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Julian Patrick Barnes is an English essayist, novelist and short story writer.
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culture · English writer (born 1946) · writer · translator · novelist · essayist · literary critic · science fiction writer · journalist · lexicographer · also Julian Barnes, J. Barnes, J Barnes, Edward Pygge, Julian Patrick Barnes, Dan Kavanagh
Born 19 January 1946 · Q295431
78 published statements · 0 followers
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liberating in that you could indulge any fantasies of violence you might have
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“Beyond this, it dismays me what selfish and uncooperative Europeans we have been over the past years, smugly farting away in the corner. It seems perfectly possible that David Cameron will be remembered as the prime minister who”
“liberating in that you could indulge any fantasies of violence you might have”
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“a sentimental way of hanging on”
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Awarded Princess of Asturias Literary Prize (2026).
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Euronews: Julian Barnes quits fiction after winning 2026 Princess of Asturias for literature
WFAE: Julian Barnes' playful new book is also his 'official departure'
Yahoo: Julian Barnes’s last book reminds us why he’s a good writer, but not a great one
The Guardian: Sex, death and parrots: Julian Barnes’s best fiction – ranked!
The Guardian: Departure(s) by Julian Barnes review – this final novel is a slippery affair
The Guardian: Author Julian Barnes confirms new novel will be his last
Yahoo: Julian Barnes interview: ‘This is my last book’
WLRN: Julian Barnes says he's enjoying himself, but that 'Departure(s)' is his last book
The Guardian: Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes review – a manifesto for open-mindedness
The Guardian: ‘We remember as true things that never even happened’: Julian Barnes on memory and changing his mind
Barnes published the essays entitled Changing My Mind, in which he questions whether it is possible for the Self to change the mind, stating instead that it is the mind that changes our identity, the Self being inside th
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The Guardian: ‘The flight to Zurich sounds like the worst mini-break possible’: Julian Barnes on why Britain must legalise assisted dying
The Guardian: ‘I didn’t think it was possible to be a novelist’: Julian Barnes on literature, loss – and his late friend Martin Amis
The Guardian: Britain is a ‘bifurcated place nowadays’, says Julian Barnes
The Guardian: Julian Barnes: ‘When I first read EM Forster, I thought he was a bit wet’
The Guardian: Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes review – the problem with ambiguity
The Guardian: Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes review – a roman à clef with a key that’s hard to find
Has as its title character a woman who is pursued by the newspapers after an LRB lecture
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Which he was initially reticent about in public
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And requiring chemotherapy drugs to keep its effects at bay for the remainder of his life
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Barnes had a "health scare" in 2020, which he was initially reticent about in public.
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Which features the reflections of a man upon a relationship with an older woman
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Awarded Siegfried Lenz Prize (2016).
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Features a fictionalised version of composer Dmitry Shostakovich
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Published “A global reference for human genetic variation” in Nature — cited 17,839 times.
Gave a rare interview to The New Statesman for its Centenary Issue, during which he spoke against the British government's "mass closure of public libraries", as well as the UK's "slip down the world league table for
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Barnes published Levels of Life
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And then wrote about it for the London Review of Books
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Barnes wrote of his grief over his first wife's death in an essay that appears in his 2013 book, Levels of Life.
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Awarded Europese Literatuurprijs (2012).
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Awarded Booker Prize for The Sense of an Ending (2011).
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“I somehow felt that if I did it as a fiction it might be more ordinary, you might think these melodramatic Technicolor episodes were just invented by the writer. It is good to get back to the rigour of non-fiction occasionally.”
Awarded Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2004).
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Published “Surface plasmon subwavelength optics” in Nature — cited 10,532 times.
Barnes undertook a rare acting role as the voice of Georges Simenon in a BBC Radio 4 series of adaptations of Inspector Maigret stories
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Awarded Shakespeare Prize (1993).
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Awarded Prix Femina étranger (1992).
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– which again deals with a historical theme, this time depicting the trial of Stoyo Petkanov – the former leader of a collapsed Communist country in Eastern Europe – as he stands trial for crimes against his country
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Barnes published Talking It Over, a novel about a contemporary love triangle, in which the three characters take turns to talk to the reader, reflecting on common events
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– won the 1992 Prix Femina étranger, and was followed nine years later by a sequel titled Love, etc, in between which the short story collection Cross Channel and two longer works – The Porcupine and England, England – a
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Published A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, a nonlinear novel using a variety of writing styles to call into question perceived notions of human history and knowledge itself
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Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1995 and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2004, his other honours include the 1986 E
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Awarded Prix Médicis essai (1986).
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Awarded E. M. Forster Award (1986).
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“Każdy tanatofob potrzebuje chwilowej pociechy, jaką daje mu myśl o osobniku stanowiącym jeszcze skrajniejszy przypadek.”
“Jakiemu to ewolucyjnemu celowi mogłaby służyć tęsknota?”
“Jeśli nie mogę być przekonany o prawdziwości faktów, to przynajmniej mogę wiernie oddać wrażenia wywołane przez owe fakty.”
“Nie ma nic złego w geniuszu, który potrafi zafascynować w młodości. Jest raczej coś niewłaściwego z młodymi, którzy nie potrafią się fascynować geniuszem.”
“Kto powiedział, że Bóg musi być sprawiedliwy? Bóg musi być tylko prawdziwy.”
“Może poczucie władzy zawsze rodzi pogardę.”
“Umysł pożąda pewności, a być może najbardziej pożąda tej pewności, króra rozumu nie potrzebuje. Być może to, co umysł rozumie, czego potrafi mozolnie dowieść i przyjąć do wiadomości, jest zarazem tym, czym najbardziej gardzi.”
“Muzyka ucieka słowom: na tym polega jej sens i jej majestat.”
“Przeznaczenie. To tylko wzniosłe określenie czegoś, na co nie da się nic poradzić.”
“Sarkazm to ironia, która straciła duszę.”
Barnes published Staring at the Sun, a novel about a woman growing to maturity in postwar England and dealing with issues of love, truth, and mortality
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“Jestem bardziej ufny albo skłonny do okłamywania samego siebie, więc będę ciągnął tę opowieść tak, jakby wszystkie moje wspomnienia pokrywały się z prawdą.”
“Pamięć przebiera i przesiewa zgodnie z wymaganiami, jakie stawia jej ten, kto pamięta.”
“Smutny seks zawsze jest znacznie gorszy niż dobry seks, zły seks, seks z samym sobą i brak seksu.”
“Wolelibyście kochać bardziej i bardziej cierpieć czy mniej kochać i mniej cierpieć? Oto, jak sądzę, ostatecznie, jedyne rzeczywiste pytanie.”
“Zacząłem podejrzewać, że niesłusznie uznałem alkoholizm za przeciwieństwo miłości. Może te dwa stany są znacznie bliższe, niż sobie wyobrażałem.”
“Z jego doświadczenia życiowego wynikało, że przetrwanie pierwszych szesnastu lat to w zasadzie kwestia ograniczenia szkód.”
“Weszliśmy w epokę, w której „charakter” człowieka jest pojęciem mylącym. Charakter został wyparty przez ego, a wykonywanie władzy jako odzwierciedlenie charakteru człowieka zostało zastąpione psychopatycznym trzymaniem się u władzy wszelkimi dostępnymi środkami i wbrew wszelkim regułom prawdopodobieństwa.”
“Wolność – powiedział Petkanow z naciskiem – polega na poddawaniu się woli większości.”
“Władze średniowieczne stawiały je przed sądem i z całą powagą oceniały ich postępki; my umieszczamy zwierzęta w obozach koncentracyjnych, faszerujemy je hormonami i kroimy tak, by jak najmniej przypominały nam coś, co kiedyś gdakało, meczało czy ryczało. Który świat jest poważniejszy? Który bardziej zaawansowany moralnie?”
Awarded Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (1985).
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“The 50p Santa. A Duffy Detective Story”
Awarded Best of Young British Novelists (1983).
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Awarded Somerset Maugham Award (1981).
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– took Barnes eight years to write, Duffy and the rest of the Kavanagh books typically took fewer than two weeks each to put to paper—an experiment to test "what it would be like writing as fast as I possibly could in a
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With his second – Before She Met Me – following two years later
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“s death in an essay that appears in his 2013 book, Levels of Life. Also in 2013, he gave a rare interview to The New Statesman for its Centenary Issue, during which he spoke against the British government”
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Barnes married his first wife, Pat Kavanagh (a literary agent), in 1979.
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The family moved to Northwood, Middlesex, the 'Metro-land' of his first novel
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Born 1946-01-19.
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