Julian Barnes’ <i>England, England</i>: Beyond Postmodernism and Dystopia

Abstract

Julian Barnes’ <i>England, England </i>lends itself to many types of critical readings as it garners many concepts and themes as diverse as identity, memory, history, nationality, rise and fall of a nation, and individual crises. All these are incorporated satirically, if not farcically, into the life a Martha Cochrane whose life milestones run in tandem with the three parts of the novel, which nostalgically cite how a nation’s glory ebbs away gradually. The present paper sets out to explore <i>England, England</i> in particular dimensions in order to come to better terms with its embedded themes, especially Englishness and English identity. With an esoteric literary aura and a resolute voice in portraying Englishness, its memory and the aesthetics thereof, the novel seeks to illuminate many hidden codes and messages in the guise of humor and satire. To unravel such encryptions, one needs to decipher them initially through an investigation of postmodernist elements and staples, such as paradoxes, simulacrum and parody, which constitute the most compelling plank of the thematic contents of the novel. Along this path, prominent names such as Linda Hutcheon and Baudrillard will emerge whose theoretical implications will be high on the critical agenda of the paper. On a different note, <i>England, England</i>, as a distinctly dystopian work, happens to equally send strongly nostalgic messages regarding the concepts of Englishness, past, present, and their memory through the portrayal of a dystopian wasteland. The ending portion of the paper will endeavour to shed light on how Barnes deploys such dystopian air and poetics to embellish his work further concerning Englishness. Ultimately, the papers will infer that the fall of grand narratives such as Englishness, identity, and memory is what it takes for a nation to rebuild and re-invent its identity.