The Linguistic Singularity of the Novel the Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Анна Андреевна Кирпичникова

doi:10.32861/jssr.spi1.556.558

Abstract

The article is devoted to the linguistic singularity of the novel the Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. It deals with some linguistic means, which allow us to characterize this novel as a bright example of postmodernism. This approach contains the idea about the impossibility of new style invention and the necessity of different styles combination. The novel is full of different jargon words (hook up, pick-up line, and pick up girls), idioms (get under skin, put finger on), and even juridical terms (vexatious) which are used all together creating unique style.Â It is important that in postmodernism literature good or bad words or styles do not exist; they are all equal. Secondly, the idea of game. There are two levels of representing this idea: the mix of styles and the loss of figurativeness by phraseological units. The first level has already been mentioned and the second one can be explained as exemplified by idiom get under skin that is used in its direct meaning while describing the way of roasting a chicken. Moreover, the novel is full of references to other stories and poems and in this case, we can speak about rewriting as a common method of postmodernism. Postmodern writers create new work through the stealing of images and texts from an earlier period and appropriated in a present context, say scientists.

Highlights

In October 2011, the novel The Sense of an Ending by Barnes (2011) was awarded the Man Booker Prize, and many literary critics said that it was the best modern literary work. This novel has a strong emotional impact on readers owing to brilliant characters and owing to such topics as love, memory, death and skillful usage of linguistic means
The Russian readers got acquainted when the discussion called the phenomenon of was published in the magazine The Foreign Literature (Barnes, 2011)
As to foreign literature scientists who wrote about the works From Romanticism to Postmodernity: Two Different Conceptions of Nature in History of the World in 101⁄2 Chapters by Higdon (1960) and Unconfessed Confessions: the Narrators of Graham Swift and David Leon Higdon (A, n.d) are bright examples

Summary

Introduction

In October 2011, the novel The Sense of an Ending by Barnes (2011) was awarded the Man Booker Prize, and many literary critics said that it was the best modern literary work. This novel has a strong emotional impact on readers owing to brilliant characters and owing to such topics as love, memory, death and skillful usage of linguistic means. Many authors pointed out how strong and bright this novel is, e.g. The interpretative method is useful while studying the novel

Results

Discussion

Conclusion