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Julian Barnes

ジュリアン・バーンズ

Julian Barnes

Aliases: Julian Patrick Barnes / J. Barnes
Pen Names: Dan Kavanagh（Pseudonym used for crime fiction）, Edward Pygge（Pseudonym used collaboratively (satirical pieces, etc.)）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1946-01-19 （Leicester, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Religion
Agnostic
Residence History
Leicester (early childhood) → Northwood (upbringing) → Tufnell Park, London (long-term residence)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Critic, Translator
Active Years
1970-
Influenced By
Gustave Flaubert

Education

City of London School
Period: 1957–1964
Year of Graduation: 1964
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary education. Later progressed to Magdalen College, Oxford.
Magdalen College, Oxford
Modern Languages
Country: United Kingdom
Studied modern languages. Exact graduation year unknown.

Awards

Somerset Maugham Award
1981
Work: Metroland
Result: winner
Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
1985
Result: winner
E. M. Forster Award
1986
Organization: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: recipient
Prix Médicis Essai
1986
Work: Flaubert's Parrot
Category: essay/fiction hybrid
Organization: Prix Médicis
Result: winner
Prix Femina Étranger
1992
Work: Talking It Over
Organization: Prix Femina
Result: winner
Austrian State Prize for European Literature
2004
Result: recipient
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Commandeur)
2004
Organization: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Result: honor
David Cohen Prize for Literature
2011
Result: recipient
Man Booker Prize
2011
Work: The Sense of an Ending
Organization: Man Booker Prize
Result: winner
Europese Literatuurprijs
2012
Work: The Sense of an Ending
Result: recipient
Siegfried Lenz Prize
2016
Organization: Siegfried Lenz Foundation
Result: recipient
Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (Officier)
2017
Organization: French Government
Result: honor
Jerusalem Prize
2021
Organization: Jerusalem International Book Forum
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Metroland

1980 Novel (coming-of-age)

Story of a young man from the London suburbs dealing with idealism and sexual fidelity.

Coming of ageSuburban cultureIdentity
Adaptations
  • [Film] Metroland / Philip Saville (1997)

Flaubert's Parrot

1984 Novel (experimental/fragmentary)

A fragmentary, biographical-style novel in which an elderly doctor obsessively examines Flaubert's life and work.

Literary criticismObsessionStructure of history/biography

England, England

1998 Satirical novel

A humorous novel exploring national identity via a theme-park project replicating English landmarks.

National identityConsumer cultureSatire

Arthur & George

2005 Historical fiction

A fictional account based on a true crime investigated by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

JusticeHistoryReputation
Adaptations
  • [Television drama] Arthur & George (2015)

The Sense of an Ending

2011 Novel (memory and reinterpretation)

A short novel about memory and the reinterpretation of the past; winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize.

MemoryResponsibilityMisrecognition and regret
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Sense of an Ending / Ritesh Batra (2017)

Bibliography

  • Metroland (1980)
  • Before She Met Me (1982)
  • Flaubert's Parrot (1984)
  • Staring at the Sun (1986)
  • A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989)
  • Talking It Over (1991)
  • England, England (1998)
  • Arthur & George (2005)
  • The Sense of an Ending (2011)
  • The Noise of Time (2016)
  • The Only Story (2018)
  • Elizabeth Finch (2022)
  • The Man in the Red Coat (2019)
  • Nothing to Be Frightened Of (2008)
  • Changing My Mind (2025)

Adaptations

  • Metroland (1997 film)
  • The Sense of an Ending (2017 film)
  • Arthur & George (TV drama, 2015)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Alphonse Daudet's In the Land of Pain (2002)
  • Translation of Volker Kriegel's The Truth About Dogs (1988)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Postmodern fragmentationCool, polished narrative voiceIntellectual, essayistic prose
Recurring Motifs
Memory and its unreliabilityIdentity and reinterpretation of the selfAffinity with French culture and artsTime and reassessment of the past

Health

  • Severe shyness (social reticence)
    1970年代（言及あり）
    Reportedly experienced debilitating shyness in early career, affecting participation in meetings and public situations.

Legacy

Julian Barnes is an internationally respected British writer known for postmodern techniques and intellectual treatments of memory and identity. He has won major literary awards including the Man Booker Prize, and is noted for his affinity with French literature and his essays and translations.

In Popular Culture

  • Several adaptations (Metroland, The Sense of an Ending, Arthur & George) have brought his work to wider popular audiences.

Quotes

  • Sometimes we remember as true things that never even happened.
    Source: Essay collection Changing My Mind; piece in The Observer (2025) (2025)

Trivia

  • Published crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh.
  • Born in Leicester but raised in London from infancy.
  • Long-term resident of Tufnell Park, London.
  • Married to literary agent Pat Kavanagh until her death in 2008.
  • Has publicly described himself as agnostic.