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"Through The Window: Seventeen Essays and One Short Story" by Julian Barnes
Published on 2nd September 2013
Chatting with Julian Barnes after his talk to the Barnes-Amis society, I had asked him whether pre-eminence had changed his writing. He told me: “It allows one to be a little self-indulgent from time to time”. This little gem is self-indulgent in all the right places. A love-letter to the novel, the collection is a selection of delicious morsels of elucidation and exploration, on writers from Ford Madox Ford to Flaubert. Throughout, we have an acute sense that Barnes is thoroughly enjoying writing the essays – they are an indulgence for him as well as for us. His personal engagement, for example, with Provencal culture, is clear in his minutely detailed and intricate studies of Ford’s relationship with the area. When he cares about something, we can tell, even when his passion is clothed in silkily genteel prose. Even in what is essentially literary criticism, the language retains the concision, clarity and beauty of his novels, with an uncanny sensitivity to language – a line doesn’t just sound good, it “gives a creak under the foot as we put our weight on it”. The short story, though, is the undisputable high point. A tripartite “homage to Hemingway”, it is a masterclass in narrative trompe-l’oeil, unfolding its ambiguities with exquisite precision and humour. It isn’t surprising that Barnes has been accused of a little smugness – allegations of which he is probably guilty. It is important, though, that we don’t confuse this with the genuine sense of joy and engagement which characterises the collection. It’s a feeling which is contagious – no one could resist being drawn in to this little treasure’s literary bliss.
