A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

by Julian Barnes

Book Overview

A "playful, witty, and entertaining" book (The New York Times Book Review) that offers an exhilarating vision of the world, starting with the voyage of Noah's ark and ending with a sneak preview of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679731377
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.7" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

More than the sum of its parts...

I respectfully and totally disagree with the misinformed reader who gave this book only 2 stars. I'd list it as one of the great books of the twentieth century for many reasons. It appears at first glance to be made up of disconnected stories, histories, journal entries, and fables. But what is so masterful in the writing style is the way that, with a little work from the reader, these disparate elements reorganize themselves into an organic whole. I find many qualities of Barnes' work "musical', perhaps none more so than his singular use of leitmotifs. Words, phrases and themes echo from one chapter to the next, linking ideas, characters and symbols to the very end of the book. What leitmotifs? Some examples: Noah, the Ark and the Flood; historiography; shipwrecks; pilgrimage; G-d as destroyer; the eventual and inevitable corruption/destruction of all art and history.Barnes IS in love with his own prose and loves to play with the reader to prove his own erudition, but never entirely without a point. I have several favorites among the chapters, particularly the first and last. In both, the identity of the narrator is crucial to the overall structure of the book. Both address "the oldest story in the world." Both are mildly to wildly comic in degree and both address head-on why we go on, why we remain dedicated to the struggles of this life (and, perhaps, the next.) From proto-Biblical narrative, to art criticism, to pseudo-history, to parable we're led on to the secret of it all. I thought it was just a jim-dandy read.

A Sardonic, Original, And Mischievous Mind On A Tear

A stowaway that narrates the trip of Noah's Ark, simple animals tried for blasphemy in the 16th Century, an incredible stream of thought on language's three very famous words, all this, and more from an extremely original and perspective bending Author. This book is easily one of the more original works I have read in quite some time. These collections of stories, and in one case a story within another, are all wonderful when confined within their own borders. They certainly were intended to be elements of a much more transcendent work, and when the reader finishes the parts, and becomes a ruminator of the whole, the effect is brilliant. Mr. Julian Barnes is a new Author for me, fortunately this book is not his debut so much remains to be read, and on his side, I hope, to be written.A short time ago I read "Ghostwritten", a book that was divided into 9 tales that all had an element of commonality. I thought it was very well done. This work takes the joining of elements that could at times be superficially viewed as disparate, but are all of a singular piece when the entire book is read. The bridges that bring the reader and the elements of the books through the tale can seemingly be obvious. They are also incredibly well disguised. A cursory read through what may seem to be just a satirical romp will no doubt please, but attention paid with more vigor will yield a much more richly crafted work. And the added gift is that even when you think you have taken what the Author has offered, this work lingers, and the more and longer it is thought of, the better it continues to grow. This is a work that can easily be started again immediately after the final page is read.Some would argue that for a work to be excellent it must be entirely original. I think that would be nice, and it does happen occasionally. Much more frequently what is offered has all the originality of a clone. Taking the familiar apart, changing the perspective, adding stylistically original and provocative thought, is as original as one can get. Generally accepted ideas or truths are not necessarily either. The ability to step back and present stand alone pieces that are fresh, that then become a symbiotic whole is a remarkable talent, and Mr. Barnes is incredibly inventive.Show this man a Rubik's Cube with all of its colored sides intact. Then scramble the object and present him with the multi-colored curiosity. Not only will he place all the colors back so that each side is uniform, he will have changed all the colors as well.Read this man's work, it's a wonderful trip.

Separating the clean from the unclean

Barnes' brilliant History of the World offers little comfort to the reader even though it is bitingly satirical in tone. Barnes' ten and a half chapters are really a series of stories that reflect various places, peoples, and time periods. There is no chronology to these events: indeed, Barnes' look at history need not be chronological as history constantly repeats itself. Each story is connected by recurring themes: separating the clean from the unclean, the presence of woodworm, the importance of Noah's ark, and,in most cases, the maritime setting. Barnes shows the human race doing itself in on countless occasions. Humanity is a perplexing idea: human beings, demonstrates Barnes, have both the ability to love and the ability to annihilate each other. There is a richness in the interpretation of history (as demonstrated in the chapter "Shipwreck") but there is also danger. Man too often rewrites history, bodlerizes it, cleans it up. This may lend to the repetition of man's folly. Religion and reverence are also placed on the table in "History." Barnes shows how religious belief often becomes a tool to separate oneself from the rest. The humorousness of Barnes' "History" is one of its most enduring features. Its ruthlessness separates itself from traditional history books. Its strong prose and unique style separate it from the common rut of fiction.

History Repeating

"History is simply the propaganda of the victors.""History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the secondtime as farce." Barnes indirectly explores these and other maximsabout history in this wonderful "novel.""Novel"in quotes because this book is not truly a novel in the way somereaders might expect, it is perhaps better characterized as acollection of prose pieces with interlocking themes and motifs,similar in a way to John Barth's "Lost in theFunhouse."Barnes writes: "We make up a story to cover thefacts we don't know or can't accept, we keep a few true facts and spina new story round them. Our panic and our pain are only eased bysoothing fabulation; we call it history." Barnes clearlyunderstands that history, or what we perceive as history, is reallyonly an interpretation, frought with as much difficulties andinaccuracies as the interpretion of any text. To illustrate andexplore this idea, Barnes uses an oblique approach: 10 1/2 chapters ofloosely interconnecting stories running from "Genesis" to"Revelations."Barnes' "Genesis" is the firstchapter, and is basically a comic, revisionist telling of Noah and hisArk narrated by a woodworm stowed away on the Ark. In Barnes' world,Noah is a drunken lout who lost and/or ate some of the animals he wassupposed to save (the griffon, the unicorn, etc.). Barnes'"Revelations" chapter is about a dream of Heaven where allwishes are fulfilled, and Hell is simply "necessarypropaganda." Part of the delight in this book is the way Barnesattacks and deconstructs stories from the Bible, pointing out thefundamental (pun intended) error in relying on the Bible as anhistorically accurate text.In between these are chapters aboutwoodworms placed on trial for eating a bishop's throne; a hostagecrisis aboard a cruiseliner (a thinly veiled retelling of the AchilleLouro incident); a trek to Mount Ararat to locate the Ark's remains;an analysis of the sinking of the Medusa and Gericault's paintingdepicting the impending rescue of the survivors, and others.References to Noah's Ark or ships' voyages figure in practically everystory, as Barnes "spins new stories" around "a few truefacts."Many of the chapters explore the ways in which historyis recorded as subjective experience. For example, Barnes useshistorical records to illustrate that Gericault's painting likely leftout and changed certain historical details to heighten the emotionaland allegorical nature of the painting. These few pages are one ofthe best fictional meditations on the connections between life and artI have read anywhere. The structure of the novel serves a specificthematic purpose here. The various chapters are often narrated bydifferent characters, and Barnes also shifts back and forth betweenfirst- and third-person narrative. This is done to draw the readers'attention back to one of Barnes' central themes: history is narrative,and like all narrative, it all depends on where you're standing. Theidea of reaching true understanding based on me

Read it more than once to do it justice....

I studied this book as an A level text, and at first I hated it - I found it to be a confusing disjointed book about woodworm and arks with an extremely unsatisfactory ending :"I dreamt I woke up - it's the oldest dream of all and I've just had it." But upon reading it a second time out of necessity, I realised just what a gem of a book it was. Julian Barnes is an extremely intelligent and sensitive writer, with a brilliant sense of humour. All the books are linked, with themes and motifs, which are cleverly hidden throughout the book. The book is a satire of traditional history books, under a comically incongrous title - it is impossible to say every part of the world's history in 10 1/2 chapters! He deals with weighty subjects - love, survival, history, and tries to teach us our previous misdemeaners in a manner such as to prevent us from doing them time and time again.(ref. the holocaust.) I loved this book, and I read it time and time again. With every chapter comes a new idea, a new slant on an old idea and I hope others will see what I saw in it. Persevere in reading this book right to the end and it will reward you.