Does our Life have a Meaning if History doesn't? An Examination of Parenthesis in Julian Barnes Novel A History of the World in 105 Chapters

Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: 10 (A) Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institute for Anglistics/American Studies) course: Contemporary British Fiction: Footnotes to History language: English abstract: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes is neither easy to understand nor to classify. Both problems comprehensibility and classification emerge from the same root: The book’s complex structure. The 10 1/2 chapters seem to be autonomous episodes rather than parts of the same novel. Therefore some critics have argued that it was rather ‘a gathering of prose pieces some fiction others rather like essays’ and no homogeneous piece of prose. On the other hand they have also discovered elements which do connect the chapters. Therefore one could conclude that if A History [...] does not fit into established patterns of the genre novel it must be a post-modern novel as the linking elements make it more than just a collection ‘of prose pieces’.The other main problem comprehensibility is tightly connected with the issues structure and categorisation. Given that readers have discovered connecting elements and found that they add common meaning to the single chapters they might still have unanswered questions. Does such a complicated structure imply a certain meaning that is beyond the content of the single stories and their common motifs?Many post-modern books do not provide explanations but A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters does. The ‘half chapter’ called ‘Parenthesis’ is the key to the novel. It contains clear unambiguous statements about three major issues: history love and truth. Although it does not explain the novel it philosophies about its main topics and thus implies the significance of the book’s literary patterns. I have chosen to examine ‘Parenthesis’ because it contains essential thoughts which make the book more accessible and are