a romantic element
✔️September Pick 12/15
✔️52 Book Club Summer Genre Challenge: Historical Fiction
✔️52 Book Club 52 Book Challenge: Jane Austen Inspired
✔️Nothing But Challenges 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge: [B.] Julian Barnes
*Follow my Instagram book blog for all my reviews, challenges, and book lists! *
Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and Recorded Books for the ARC audio book of ELIZABETH FINCH by Julian Barnes.
The line I quoted above is one of the most titillating lines I've ever heard spoken from a female character, and it marks the intensity between two people sharing and enjoying an unrequited love affair. Unrequited love is one of my favorite tropes, and I love that this book explores this sort of love with courage, and without the burden of agrandizing or effacing self-analysis.
Barnes writes ELIZABETH FINCH in an arguably experimental form, which I typically enjoy, but didn't in this case, for its blockiness. One long section, for example, removes entirely from the narrative and delivers an essay on Julian the Apostate, which is essentially a literary metaphor Barnes uses throughout the book. Yes, very clever and meta, but difficult. The section could be interpreted romantically, as a metaphor also for Neil, the narrator's, affection for Elizabeth Finch. But the narrator is so unrelentingly dry that it's difficult to read into this very academic material and see the romance.
In the end, I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it. I wish Barnes had spent more time developing Elizabeth Finch. I still feel like i don't know enough about her. But Bob, my turtle 🐢 really loved the narration, so I listened to it with her the whole time!
Rating 3 stars
Finished September 2022
Recommended to fans of Jane Austen, unrequited love stories, romance from the Romantic period, lit fic, historical romance, academic fiction with a romantic element
✔️September Pick 12/15
✔️52 Book Club Summer Genre Challenge: Historical Fiction
✔️52 Book Club 52 Book Challenge: Jane Austen Inspired
✔️Nothing But Challenges 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge: [B.] Julian Barnes
*Follow my Instagram book blog for all my reviews, challenges, and book lists! *
July 22, 2022
"Elizabeth Finch is a very Barnacean novel. It has a story of a burning interest of one person for another, an interest based more on mental than on physical attraction, on gratitude for the light that enters with this other into his life, changing it.
There is a lack of opportunity to be together initially set by objective reasons, which in itself is not a tragedy (we remember from "One Story" how it happens. when people connect, against all odds). There is a traditional for Barnes cultural study, this time dedicated to early Christianity and the Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to turn back time and revive polytheism. There are equally traditional anticlerical motives for the author. But in general, it is an ode to mentoring. Those who teach us to think.
If you love Barnes, then do not miss this novel, if you are looking for a fashionable book from the Booker prize winner - it may turn out that this is not really yours (although you may fall in love with him - you will not try, how will you know?)
Она была светла
У нее была особая манера речи: лукаво-ироничная, а оттого совершенно не обидная и лишенная всяческой покровительственности. Она как бы убеждала: «Не принимайте на веру провозглашенные ценности своего времени».
В прошлом году на церемонии награждения премии "Ясная поляна", на соседнем кресле сидел Сергей Полотовский - один из соавторов, переводивших лауреата - "Нечего бояться" Джулиана Барнса. Я спросила, какая у него любимая барнсовская тройка. Он ответил "Сотворение мира в 10,1/2 главах", еще две вещи назвал, которых теперь не вспомню, в ответ осчастливила его своей, хотя он не спрашивал: "Глядя на солнце", "Одна история", "Предчувствие конца".
Это к тому, что у неповторимого Барнса я больше люблю историю, чем эссеистику, "для сердца", а не "от ума", хотя не могу не признать, что ему органично удается сплавлять повествование с рассуждениями. "Элизабет Финч" скорее относится к числу вторых. Это очень барнсовский роман. В нем есть история жгучего интереса одного человека к другому, интереса, основанного больше на ментальном, чем на физическом притяжении, на благодарности за тот свет, который входит с этим другим в его жизнь, меняя ее.
Есть изначально заданное объективными причинами отсутствие возможности быть вместе, что само по себе не трагедия (мы помним из "Одной истории" как бывает. когда люди, вопреки всему, соединяются). Есть традиционное для Барнса культурологическое исследование, на сей раз посвященное раннему христианству и императору Юлиану Отступнику, который пытался повернуть время вспять и возродить политеизм. Есть столь же традиционные для автора антиклерикальные мотивы. Но в целом - это ода наставничеству. Тем, кто учит нас думать.
Элизабет Финч читает курс "Культура и цивилизация" слушателям, которые, в соотнесении с нашими реалиями, на заочной или вечерней форме обучения. Студентам от "за тридцать" до "за сорок", по возрасту преподаватель скорее ровесница им. Однако блеск ее эрудиции, интеллект, спокойная доброжелательная уверенность - все это возносит ее над студентами на недосягаемую высоту. и они скорее склонны принимать это. Моя личная персонификация образа Э.Ф. - Екатерина Шульман, все время, пока читала, видела ее.
Для рассказчика, который сам себя называет человеком проваленных проектов: не слишком удачливый актер. дважды разведенный муж, не лучший отец - она воплощает фигуру идеального наставника. Учителя от Бога (сколь бы скептически агностик Барнс не относился к последнему).
Пересказывать не буду, если вы любите Барнса, то не пропустите этого романа, если ищете модной книжки от букеровского лауреата - может оказаться, что это не совсем ваше (хотя может влюбитесь в него, - не попробуешь, как узнаешь?)
There is a lack of opportunity to be together initially set by objective reasons, which in itself is not a tragedy (we remember from "One Story" how it happens. when people connect, against all odds). There is a traditional for Barnes cultural study, this time dedicated to early Christianity and the Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to turn back time and revive polytheism. There are equally traditional anticlerical motives for the author. But in general, it is an ode to mentoring. Those who teach us to think.
If you love Barnes, then do not miss this novel, if you are looking for a fashionable book from the Booker prize winner - it may turn out that this is not really yours (although you may fall in love with him - you will not try, how will you know?)
Она была светла
У нее была особая манера речи: лукаво-ироничная, а оттого совершенно не обидная и лишенная всяческой покровительственности. Она как бы убеждала: «Не принимайте на веру провозглашенные ценности своего времени».
В прошлом году на церемонии награждения премии "Ясная поляна", на соседнем кресле сидел Сергей Полотовский - один из соавторов, переводивших лауреата - "Нечего бояться" Джулиана Барнса. Я спросила, какая у него любимая барнсовская тройка. Он ответил "Сотворение мира в 10,1/2 главах", еще две вещи назвал, которых теперь не вспомню, в ответ осчастливила его своей, хотя он не спрашивал: "Глядя на солнце", "Одна история", "Предчувствие конца".
Это к тому, что у неповторимого Барнса я больше люблю историю, чем эссеистику, "для сердца", а не "от ума", хотя не могу не признать, что ему органично удается сплавлять повествование с рассуждениями. "Элизабет Финч" скорее относится к числу вторых. Это очень барнсовский роман. В нем есть история жгучего интереса одного человека к другому, интереса, основанного больше на ментальном, чем на физическом притяжении, на благодарности за тот свет, который входит с этим другим в его жизнь, меняя ее.
Есть изначально заданное объективными причинами отсутствие возможности быть вместе, что само по себе не трагедия (мы помним из "Одной истории" как бывает. когда люди, вопреки всему, соединяются). Есть традиционное для Барнса культурологическое исследование, на сей раз посвященное раннему христианству и императору Юлиану Отступнику, который пытался повернуть время вспять и возродить политеизм. Есть столь же традиционные для автора антиклерикальные мотивы. Но в целом - это ода наставничеству. Тем, кто учит нас думать.
Элизабет Финч читает курс "Культура и цивилизация" слушателям, которые, в соотнесении с нашими реалиями, на заочной или вечерней форме обучения. Студентам от "за тридцать" до "за сорок", по возрасту преподаватель скорее ровесница им. Однако блеск ее эрудиции, интеллект, спокойная доброжелательная уверенность - все это возносит ее над студентами на недосягаемую высоту. и они скорее склонны принимать это. Моя личная персонификация образа Э.Ф. - Екатерина Шульман, все время, пока читала, видела ее.
Для рассказчика, который сам себя называет человеком проваленных проектов: не слишком удачливый актер. дважды разведенный муж, не лучший отец - она воплощает фигуру идеального наставника. Учителя от Бога (сколь бы скептически агностик Барнс не относился к последнему).
Пересказывать не буду, если вы любите Барнса, то не пропустите этого романа, если ищете модной книжки от букеровского лауреата - может оказаться, что это не совсем ваше (хотя может влюбитесь в него, - не попробуешь, как узнаешь?)
January 3, 2023
O carte foarte bună care m-a trimis către alte cărți și care m-a facut să mă documentez mai departe despre Iulian Apostatul, care a fost ultimul împărat roman păgân.
De căutat și citit cartea lui Gore Vidal: "Iulian".
"Elizabeth Finche compusă din „două treimi ficțiune și o treime non-ficțiune. Partea literară are drept protagonistă o femeie care nu e doar inteligentă, ci de-a dreptul înțeleaptă, un lector universitar care predă cursuri adulților și care are un impact deosebit asupra vieții naratorului, dar și asupra modului său de a gândi. Partea de non-ficțiune se concentrează asupra lui Iulian Apostatul, cel din urmă împărat roman păgân, după uciderea căruia creștinismul a rămas triumfător vreme de vreo cincisprezece secole. [...] Elizabeth Finch este o femeie care nu aparține vremurilor sale, un personaj în afara timpului, care scrutează cu atenție realitatea, care vede lucrurile mai clar decât studenții săi.�
Julian Barnes
De căutat și citit cartea lui Gore Vidal: "Iulian".
"Elizabeth Finche compusă din „două treimi ficțiune și o treime non-ficțiune. Partea literară are drept protagonistă o femeie care nu e doar inteligentă, ci de-a dreptul înțeleaptă, un lector universitar care predă cursuri adulților și care are un impact deosebit asupra vieții naratorului, dar și asupra modului său de a gândi. Partea de non-ficțiune se concentrează asupra lui Iulian Apostatul, cel din urmă împărat roman păgân, după uciderea căruia creștinismul a rămas triumfător vreme de vreo cincisprezece secole. [...] Elizabeth Finch este o femeie care nu aparține vremurilor sale, un personaj în afara timpului, care scrutează cu atenție realitatea, care vede lucrurile mai clar decât studenții săi.�
Julian Barnes
September 9, 2024
пані та панове, це розйоб.
більше нічого не скажу, бо хочу, щоб глибші враження й деталі залишилися суто моїми 💪🥺. давненько зі мною не траплялося таких книг.
UPD:
ще дещо таки скажу: як виявилося, барнз � москволюб
і, хоча на початку вторгнення висловив аморфну підтримку Україні , це не завадило йому підтримувати й країну-агресора, зокрема (далі цитую та дякую за інформацію пані /user/show/1...
"Тут Барнз казав, що готує вступ до лєрмонтова
А отут розказував про любов до бідолашного шостаковича, який всього лиш маленька людина і нічого не міг зробити, окрім бути боягузом (і те саме боягузство було мужнім). А союз колись був про свободу
"
і якщо останні дві статі за 2016 (багато хто з нас там плавав meh), то перша вже зараз. не закликаю не читати барнза —т� на розсуд кожного, але після нахваляння відчуваю відповідальність зазначити й про цю його гнилу бочинку
більше нічого не скажу, бо хочу, щоб глибші враження й деталі залишилися суто моїми 💪🥺. давненько зі мною не траплялося таких книг.
UPD:
ще дещо таки скажу: як виявилося, барнз � москволюб
і, хоча на початку вторгнення висловив аморфну підтримку Україні , це не завадило йому підтримувати й країну-агресора, зокрема (далі цитую та дякую за інформацію пані /user/show/1...
"Тут Барнз казав, що готує вступ до лєрмонтова
А отут розказував про любов до бідолашного шостаковича, який всього лиш маленька людина і нічого не міг зробити, окрім бути боягузом (і те саме боягузство було мужнім). А союз колись був про свободу
"
і якщо останні дві статі за 2016 (багато хто з нас там плавав meh), то перша вже зараз. не закликаю не читати барнза —т� на розсуд кожного, але після нахваляння відчуваю відповідальність зазначити й про цю його гнилу бочинку
June 3, 2022
I never had one of those favourite, well-remembered schoolmasters when I was a boy, one who showed me the excitements of mathematics, or poetry, or botany, and perhaps interfered with me sexually at the same time. So I was the more grateful � though the word is insubstantial compared to the reality � for having met and known Elizabeth Finch. As she said, we must always consider the element of chance in our lives. I don’t know what the average allotment of good luck in a life is or should be � it’s an unanswerable question, and doubtless there is no “should� in it anyway � but I do know that she was part of my good luck.
Well, Mr. Barnes, and what have you got for me today? I don’t benefit from a Classical education, but as Julian Barnes hints on the first page of that this is to be a Socratic dialogue, I am going to broadly interpret the techniques of that teaching method in order to give a sense of what the author appears to be doing here. Divided into three very different sections, I don’t know if this hangs together perfectly as a novel, but as an example of a Socratic dialogue, in which Barnes plays the role of the grey-bearded philosopher � discussing, correcting, exemplifying � it seems a genius device with which he can share what a lifetime has taught him about memory, history, culture, art, and literature. It all gets a little meta in the end � and if I am, indeed, correct in what Barnes is trying to convey, I don’t know if I was completely swayed by his argument � but this was a pleasure to read and to ruminate upon. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
She was high-minded, self-sufficient, European. And as I write those words, I stop, because I hear in my head something she once taught us in class: “And remember, whenever you see a character in a novel, let alone a biography or history book, reduced and neatened into three adjectives, always distrust that description.� It is a rule of thumb I have tried to obey.
In the first section, we meet the eponymous Elizabeth Finch � a lecturer at London University, teaching a course on “Culture and Civilisation� to an adult class � and as she employs Socratic questioning to collaborative effect, it would appear that she is covering a hodgepodge of cultural artefacts � Hitler’s Table Talk, Carpaccio’s painting of “St. George and the Dragon�, Swinburne’s poem, “Hymn to Proserpine� (Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean) � as a matter of general interest. Finch’s mind is so compelling and original that the narrator, Neil, continues to have lunch with her regularly for the next twenty years, and upon her death, Neil is surprised to learn that he is to inherit Elizabeth Finch’s notebooks and library.
To please the dead. Naturally, we honour the dead, but in honouring them, we somehow make them even more dead. But to please the dead, this brings them to life again. Does that make sense? It was right that I wanted to please EF, and right that I would keep my promise. And so I did. And this is what I wrote.
Back when he had taken her course, Neil was going through a divorce and decided not to write the final assignment (an essay on any topic of his choosing), but once in possession of Finch’s books and notes, he discovered what linked all of her lectures together (the death of Julian the Apostate � the last pagan Emperor of Rome � whose passing ushered in Christianity and, therefore, every bad thing that happened in the West unto our own time), and he decides to finally write that essay, which is included as Part Two. The most surprising thing to learn was just how many writers and artists and composers dealt with Julian the Apostate as their subject over the years and it was interesting to see how everything in the first part was interconnected.
I sometimes wonder how biographers do it: make a life, a living life, a glowing life, a coherent life out of all that circumstantial, contradictory and missing evidence. They must feel like Julian on campaign with his retinue of diviners. The Etruscans tell him this; the philosophers tell him that; the gods speak, the oracles are silent or obscure; the dreams alarm him this way, his visions propel him that way, the animals� viscera are ambivalent; the sky says this, the dust storm and the advisory thunderbolt insist otherwise. Where is the truth, where is the way forward?
In the third part, Neil applies to his own life what he has learned through his research on Emperor Julian, and as he considers whether or not he should write a biography of Elizabeth Finch based on her papers, he revisits some classmates from her course and discovers new information about memory and history and how a narrative gets settled. This part feels quite meta � it seems no coincidence that a man named Julian takes as his subject an historical man named Julian � and as each of the three main foci (Elizabeth Finch, Julian the Apostate, and our narrator, Neil) seem to be standins for the author himself, we have the dizzying experience of the author writing about his narrator reading by Michel Butor on a train, which is a book about a man on a train reading a book about Julian the Apostate. But while there are such moments of frisson and gentle humour throughout, I think that Barnes� thesis is deadly serious:
Imagine the last fifteen centuries without religious wars, perhaps without religious or even racial intolerance. Imagine science unhindered by religion. Delete all those missionaries forcing belief on indigenous people while accompanying soldiers stole their gold. Imagine the intellectual victory of what most Hellenists believed � that if there was any joy to be had in life, it was in this brief sublunary passage of ours, not in some absurd Disneyfied heaven after we are dead.
Through the three parts of this novel (loosely representing the three stages of a Socratic dialogue: conversation; redirection; and demonstrating understanding), it would seem that Barnes is leading the reader to align with this belief that the rise of Christianity doomed the Western world to the worst of our “civilised� behaviour. Like I began with, this doesn’t make for a totally satisfying “novel�, but it is certainly a worthy philosophical artefact from a genius novelist in his grey-bearded years. Four stars reflect admiration more than enjoyment.
November 13, 2022
Ya çok yanlış kitaplarını okuyorum ya da Julian Barnes benim yazarım değil.
July 5, 2022
An evocative portrayal of a brilliant enigmatic personality, albeit unabashedly deified. The beguiling stoicism and charisma of the eponymous Professor, her radical viewpoints and her clarity of vision are confected through a mosaic of memories. She puts forth compelling arguments and ruminates provocative alternative histories, lamenting the effacement of pagan cosmopolitan cultures. Barnes raises pertinent ethical questions of how much can we really fathom a life from the fragmentary reminiscences and evanescent encounters, from the literary traces, from the inevitable distance; how do we discern "the things that are up to us and the things that are not up to us".
She dealt in truths not from previous generations but from previous eras, truths she kept alive but which others had abandoned.
***
'Ah acting' she said, 'the perfect example of artificiality producing authenticity.'
***
To be solitary is a strength; to be lonely a weakness. And the cure for loneliness is solitude.
***
From what I did and what I said
Let them not seek to find who I was
- Cavafy
***
...we laughed, looking at one another, warmly, while assessing time's damage.
***
... a sense that a life, much as we would like it to be, does not amount to a narrative - or not a narrative such as we understand and expect.
***
I'm not sure she believed that happiness was the natural or even the desirable consequence of love. I think she believed that love was more about truth than happiness. I remember she once said, "Now that love is all in my past, I understand it better, both the clarity and the delirium.'"
***
... this is what happens when we look at anyone's life: how they are seen by their parents, friends, lovers, enemies, children; by passing strangers who suddenly notice a truth about them, or by long term friends who hardly understand them at all. And then they look at us, in a manner different from how we look at ourselves. Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.
***
I know that I shall always remember her by that damp palm-print she left on a table in the college bar. Alone, I had downed first my drink and then hers, and by the time I stood up to go her palm-print had disappeared, and has not existed since, except in my stubborn memory.
She dealt in truths not from previous generations but from previous eras, truths she kept alive but which others had abandoned.
***
'Ah acting' she said, 'the perfect example of artificiality producing authenticity.'
***
To be solitary is a strength; to be lonely a weakness. And the cure for loneliness is solitude.
***
From what I did and what I said
Let them not seek to find who I was
- Cavafy
***
...we laughed, looking at one another, warmly, while assessing time's damage.
***
... a sense that a life, much as we would like it to be, does not amount to a narrative - or not a narrative such as we understand and expect.
***
I'm not sure she believed that happiness was the natural or even the desirable consequence of love. I think she believed that love was more about truth than happiness. I remember she once said, "Now that love is all in my past, I understand it better, both the clarity and the delirium.'"
***
... this is what happens when we look at anyone's life: how they are seen by their parents, friends, lovers, enemies, children; by passing strangers who suddenly notice a truth about them, or by long term friends who hardly understand them at all. And then they look at us, in a manner different from how we look at ourselves. Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.
***
I know that I shall always remember her by that damp palm-print she left on a table in the college bar. Alone, I had downed first my drink and then hers, and by the time I stood up to go her palm-print had disappeared, and has not existed since, except in my stubborn memory.
August 9, 2022
Here is one of those reviews � all too common lately � in which I struggle to delay as long as possible the sad news that you should skip this novel.
Such contortions feel especially awkward given that the novelist, Julian Barnes, is one of the world’s finest English writers. In addition to winning a shelf of awards, including a Booker Prize in 2011 for “The Sense of an Ending,� Barnes has published elegant, daring and often witty books that people actually enjoy reading � “Flaubert’s Parrot,� “England, England� and “Arthur and George� among them. Indeed, there was always something magical about Barnes’s ability to make exceedingly erudite subjects deeply engaging.
But now comes “Elizabeth Finch,� whose magic involves making a short book feel like a long one. It isn’t so much a story as a late-night hagiography drunk on distilled irony. Indeed, the only motion through most of these pages is generated by Barnes aggressively winking at us.
This is a tale of idolization, specifically the idolization of a teacher, which should suggest something about the arc of the plot. The narrator, Neil, was once a student in an adult education class called “Culture and Civilisation.� Neil is an actor. He’s bungled two marriages and fathered three children, but those dear ones receive less attention in this story than you might shower on a philodendron.
Instead, Neil remains consumed with his onetime professor, an independent scholar named Elizabeth Finch. “I probably paid more. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
Such contortions feel especially awkward given that the novelist, Julian Barnes, is one of the world’s finest English writers. In addition to winning a shelf of awards, including a Booker Prize in 2011 for “The Sense of an Ending,� Barnes has published elegant, daring and often witty books that people actually enjoy reading � “Flaubert’s Parrot,� “England, England� and “Arthur and George� among them. Indeed, there was always something magical about Barnes’s ability to make exceedingly erudite subjects deeply engaging.
But now comes “Elizabeth Finch,� whose magic involves making a short book feel like a long one. It isn’t so much a story as a late-night hagiography drunk on distilled irony. Indeed, the only motion through most of these pages is generated by Barnes aggressively winking at us.
This is a tale of idolization, specifically the idolization of a teacher, which should suggest something about the arc of the plot. The narrator, Neil, was once a student in an adult education class called “Culture and Civilisation.� Neil is an actor. He’s bungled two marriages and fathered three children, but those dear ones receive less attention in this story than you might shower on a philodendron.
Instead, Neil remains consumed with his onetime professor, an independent scholar named Elizabeth Finch. “I probably paid more. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
October 17, 2022
Neil falls under the spell of Professor Elizabeth Finch when he takes her adult education class on culture and civilization. I found her to be pretentious and boring, but Neil was fascinated. After Elizabeth dies he inherits her books and jottings and he concludes that she wanted him to research Julian the Apostate. Part 2 of the book is all about Julian and early Christianity. Unfortunately, it reads like the author had a lot of research notes and just copied them randomly into this book. If
I wanted to learn about Julian, I wouldn’t have chosen this book. Part 3 of the book consists of Neil trying to research Elizabeth’s life. By the way, Neil is not an historian or researcher, he’s a former actor who is just nosy. I have enjoyed books by this author in the past, but not this one. I feels extremely self indulgent.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
I wanted to learn about Julian, I wouldn’t have chosen this book. Part 3 of the book consists of Neil trying to research Elizabeth’s life. By the way, Neil is not an historian or researcher, he’s a former actor who is just nosy. I have enjoyed books by this author in the past, but not this one. I feels extremely self indulgent.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
February 23, 2023
I can't remember the last time I read a book with such mixed reviews. I first wrote a beautiful, highly intelligent review which I ended up throwing in the trash. This time I am not going to talk about Socratic dialogue or the philosophical and historical significance of Julian the Apostate or his place in this book. So, my apologies to the author on this point.
Barnes never takes the road well traveled and so I was not surprised by the unusual structure of Elizabeth Finch. I worked to avoid getting bogged down in the more cerebral elements and read it for the story. The story itself is relatable. It is first and foremost a love story.
I liked Elizabeth Finch (E.F.), the elusive professor who challenged her students to think for themselves and our narrator, her student Neil who is taken with her from the get go. But the relationship is destined to be platonic which allows them to remain friends over the years. Does Neil ever really know E.F.? Probably not. She didn't share much of herself but I have no doubt that she loved him in her own way, as shown by their ongoing lunches and her leaving him her personal library and papers. And what of that thesis of Julian the Apostate written by Neil that takes up the middle third of the book? I think he did it to honor her both as a teacher who changed his life and as a friend. It was a tribute to someone he loved and respected. The end.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
Barnes never takes the road well traveled and so I was not surprised by the unusual structure of Elizabeth Finch. I worked to avoid getting bogged down in the more cerebral elements and read it for the story. The story itself is relatable. It is first and foremost a love story.
I liked Elizabeth Finch (E.F.), the elusive professor who challenged her students to think for themselves and our narrator, her student Neil who is taken with her from the get go. But the relationship is destined to be platonic which allows them to remain friends over the years. Does Neil ever really know E.F.? Probably not. She didn't share much of herself but I have no doubt that she loved him in her own way, as shown by their ongoing lunches and her leaving him her personal library and papers. And what of that thesis of Julian the Apostate written by Neil that takes up the middle third of the book? I think he did it to honor her both as a teacher who changed his life and as a friend. It was a tribute to someone he loved and respected. The end.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
March 20, 2023
«Елізабет Фінч» Джуліана Барнза � роман про написані й не написані тексти.
Оповідач � актор Ніл, який вирішив у зрілому віці отримати гуманітарну освіту й потрапив на курс Елізабет Фінч «Культура й цивілізація». Вона не давала студентам відповідей, а провокувала мислення, на виславляла рамок діалогу, а запрошувала до гри. Цілком можливо, що Елізабет Фінч (або ж ЕФ)� моя рольова модель, тож якщо й бути університетською викладачкою, то лише такою. «Вон� була високочола й самодостатня європейка. Написавши ці слова, я спинився, бо зринув спогад про її слова у класі:
� І пам'ятайте: ніколи не вірте опису, де героя роману, не кажучи вже про героя біографії чи історичної книжки, зводять до трьох прикметників».
Після її смерті Ніл отримує у спадок записники та бібліотеку, тобто інструменти, які здатні відкрити йому шлях. Він пише есей про Юліана Відступника, на якого ЕФ покликалася на заняттях, але есей не вдається: він не початий і не завершений, це лиш фраґменти, які не зводяться до єдиного знаменника. Проте він («майстер незавершених проєктів») береться написати спогади-біографію ЕФ. Але чи це можливо? Чи це взагалі потрібно? Чи знав хтось ЕФ достатньо добре, тобто поза межами кафедри та її наукових існтересів? Навіщо потрібна біоргафія?�
«Я не засуджую, я й сама так роблю � перетворюю своє життя на історію. Ми всі так робимо. ЕФ такого не робила. Вона озвучувала висновок, але не сюжет. Чому? Найочевидніша причина � делікатність, повага до особистого. Але я подумала, що, можливо, йдеться про щось більше: розуміння, що життя, хай би як нам хотілося зворотного, не зводиться до сюжету � чи бодай не зводиться до очікуваного і зрозумілого сюжету».
Ніл намагається пригадати те, якою була ЕФ, він нею захоплюється, можливо, її ідеалізує, але чи здатен він дописати цей текст? Навіщо взагалі писати й дописувати тексти?
Цей роман важливий усім, кому потрібно дописувати есей, курсову, дипломну, магістерську, кандидатську, докторську. Проте, щоби отримати конкретну відповідь, потрібно не лише прочитати роман, але й зазирнути всередину себе.
«Остерігайтеся мрій, � відповіла Елізабет Фінч. � А також загалом остерігайтеся того, про що мріє більшість».
«Будьте приблизно задоволені приблизним щастям. Безсумнівне і ясне на землі тільки нещастя»
«І ще одне: мертві не можуть сказати, що ти помиляєшся. Це можуть зробити тільки живі, а живі брешуть. Тож мертвим я довіряю більше. Це дивацтво � чи закономірне рішення?»
Оповідач � актор Ніл, який вирішив у зрілому віці отримати гуманітарну освіту й потрапив на курс Елізабет Фінч «Культура й цивілізація». Вона не давала студентам відповідей, а провокувала мислення, на виславляла рамок діалогу, а запрошувала до гри. Цілком можливо, що Елізабет Фінч (або ж ЕФ)� моя рольова модель, тож якщо й бути університетською викладачкою, то лише такою. «Вон� була високочола й самодостатня європейка. Написавши ці слова, я спинився, бо зринув спогад про її слова у класі:
� І пам'ятайте: ніколи не вірте опису, де героя роману, не кажучи вже про героя біографії чи історичної книжки, зводять до трьох прикметників».
Після її смерті Ніл отримує у спадок записники та бібліотеку, тобто інструменти, які здатні відкрити йому шлях. Він пише есей про Юліана Відступника, на якого ЕФ покликалася на заняттях, але есей не вдається: він не початий і не завершений, це лиш фраґменти, які не зводяться до єдиного знаменника. Проте він («майстер незавершених проєктів») береться написати спогади-біографію ЕФ. Але чи це можливо? Чи це взагалі потрібно? Чи знав хтось ЕФ достатньо добре, тобто поза межами кафедри та її наукових існтересів? Навіщо потрібна біоргафія?�
«Я не засуджую, я й сама так роблю � перетворюю своє життя на історію. Ми всі так робимо. ЕФ такого не робила. Вона озвучувала висновок, але не сюжет. Чому? Найочевидніша причина � делікатність, повага до особистого. Але я подумала, що, можливо, йдеться про щось більше: розуміння, що життя, хай би як нам хотілося зворотного, не зводиться до сюжету � чи бодай не зводиться до очікуваного і зрозумілого сюжету».
Ніл намагається пригадати те, якою була ЕФ, він нею захоплюється, можливо, її ідеалізує, але чи здатен він дописати цей текст? Навіщо взагалі писати й дописувати тексти?
Цей роман важливий усім, кому потрібно дописувати есей, курсову, дипломну, магістерську, кандидатську, докторську. Проте, щоби отримати конкретну відповідь, потрібно не лише прочитати роман, але й зазирнути всередину себе.
«Остерігайтеся мрій, � відповіла Елізабет Фінч. � А також загалом остерігайтеся того, про що мріє більшість».
«Будьте приблизно задоволені приблизним щастям. Безсумнівне і ясне на землі тільки нещастя»
«І ще одне: мертві не можуть сказати, що ти помиляєшся. Це можуть зробити тільки живі, а живі брешуть. Тож мертвим я довіряю більше. Це дивацтво � чи закономірне рішення?»
August 17, 2022
ebook & audiobook (narrator: Justin Avoth)
Content 3 stars, 4 for an audiobook format because it makes this book more accessible and easier to read.
I love Julian Barnes and his writing. The two of his novels I appreciate the most are: The Sense of an Ending and The Noise of Time. But I have read nothing like this before. Julian Barnes combines historical facts, theology, and philosophy in a fictional novel about Elizabeth Finch.
Elizabeth Finch, or EF, is a charismatic professor who teaches adult students. The narrator, Neil, is a student in her “Culture and Civilization� class. He finds her very intriguing, even “seductive, but not in any conventional way.� Even when he finishes his classes, they remain in contact and meet for lunch every three years in a span of twenty years.
I liked the first part of the novel the most. In the middle, we can read an essay about Julian The Apostate’s life, and this part was a bit off-putting for me. Here, my interest in this novel fell a bit. And the third part continues the narrator’s exploration of EF.
Elizabeth Finch is a novel about platonic love and admiration for one person. This novel generally deals with biography - EF’s, 's, and partly also narrator’s. The theological part discussed in this novel is not particularly interesting, and I didn't quite share Neil's enthusiasm about EF. Although this novel is good and imaginative, it is also complex. And overall, it is not a novel for general readers. I’m guessing that author never meant it to be this way. So a lower average rating wouldn’t surprise me at all. As I mentioned, this novel is not a lightweight read, and I struggled a bit with some parts while reading just an ebook. But the audiobook format improved this a lot.
I was lucky to receive ARC and ALC and partly listened to an audiobook and read an ebook together. Both formats are very good, but those who would find this novel overwhelming could find an audiobook a better option. Readers who want to reread and dissect the novel or its parts will find an ebook or physical copy best. Both formats together are also an excellent choice.
Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC and Recorded Books for the ALC! This is a voluntary review, and all opinions are my own.
Content 3 stars, 4 for an audiobook format because it makes this book more accessible and easier to read.
I love Julian Barnes and his writing. The two of his novels I appreciate the most are: The Sense of an Ending and The Noise of Time. But I have read nothing like this before. Julian Barnes combines historical facts, theology, and philosophy in a fictional novel about Elizabeth Finch.
Elizabeth Finch, or EF, is a charismatic professor who teaches adult students. The narrator, Neil, is a student in her “Culture and Civilization� class. He finds her very intriguing, even “seductive, but not in any conventional way.� Even when he finishes his classes, they remain in contact and meet for lunch every three years in a span of twenty years.
I liked the first part of the novel the most. In the middle, we can read an essay about Julian The Apostate’s life, and this part was a bit off-putting for me. Here, my interest in this novel fell a bit. And the third part continues the narrator’s exploration of EF.
Elizabeth Finch is a novel about platonic love and admiration for one person. This novel generally deals with biography - EF’s, 's, and partly also narrator’s. The theological part discussed in this novel is not particularly interesting, and I didn't quite share Neil's enthusiasm about EF. Although this novel is good and imaginative, it is also complex. And overall, it is not a novel for general readers. I’m guessing that author never meant it to be this way. So a lower average rating wouldn’t surprise me at all. As I mentioned, this novel is not a lightweight read, and I struggled a bit with some parts while reading just an ebook. But the audiobook format improved this a lot.
I was lucky to receive ARC and ALC and partly listened to an audiobook and read an ebook together. Both formats are very good, but those who would find this novel overwhelming could find an audiobook a better option. Readers who want to reread and dissect the novel or its parts will find an ebook or physical copy best. Both formats together are also an excellent choice.
Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC and Recorded Books for the ALC! This is a voluntary review, and all opinions are my own.
July 29, 2022
(2.5) Like The Sense of an Ending, this is a novella voiced by an older man agonizing over the nature of history, memory and biographical narrative. The difference here is that Neil becomes obsessed with his late teacher, the unconventional and inspirational Elizabeth Finch, and sets out to write a biographical piece about her, incorporating her fragmentary journals (which are more like commonplace books full of quotations and unconnected thoughts) and others� reminiscences of her. However, he gets sidetracked by the life story of Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor. EF, too, was fixated on Julian, calling his death “the moment history went wrong.�
I enjoyed Neil’s account of EF’s philosophical lectures and their conversations over ongoing lunchtime meetups, but found myself skipping over the indulgent Julian material. This is readable and thoughtful, of course, yet redundant given Barnes’s previous work, and perhaps too obviously in thrall to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.* But still, there are so many spot-on lines about memory and myth-making, e.g., “Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.�
*Postscript: I learned from that EF is thought to be based on Anita Brookner; indeed, the Sunday Times noted that some passages were taken word for word from Barnes’s 2016 obituary for Brookner!
I enjoyed Neil’s account of EF’s philosophical lectures and their conversations over ongoing lunchtime meetups, but found myself skipping over the indulgent Julian material. This is readable and thoughtful, of course, yet redundant given Barnes’s previous work, and perhaps too obviously in thrall to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.* But still, there are so many spot-on lines about memory and myth-making, e.g., “Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.�
*Postscript: I learned from that EF is thought to be based on Anita Brookner; indeed, the Sunday Times noted that some passages were taken word for word from Barnes’s 2016 obituary for Brookner!
April 21, 2025
J. Barnes’in son romanıymış, bu güzide yazar da Murakamileşiyor, seri üretim ile kalitede düşüş olarak özetlenebilir. Erişkinlerin gittiği bir kursta öğretmeni Elizabeth Finch’ten etkilenen Neil, ona karşı dikkatli ve rikkatli (nezaketli) bir duygu hisseder, kitabın tanıtımına göre aşk, bana göre saygılı ve arzulu bir beğenme. E. Finch ölünce notlarını ve defterlerini Neil’a bırakır. O da bu notlardan faydalanarak onun biyografisini yazmak ister. Bu iş için kendi duygularını da sorgular.
Üç bölümden oluşan kitabın ikinci bölümünü 50 sayfalık bir deneme oluşturuyor. Tesadüfen çok yakın zamanda okuduğum “Dönme Julianus- Celilelilere Karşı Paganlığın Savunucusu� isimli goodreads’e kaydetmediğim Kırmızı Kedi Y. ait 2019 basımlı 96 sayfalık bir kitabın konusununu ele almış yazar. J. Barnes’in yetkin dilinden kolay okunuyor, felsefi konular ilgi çekiyor, ama hepsi bu.
Üç bölümden oluşan kitabın ikinci bölümünü 50 sayfalık bir deneme oluşturuyor. Tesadüfen çok yakın zamanda okuduğum “Dönme Julianus- Celilelilere Karşı Paganlığın Savunucusu� isimli goodreads’e kaydetmediğim Kırmızı Kedi Y. ait 2019 basımlı 96 sayfalık bir kitabın konusununu ele almış yazar. J. Barnes’in yetkin dilinden kolay okunuyor, felsefi konular ilgi çekiyor, ama hepsi bu.
July 20, 2022
Elizabeth Finch consists of three loosely-connected parts. The first is a description of the eponymous Ms Finch, a lecturer at an unspecified institution of higher education for whom the narrator, a middle-aged, divorced actor whose career is on the slide, develops an intellectual crush. From this portrait, the narrator (and possibly the author, too) seems to expect us to find her as fascinating as he does. Unfortunately, I must confess I found her annoying, supercilious and glib.
After her death, Elizabeth leaves the narrator all her papers and from a few hints in a notebook he discerns a posthumous injunction to examine the life of the fourth-century Roman emperor who was the author's namesake. There follows a longer second section in the form of an extended essay on Julian the Apostate and his failed attempt to reverse the Christianization of the Roman empire � the moment when history took a wrong turn in the narrator’s opinion. This eventually gives way to a brief final section of speculation about formative incidents in Elizabeth Finch’s life.
It's an exploration of identity, both personal and historical, and no doubt some readers will find that intriguing. However, I’m afraid this is my idea of a really bad novel. Formless and hectoring, lacking in any drama, indeed almost bereft of incident, it seems to me to be little more than an exercise in self-indulgence.
After her death, Elizabeth leaves the narrator all her papers and from a few hints in a notebook he discerns a posthumous injunction to examine the life of the fourth-century Roman emperor who was the author's namesake. There follows a longer second section in the form of an extended essay on Julian the Apostate and his failed attempt to reverse the Christianization of the Roman empire � the moment when history took a wrong turn in the narrator’s opinion. This eventually gives way to a brief final section of speculation about formative incidents in Elizabeth Finch’s life.
It's an exploration of identity, both personal and historical, and no doubt some readers will find that intriguing. However, I’m afraid this is my idea of a really bad novel. Formless and hectoring, lacking in any drama, indeed almost bereft of incident, it seems to me to be little more than an exercise in self-indulgence.
January 10, 2023
"Beni yalnız bir kadın olarak düşünme yanlışına düşmeyin. Ben tek başımayım, buysa bambaşka bir mesele. Tek başına olmak bir kuvvettir; yalnız olmak bir zayıflıktır, bilge MM'nin bir zamanlar belirttiği gibi, yalnızlığın tedavisi tek başınalıktır." 💜
Seni çok sevdim EF! Seni anlatan bu kitabı da sevdim ama seni biraz daha çok. Julian Barnes'ın geçtiğimiz yıl yayınlanıp hemen dilimize çevrilen (Ayrıntı'ya kalpler) son kitabı Elizabeth Finch, Barnes'ın edebiyatında hep gördüğümüz izleklerin iyice belirginleştiği bir roman. Sürekli yineliyorum ama yapacak bir şey yok: tarihin doğrusallığı ve nesnelliği meselesini didikliyoruz yine, bu defa tarih öğretmeni stoik Elizabeth Finch ve Dönek İmparator diye de bilinen son pagan Roma İmparatoru Julian üzerinden. (Büyük soru: Julian daha uzun tahtta kalabilseydi ve Hristiyanlığa karşı yürüttüğü kampanya başarılı olsaydı bugün dünyamız başka türlü olur muydu?)
Kitabın ortasında Julian'a dair yaklaşık 50 sayfalık bir metin var, bu kimi okurlara sıkıcı gelebilir ama benim gibi Julian'ı tanıyan bir Roma tarihi meraklısı için olağanüstü heyecan vericiydi bu bölümü okumak.
Mevzubahis tarih öğretmeni Elizabeth Finch'e biraz tutkun olan eski öğrencisi olan anlatıcımız Neil'den dinliyoruz Finch'i. Kadın öldükten sonra da Neil anlamaya, bu çizgi dışı kadını çözmeye çalışmaya devam ediyor: tarih öğretmeninin tarihçisi oluyor yani. Hayata bakış açısını, kendini sunma biçimini, mutlulukla ve aşkla ilişkisini. Tabii ki tüm bunları Barnes'ın felsefeyle daima kol kola yürüyen anlatısıyla okuyoruz ve ortaya çok derinlikli bir roman çıkıyor.
Bu kitap herkese göre olmayabilir zira Barnes bence artık çok konforlu bir yerden yazıyor ve bunu asla olumsuz bir şey olarak söylemiyorum. "Ben buyum, bu konuları seviyorum ve bir şeye taktım mı sizin de takmanızı istiyorum" diyen bir tavır. Bu size üstenci gelir mi bilmem, bana hiç gelmiyor, aksine buralarda onunla dolaşmayı çok seviyorum. Ve bu konforlu yer bir konformizme değil, deneyselliğe götürüyor onu: bir yazarın denemekten bıkmaması ve çalışan formülle bize kendini sevdirmeye çalışmamasına ben müthiş saygı duyuyorum.
Seni çok sevdim EF! Seni anlatan bu kitabı da sevdim ama seni biraz daha çok. Julian Barnes'ın geçtiğimiz yıl yayınlanıp hemen dilimize çevrilen (Ayrıntı'ya kalpler) son kitabı Elizabeth Finch, Barnes'ın edebiyatında hep gördüğümüz izleklerin iyice belirginleştiği bir roman. Sürekli yineliyorum ama yapacak bir şey yok: tarihin doğrusallığı ve nesnelliği meselesini didikliyoruz yine, bu defa tarih öğretmeni stoik Elizabeth Finch ve Dönek İmparator diye de bilinen son pagan Roma İmparatoru Julian üzerinden. (Büyük soru: Julian daha uzun tahtta kalabilseydi ve Hristiyanlığa karşı yürüttüğü kampanya başarılı olsaydı bugün dünyamız başka türlü olur muydu?)
Kitabın ortasında Julian'a dair yaklaşık 50 sayfalık bir metin var, bu kimi okurlara sıkıcı gelebilir ama benim gibi Julian'ı tanıyan bir Roma tarihi meraklısı için olağanüstü heyecan vericiydi bu bölümü okumak.
Mevzubahis tarih öğretmeni Elizabeth Finch'e biraz tutkun olan eski öğrencisi olan anlatıcımız Neil'den dinliyoruz Finch'i. Kadın öldükten sonra da Neil anlamaya, bu çizgi dışı kadını çözmeye çalışmaya devam ediyor: tarih öğretmeninin tarihçisi oluyor yani. Hayata bakış açısını, kendini sunma biçimini, mutlulukla ve aşkla ilişkisini. Tabii ki tüm bunları Barnes'ın felsefeyle daima kol kola yürüyen anlatısıyla okuyoruz ve ortaya çok derinlikli bir roman çıkıyor.
Bu kitap herkese göre olmayabilir zira Barnes bence artık çok konforlu bir yerden yazıyor ve bunu asla olumsuz bir şey olarak söylemiyorum. "Ben buyum, bu konuları seviyorum ve bir şeye taktım mı sizin de takmanızı istiyorum" diyen bir tavır. Bu size üstenci gelir mi bilmem, bana hiç gelmiyor, aksine buralarda onunla dolaşmayı çok seviyorum. Ve bu konforlu yer bir konformizme değil, deneyselliğe götürüyor onu: bir yazarın denemekten bıkmaması ve çalışan formülle bize kendini sevdirmeye çalışmamasına ben müthiş saygı duyuyorum.
August 7, 2024
Elizabeth Finch, die Titelfigur in dem Roman von Julian Barnes, ist Lehrerin für das Seminar "Kultur und Zivilisation" für erwachsene Schüler. Der Ich-Erzähler Neil ist einer ihrer Schüler. EF, wie sie von ihren Schülern genannt wird, ist streng und stellt hohe Ansprüche, nicht nur an ihre Schüler sondern an alle Menschen in ihrem Leben. Davon gibt es jedoch nur wenige. Elizabeth Finch ist eine selbstbewusste Einzelgängerin. Dass die Gesellschaft ihre Kinderlosigkeit misstrauisch beäugt, stört sie nicht. Zwischen Elizabeth und Neil entwickelt sich eine platonische Freundschaft, die durch Elizabeth frühen krankheitsbedingten Tod beendet wird. EF hat Neil Schriften aus ihrer privaten Bibliothek vererbt.
Neil schreibt einen Essay über Julian Apostata, den letzten heidnischen Kaiser des Römischen Reichs, mit dem sich Elizabeth Finch intensiv beschäftigt hat. EF glaubt an die kontroverse These, dass es Europa heute ohne dem Christentum besser gehen würde. Der Essay ist der zweite von drei Teilen in dem Roman. Vermutlich fehlt mir der geschichtsphilosophische Hintergrund, um diesen Abschnitt würdigen zu können. Als "naiver" Leser, was dieses Themengebiet angeht, war ich leider ziemlich gelangweilt, auch wenn mir klar ist, dass dieser Teil für die Charakterisierung der Titelfigur wichtig ist.
Im dritten Teil nähert sich Neil Elizabeth Finch biografisch an. Gleichzeitig stellt er sich selbst die Frage, ob das moralisch vertretbar ist und ob diese Annäherung überhaupt möglich ist. Wie oft bei Barnes spielt die Reflexion über das Erzählen eine große Rolle. Hier ist das Buch wieder viel stärker als im Mittelteil.
Zwei starke und ein schwacher Teil führen bei mir zu einer Wertung von 4+2+4 = 10 Sternen, was bei drei Teilen eine Gesamtwertung von guten 3 Sternen ergibt. Wer noch nichts vom wunderbaren Julian Barnes gelesen hat, sollte zu "Lebensstufen", "Der Lärm der Zeit" oder "Die einzige Geschichte" greifen. "Elizabeth Finch" ist eher etwas für Kompletisten.
Neil schreibt einen Essay über Julian Apostata, den letzten heidnischen Kaiser des Römischen Reichs, mit dem sich Elizabeth Finch intensiv beschäftigt hat. EF glaubt an die kontroverse These, dass es Europa heute ohne dem Christentum besser gehen würde. Der Essay ist der zweite von drei Teilen in dem Roman. Vermutlich fehlt mir der geschichtsphilosophische Hintergrund, um diesen Abschnitt würdigen zu können. Als "naiver" Leser, was dieses Themengebiet angeht, war ich leider ziemlich gelangweilt, auch wenn mir klar ist, dass dieser Teil für die Charakterisierung der Titelfigur wichtig ist.
Im dritten Teil nähert sich Neil Elizabeth Finch biografisch an. Gleichzeitig stellt er sich selbst die Frage, ob das moralisch vertretbar ist und ob diese Annäherung überhaupt möglich ist. Wie oft bei Barnes spielt die Reflexion über das Erzählen eine große Rolle. Hier ist das Buch wieder viel stärker als im Mittelteil.
Zwei starke und ein schwacher Teil führen bei mir zu einer Wertung von 4+2+4 = 10 Sternen, was bei drei Teilen eine Gesamtwertung von guten 3 Sternen ergibt. Wer noch nichts vom wunderbaren Julian Barnes gelesen hat, sollte zu "Lebensstufen", "Der Lärm der Zeit" oder "Die einzige Geschichte" greifen. "Elizabeth Finch" ist eher etwas für Kompletisten.
December 31, 2021
Well, this was unexpected: a writer called Julian writes about a man called Julian and uses a protagonist called Neil while I, also called Neil, read. While I can see that the “Neil reads Neil� bit is coincidental, I am not so sure about the “Julian writes Julian� side of things: is that coincidence or is Mr Barnes trying to tell us something by including a long factual essay about Julian the Apostate? I’m not sure I can answer that question.
The factual essay forms the central part of this book and is sandwiched between two more “normal� fiction sections. These two parts of the book are very reminiscent of Barnes� previous novels “The Sense of an Ending� and “The Only Story� as an older man looks back on his slightly disappointing life and a person who had a major influence on him. In all these three books it seems to that the narrator recognises limitations of memory whilst trying to understand a person better and recognising that this is, in many ways, an effort that can never truly succeed.
The influential person here is the titular Elizabeth Finch who taught Neil when he attended a course called “Culture and Civilisation�. The opening section, the best bit of the book for me, gives us a fascinating portrait of Elizabeth Finch (Neil always calls her by her full name or by her initials, EF). She’s a memorable character with, as the book blurb suggests, challenging views.
The central essay of the book concerns Julian the Apostate and I have to acknowledge that I found this dull to read, although it is probably central to what Barnes is doing. Elizabeth Finch describes the death of Julian the Apostate as ”the moment history went wrong� (this is repeated several times to make sure we notice it) and Neil, like others of Barnes� narrators, is looking for clues to this moment in his own life. There is a repeated phrase in the book where ”Getting its history wrong is part of being a…� and you can end that phrase with nation (a quote from Ernest Renan), family, religion or, crucially, person. This links to the ideas about false memory.
For me, this is a better book when I sit down after reading it and think about it than it was during the actual reading.
The factual essay forms the central part of this book and is sandwiched between two more “normal� fiction sections. These two parts of the book are very reminiscent of Barnes� previous novels “The Sense of an Ending� and “The Only Story� as an older man looks back on his slightly disappointing life and a person who had a major influence on him. In all these three books it seems to that the narrator recognises limitations of memory whilst trying to understand a person better and recognising that this is, in many ways, an effort that can never truly succeed.
The influential person here is the titular Elizabeth Finch who taught Neil when he attended a course called “Culture and Civilisation�. The opening section, the best bit of the book for me, gives us a fascinating portrait of Elizabeth Finch (Neil always calls her by her full name or by her initials, EF). She’s a memorable character with, as the book blurb suggests, challenging views.
The central essay of the book concerns Julian the Apostate and I have to acknowledge that I found this dull to read, although it is probably central to what Barnes is doing. Elizabeth Finch describes the death of Julian the Apostate as ”the moment history went wrong� (this is repeated several times to make sure we notice it) and Neil, like others of Barnes� narrators, is looking for clues to this moment in his own life. There is a repeated phrase in the book where ”Getting its history wrong is part of being a…� and you can end that phrase with nation (a quote from Ernest Renan), family, religion or, crucially, person. This links to the ideas about false memory.
For me, this is a better book when I sit down after reading it and think about it than it was during the actual reading.
November 7, 2022
Favori yazarlarımdan Julian Barnes’ın bu son romanı, kitabın üçte birini oluşturan orta bölümdeki “tarihsel bir makale� bir yana bırakılırsa ve eleştirilebilecek diğer bazı özellikleri olsa da dikkate değer bir eser.
Dinlerin ve ulusların nasıl bir algı üzerine inşa edildiği ve tabii ki Barnes’ın hep üzerinde durduğu gönül ilişkilerinin doğası, bu çerçevede tekeşlilik, aşk gibi kavramlar üzerine edilen sözler, belki bazıları bilinen doğruların tekrarı veya klişeler olsa da, bağlama güzel oturtulması ve Barnes’ın o müthiş dili sayesinde etki yaratıyor, düşündürüyor.
Bu roman sayesinde Roma İmparatorluğunun son pagan imparatoru “Dönek Jülyen”in (özgün metindeki “Julian the Apostate� herhalde böyle çevrilmiştir) varlığından da haberdar oldum. Kitapta, adıgeçenin Hristiyanlığa karşı çıkmasından hareket edilerek, keskin bir Hristiyanlık eleştirisi var. Ama zaten 179 sayfa olan romanda 52 sayfalık bir Jülyen makalesine maruz kalmak herkesin harcı olmaz herhalde. İmparatorun yazarın adaşı olmasıyla ilgili olabilir mi bu cin fikir doğrusu bilmiyorum:)
Son söz: Ben okuduğuma pişman olmadım, bilgilendim, edebiyat zevki de aldım. Ama Barnes’ın en iyi kitaplarından biri olmadığı kesin.
Dinlerin ve ulusların nasıl bir algı üzerine inşa edildiği ve tabii ki Barnes’ın hep üzerinde durduğu gönül ilişkilerinin doğası, bu çerçevede tekeşlilik, aşk gibi kavramlar üzerine edilen sözler, belki bazıları bilinen doğruların tekrarı veya klişeler olsa da, bağlama güzel oturtulması ve Barnes’ın o müthiş dili sayesinde etki yaratıyor, düşündürüyor.
Bu roman sayesinde Roma İmparatorluğunun son pagan imparatoru “Dönek Jülyen”in (özgün metindeki “Julian the Apostate� herhalde böyle çevrilmiştir) varlığından da haberdar oldum. Kitapta, adıgeçenin Hristiyanlığa karşı çıkmasından hareket edilerek, keskin bir Hristiyanlık eleştirisi var. Ama zaten 179 sayfa olan romanda 52 sayfalık bir Jülyen makalesine maruz kalmak herkesin harcı olmaz herhalde. İmparatorun yazarın adaşı olmasıyla ilgili olabilir mi bu cin fikir doğrusu bilmiyorum:)
Son söz: Ben okuduğuma pişman olmadım, bilgilendim, edebiyat zevki de aldım. Ama Barnes’ın en iyi kitaplarından biri olmadığı kesin.
February 26, 2024
I didn't really know what to make of this book from Julian Barnes. This book is about Neil, whose professor, Elizabeth Finch (EF), had made an impression on him for the rest of his life. For Neill she's an enigma and he is surprised when he inherits her literature and journals. He attempts to decipher the enigma, only to realise she will always remain an enigma. In the end, he has to come to terms with that.
It is a strange book. The book consists of three parts. Part one describes EF still living, the second part goes on a tangent towards Julianus, a Roman Emperor and the third part Neil's efforts to reconstruct the woman that was Elizabeth Finch.
I didn't know what to make out of it. Barnes has written better books.
It is a strange book. The book consists of three parts. Part one describes EF still living, the second part goes on a tangent towards Julianus, a Roman Emperor and the third part Neil's efforts to reconstruct the woman that was Elizabeth Finch.
I didn't know what to make out of it. Barnes has written better books.
January 27, 2022
Elizabeth Finch turned into something of a tedious slog for me.
The book begins with a portrait of an inspirational teacher and scholar, the eponymous “EF�. When Neil, the narrator, is left all EF’s papers in her will, he tries to form a view of her and to “honour� her by producing a dissertation on Julian The Apostate, whom EF plainly found fascinating. This “essay� makes up the middle third of the book and is an undiluted scholarly treatise. The framing sections begin by introducing EF very well, but deliberately leave her as an enigma so the character really becomes a mouthpiece for some recondite quotations and a lot of Julian Barnes’s aphorisms.
As a dissertation it’s well written and plainly very well researched, with some reflections on the unreliability of history, the sometimes crushing dominance of Christianity on European thought since Julian’s time, theological and philosophical discussions and so on. However, if that’s what I’d wanted, I’d have read a scholarly work on Julian. I’m all for intellectual rigour and serious thought and ideas in novels, but I do want them to be novels. This dresses itself up as one, but it isn’t really. I had the distinct feeling (as I sometimes have before in Julian Barnes’s work) that he crossed the line from intellectual depth to plain showing off, and that the character of EF is often just a vehicle for that.
A friend of mine has said that she finds Barnes’s novels “self-important for no good reason�. I think that’s at least partly the case here. He plainly wanted to write a book about Julian but hasn’t been successful in turning that desire into a novel. I’m sure that many critics will rave over the book’s brilliance but it didn’t do much for me.
(My thanks to Jonathan Cape for an ARC via NetGalley.)
The book begins with a portrait of an inspirational teacher and scholar, the eponymous “EF�. When Neil, the narrator, is left all EF’s papers in her will, he tries to form a view of her and to “honour� her by producing a dissertation on Julian The Apostate, whom EF plainly found fascinating. This “essay� makes up the middle third of the book and is an undiluted scholarly treatise. The framing sections begin by introducing EF very well, but deliberately leave her as an enigma so the character really becomes a mouthpiece for some recondite quotations and a lot of Julian Barnes’s aphorisms.
As a dissertation it’s well written and plainly very well researched, with some reflections on the unreliability of history, the sometimes crushing dominance of Christianity on European thought since Julian’s time, theological and philosophical discussions and so on. However, if that’s what I’d wanted, I’d have read a scholarly work on Julian. I’m all for intellectual rigour and serious thought and ideas in novels, but I do want them to be novels. This dresses itself up as one, but it isn’t really. I had the distinct feeling (as I sometimes have before in Julian Barnes’s work) that he crossed the line from intellectual depth to plain showing off, and that the character of EF is often just a vehicle for that.
A friend of mine has said that she finds Barnes’s novels “self-important for no good reason�. I think that’s at least partly the case here. He plainly wanted to write a book about Julian but hasn’t been successful in turning that desire into a novel. I’m sure that many critics will rave over the book’s brilliance but it didn’t do much for me.
(My thanks to Jonathan Cape for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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