http://www.ulbsibiu.ro
http://www.ulbsibiu.ro/ro/facultati/litere/
 
Volume 13, 2009

  
   Volume 5, December 2004

Archive:
Volume 12, 2009
Volume 11, 2008
Volume 10, 2008
Volume 9, 2007

Volume 8, 2007
Volume 7,2006
Volume 6, 2005
Volume 5, 2004
Volume 4, 2001
Volume 3, 2000
Volume 2, 1999
Volume 1,1999
 
 

 

Beneath a Bombers’ Moon: Barnes and Belief

 

PETER CHILDS
University of Gloucestershire


Abstract

An atheist whose books are peppered with reflections and meditations on death, religion and last things, Julian Barnes has mixed feelings about belief. He sees courage as ‘staring at the sun’ of truth but knows that we are all susceptible to and reliant upon irrational beliefs. This essay analyses how in his writing Barnes comments repeatedly on metaphysics, mortality, and monotheistic belief but also explores the attractions of various other appealing grand narratives from political idealism to high art to romantic love despite their likely failure to deliver answers or happiness. While deciding that love represents the closest we may come to truth, Barnes distances himself from all certainties, seeking to be fearful of nothing truthful while deeply frightened of the truth of nothingness.

 

Keywords: Julian Barnes, contemporary British fiction, religion in fiction, the novel and belief, Nothing to Be Frightened of, Staring at the Sun, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
 
 

BACK

 Webmasters: Neic Rãzvan and Crăciun Bogdan