England, England

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England, England is a satirical , postmodern novel by British writer Julian Barnes . The novel was published in 1998 and was nominated for the British Booker Prize in the same year. The first German edition was published in 1999.

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England, England is divided into three chapters with the headings "England", "England, England" and "Anglia". The first part focuses on the protagonist Martha Cochrane and her childhood memories. Martha grew up an only child in a rural area of ​​England. Her childhood experiences a sudden change when her father leaves the family. Martha's memories of her father are closely related to putting together a puzzle that depicts the counties of England .

The plot of the second and longest chapter, "England, England", is shifted to a near future, which is clearly shaped by postmodernism . The adult Martha will work for a project of the multimillionaire and major entrepreneur Sir Jack Pitman, who wants to recreate England in a gigantic amusement park on the Isle of Wight in the south of England and market it for quality tourism. Things that are considered typically English abroad are to be recreated and recreated in miniature England by short distances. Replicas of England's most famous personalities, myths and places are created in the amusement park. The attractions and symbols of English national identity are easily accessible to tourists and presented in one place.

Martha is involved in the implementation of the project and starts an affair with her colleague Paul Harrison. Together they discover Sir Jack's scandalous sexual preferences and blackmail him with the evidence when Sir Jack tries to quit Martha. In this way Martha becomes the managing director of the island project, which has meanwhile started operations and is proving to be a very popular tourist attraction. Due to its great success, the theme park 'England, England' becomes an independent state and a member of the European Union , while the actual 'old England' is declining economically and is increasingly being forgotten politically. After a scandal in the amusement park, Martha is banished from the island by Sir Jack.

The setting of the last chapter of the novel, "Anglia", is a village in 'old England', in which an aged Martha has settled for her old age after years of restless wandering. The nation has degenerated into a depopulated, pre-industrial agrarian state with no political influence, while 'England, England' continues to thrive. The plot focuses on the villagers' efforts to revive the forgotten tradition of a village festival with the help of Martha's memories of earlier times.

interpretation

The novel deals with topics such as national identity, invented traditions and the formation of myths and questions the apparent authenticity of history, individual and collective memory . England also gives impetus to reflection on Jean Baudrillard's concept of the simulacrum and on the influence of replicas in postmodern times .

While the closeness of the novel to genres such as satire , dystopia and farce is emphasized in literary studies , Julian Barnes described England, England as a "semi-farce" in an interview .

expenditure

  • Julian Barnes: England, England . Cologne: Kiepenheuer and Witsch 1999. Translated by Gertraude Krueger. 345 pp. ISBN 3-462-02830-8 .
  • Julian Barnes: England, England . Munich: Goldmann 2001. Paperback. 350 pp. ISBN 3-442-72757-X .

literature

  • Nick Bentley: Re-writing Englishness: Imagining the Nation in Julian Barnes's England, England and Zadie Smith's White Teeth . In: Textual Practice 21: 3, 2007. pp. 483-504.
  • Vanessa Guignery: The Fiction of Julian Barnes. A Reader's Guide to Essential Criticism . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2006.
  • Christoph Henke: Remembering Selves, Constructing Selves: Memory and Identity in Contemporary British Fiction . In: Journal for the Study of British Cultures 10: 1, 2003. pp. 77-100.
  • Sarah Henstra : The McReal Thing: Personal / National Identity in Julian Barnes's England, England . In: Nick Bentley (Ed.): British Fiction of the 1990s . Routledge, London and New York 2004. pp. 95-107.
  • Frederick M. Holmes: Julian Barnes . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2009.
  • Barbara Korte: Julian Barnes' England, England : Tourism as a Critique of Postmodernism . In: H. Berghoff, C. Harvie, B. Korte, & R. Schneider (Eds.): The Making of Modern Tourism: The Cultural History of the British Experience, 1600-2000 . Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills 2002. pp. 285-303.
  • Silvia Mergenthal: A Fast-Forward Version of England. Constructions of Englishness in Contemporary Fiction . Winter, Heidelberg 2003.
  • James J. Miracky: Replicating a Dinosaur: Authenticity Run Amok in the 'Theme Parking' of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Julian Barnes's England, England . In: Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 45: 2, 2004. pp. 163–71.
  • Vera Nünning: The Invention of Cultural Traditions: The Construction and Deconstruction of Englishness and Authenticity in Julian Barnes' England, England(PDF; 220 kB) . 2001.
  • Elena Semino: Representing Characters' Speech and Thought in Narrative Fiction: A Study of England, England by Julian Barnes (PDF; 364 kB) . In: Style 38: 4, 2004. pp. 428-51.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nünning 2001 (English, PDF file; 220 kB)
  2. ↑ Korte 2002: 285, Henke 2003: 90, Mergenthal 2003: 101, Guignery 2006: 3, Holmes 2009: 91.
  3. ^ The Observer 1998.
  4. ^ Evidence in the German National Library
  5. ^ Evidence in the German National Library