tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post6073145692162906474..comments2024-02-05T09:17:53.322-08:00Comments on Adrian Barlow's blog: Re-reading Julian Barnes (ii): on poetry and 'the poet'Adrian Barlowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-47322214171633684802023-11-17T09:07:29.595-08:002023-11-17T09:07:29.595-08:00(17th November 2023): I’m ashamed to have only ju...(17th November 2023): I’m ashamed to have only just now realised that the name of the English teacher, Phil Dixon, is itself an early pointer by Julian Barnes to the identity of ’the poet'. Kingsley Amis chose the name Dixon for his hero, 'Lucky Jim’ Dixon, because Larkin's flat in Leicester was in a road called Dixon Drive; what’s more, the novel itself is dedicated by Amis to Larkin. How has it taken me eleven years to realise this?Adrian Barlowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-22025929391301190632017-07-21T05:29:15.063-07:002017-07-21T05:29:15.063-07:00Maybe that is why Mr. Ford drank himself to death....Maybe that is why Mr. Ford drank himself to death...bazuzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14310142302096576210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-35601202435606349952017-05-19T07:03:46.841-07:002017-05-19T07:03:46.841-07:00Thanks for this analysis of the book and for linki...Thanks for this analysis of the book and for linking to Larkin's poetry. <br />I am inspired to read more of his poems. The ones you touched on are profound, and no doubt central to understanding Sense of an Ending. Barnes prose is almost as precise as a poem. As I go back and re read, I see he is laser like in his story telling. As for the theme, it also makes me wonder about Barnes and his overt challenge to live in less judgement, and with more compassion. For those that see this novel as unemotional, I disagree. There is tremendous sadness and grief as Tony sees how his lack of compassion adds up to pain. In hindsight, he intended to hurt two people he loved,and was not innocent. I don't hold him accountable for the death of his friend, but for his lack of curiousity and sense of his impact on people he loved. The beauty of Larkin's words, of the little I've read due to your article, is that this blindness seems to be in all of us. We long for happiness, which might be just as ordinary as a life lived ignorantly. So I must have compassion for Tony.elisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567357522340836571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-20735509446836209152016-12-12T18:41:15.675-08:002016-12-12T18:41:15.675-08:00Barnes has been mad for Larkin since Metroland. It...Barnes has been mad for Larkin since Metroland. It's been decades, but as I recall, Larkin infects that novel like some kind of weird self-replicating virus. At least it's more appropriate in this newer one--but for me the key Larkin text seemed to be "Aubade", and it was frustrating to feel so needlessly unclear about what the "damage" (as the narrator has it) a "long way back" really was. Like Miss R, I was fairly lost.erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15459764573179565354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-30854328800709823582015-10-28T10:15:18.069-07:002015-10-28T10:15:18.069-07:00After reading this book I decided that every young...After reading this book I decided that every young man in his 20's today should read it, I gave it to my 23 yr old son ( i am his older mother age 64) he is an academic and tends to refuse to read novels however he was riveted by this book and hopefully he will have made the transition now to start enjoying great novelists like Julian Barnes. I now want him to read "and then she met me " . All my women friends refuse to read male authors...i find this a sad loss for them as I do not care the gender of the author if the book is great...and this sure is :)) thanks Julian.just an old womans viewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13993513081685846278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-860311558246629722013-12-15T13:54:48.906-08:002013-12-15T13:54:48.906-08:00This is the best suggestion I have yet received. T...This is the best suggestion I have yet received. The last line clearly has a strong resonance with the novel. I’m not sure though that it covers quite the scope of ‘eros’ as identified in the original poem by the precocious Adrian. Many thanks, Paul, nevertheless.Adrian Barlowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-73131430670102051892013-12-03T03:50:59.955-08:002013-12-03T03:50:59.955-08:00The poem about the Barn(es) Owl is obviously the o...The poem about the Barn(es) Owl is obviously the one with that title by Gwen Harwood<br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/barn-owl-2/ <br /><br />Daybreak: the household slept.<br />I rose, blessed by the sun.<br />A horny fiend, I crept<br />out with my father's gun.<br />[…]<br />My father reached my side,<br />gave me the fallen gun.<br />'End what you have begun.'<br />[…]<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-32622932561065713392013-12-03T03:47:47.217-08:002013-12-03T03:47:47.217-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-84168610659085193842012-05-15T11:20:17.150-07:002012-05-15T11:20:17.150-07:00I guess I'm slow - but I keep wondering about ...I guess I'm slow - but I keep wondering about Sarah getting pregnant - does Mr. Ford realize it isn't his? Why name the baby Adrian? Imagine the reality of living in that household ----I'm just wanting a little more - --<br />And why is Veronica so angry? We know nothing about her life - there are no clues at all. Why "blame" Tony?<br />I'm lost.Miss Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726495991903175645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-62550036509104145522012-01-12T10:26:24.044-08:002012-01-12T10:26:24.044-08:00What a superb exercise in the analysis of text and...What a superb exercise in the analysis of text and synthesis of a very original appraisal of the novel. Also an exemplary illustration of the hidden depths that close reading can reveal. <br /><br />I particularly appreciate the reclaiming of Philip Larkin. After the publication of his diaries some years back he went through a period of rather sanctimonious censure as a poet. <br /><br />I find Larkin's (and Barnes') documentation of our self-deceptions refreshing. It may be a peculiarly English thing? <br /><br />You'll find Larkin's struggle with "time torn off, unused" (Aubade)widely reflected in artistic culture. Try the lyrics to Pink Floyd's song "Time" - <br /><br />"hanging on in quiet desparation is the English way....."Bangomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04537505971787591491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-31833703424480127382012-01-04T10:40:57.242-08:002012-01-04T10:40:57.242-08:00Brilliant. Now we've all got it.Brilliant. Now we've all got it.Garry Headlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741556616880181278noreply@blogger.com