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Diary As A Postmodern Device in The Sense of An Ending'

This presentation aims to analyse one of the major symbolic devices of the text ‘The Sense of an Ending’ from a postmodernist lens. It deals with the aspects of postmodernism that assists in equating similarity to the language of Julian Barnes in this selected text. The language, unreliability in narration, fragmentation, allusions, intertextuality and various other means are observed to prove the text as a postmodern narrative. Among these, the diary plays a vital role in the plot.

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Kavisha Alagiya
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2K views14 pages

Diary As A Postmodern Device in The Sense of An Ending'

This presentation aims to analyse one of the major symbolic devices of the text ‘The Sense of an Ending’ from a postmodernist lens. It deals with the aspects of postmodernism that assists in equating similarity to the language of Julian Barnes in this selected text. The language, unreliability in narration, fragmentation, allusions, intertextuality and various other means are observed to prove the text as a postmodern narrative. Among these, the diary plays a vital role in the plot.

Uploaded by

Kavisha Alagiya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Abstract

• Postmodernity is certain of its uncertainty. Postmodernity often claims that it has seen through the
sustaining illusions of others, and so has grasped the ‘real’ nature of the cultural and political institutions
which surround us. (Butler)
• This presentation aims to analyse one of the major symbolic device of the text ‘The Sense of an Ending’ from
postmodernist lens.
• It deals with the aspects of postmodernism that assists in equating similarity to the language of Julian
Barnes in this selected text.
• The language, unreliability in narration, fragmentation, allusions, intertextuality and various other means
are observed to prove the text as a postmodern narrative.
• Among which, diary plays a vital role as a mainstay in driving the plot.
• Keywords- Diary, Postmodernism, language.
Introduction
• The author of the tale of a man looking back on a botched moment of youth,
Julian Barnes is the author of several books of stories, essays, a translation of
Alphonse Daudet's In the Land of Pain, and numerous novels.
“Julian Barnes specializes in Englishness the way some doctors specialize in broken
bones or damaged nerves.”
-Michael Wood, the London Review of Books. (Source- Clark)
• In October 2011, the novel ‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Barnes was awarded the
Man Booker Prize.
Research Objectives
• The objectives of this study are as follow-

• To characterize the symbol of diary as a bright example of postmodernism


through an inquiry into the language.
• To bring forth the philosophical inferences of accumulations and the chain of
responsibility
• To justify the “link” metaphor and interpret the philosophical courage mentioned
in the diary.
Research Questions
• The study will concentrate on the following questions-

• How far the postmodernist uncertainty can be interpreted?

• To what extent the ‘link’ in the equation can be deciphered as a metaphor?

• How the diary happens to be the mainstay for the intellectual growth of the protagonist and
the readers?
Research Methodology
• The present study aims to explore the text ‘The Sense of an Ending’ as
postmodernist text with a literary device of ‘diary’ that happens to be a mainstay
in the novel for philosophical development of the narrator/protagonist.
• In order to investigate and identify Adrian’s diary as the postmodern device the
method of theoretical research is used.
• Analysis and contextual investigation are employed for clarification,
• Moreover, the interpretive method is used to study the novel’s aspects.
The Sense of an Ending
• ‘The Sense of an Ending’ is a story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past. It is laced
with his trademark precision, dexterity and insight.

“Its mystery is as deeply embedded as the most archaic of memories."


-Anita Brookner, Daily Telegraph

"it's a harsh tale rich in humane resonances"


-Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

Source- Julian Barnes. official website.


Postmodernism
• “Postmodernism has no special place of origin.
The meaning and function of postmodernism is Language
to operate at places of closure, at the limits of
modernist productions and practices, at the
margins of what proclaims itself to be new and a Questioning
Unreliability
break with tradition, and at the multiple edges history

of these claims to self-consciousness and auto-re Analysis


flection.” (Silverman)
• Postmodernist thinking offers to re-read the
texts.
Intertextuality Fragmentation
Postmodern elements
• Order — There is a playfulness in the text and a refusal to accept our usual sense of linear
development. [I remember, in no particular order]
• Fragmentation—this approach is common in both the narrative and with characters; there
is a very real sense that people are not whole and developed. [Back then…]
• Questions: What is history?/ New myths—postmodern texts often forces to confront in new
way of thinking and knowing with a re-writing of history [classroom discussion and diary]
• Language creates meaning—language is seen as having power to create truth; somehow
what is said matters more than how we might usually define "reality." A postmodern
approach often emphasizes language over transcendent “truth.”
“One advantage in keeping a diary is that
you become aware with reassuring clarity of
the changes which you constantly suffer.”

- Franz Kafka (from Diaries)


Source - "Franz Kafka Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. 26 April 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/franz_kafka_400352
Document - Diary
• “I was informed that I had been left five hundred pounds and two documents” (63)
• “I think it right you should have the attached. […] I am not quite sure of my motives.” –Sarah’s
letter (65)
• “The will describes it’s a diary. […] Adrian Finn.” “She (Veronica) said she wasn’t ready to part
with it yet.” – Eleanor Marriott (67)
• “The diary was evidence; it was – it might be – corroboration. It might disrupt the banal
recreations of memory. It might jump-start something- though I had no idea what.” (77)
• “I began my email campaign. […] I would wear her down with niceness, and I would get Adrian’s
diary.” (83)
• “a fragment of the disrupted document.” (85)
(Barnes, The Sense of an Ending)
Adrian’s Diary
• 5.4 The question of accumulation. If life is a wager, what form does the bet take?
• To what extent might human relationships be expressed in a mathematical or logical formula? If so, what sign might be placed between
the integers?
• 5.6 Thus how might you express an accumulation containing the integers b, a1, a2, s, v?
b = s - v (×/+) a¹
a² + v + a¹ × s = b ?”
• 5.7 Or is that the wrong way to put the question and express the accumulation? Is the application of logic to the human condition in and
of itself self-defeating? What becomes of a chain of argument when the links are made of different metals, each with a separate
frangibility?
• 5.8 Or is “link” a false metaphor?
• 5.9 But allowing that it is not, if a link breaks, wherein lies the responsibility for such breaking? On the links immediately on either side,
or on the whole chain? But what do we mean by “the whole chain”? How far do the limits of responsibility extend?
• 6.0 Or we might try to draw the responsibility more narrowly and apportion it more exactly. And not use equations and integers but
instead express matters in traditional narrative terminology. So, for instance, if Tony
(Barnes, The Sense of an Ending)
Conclusion
• It can be assumed that philosophical height of the fragmented page
carries a meaning on its own.
• This meaning varies from a reader to a reader
• Humans think in language and therefore the thoughts about some
subjective complex ideas remain in a constant quest for their numerous
interpretations.
• Hence, it can be said that novel is the tale of the complication of the
reading and understanding the fragmented piece of diary.
Works Cited
Barnes, Julian. Julian Barnes. n.d. official website. 24 April 2021. <http://www.julianbarnes.com/index.html>.
—. The Sense of an Ending. London: Vintage Random House, 2012. Book. 24 April 2021.
Butler, Christopher. Postmodernism - A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 74. OUP Oxford, 2002. Oxford Paperbacks. 24 April 2021.
<https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1VSsDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP7&dq=Postmodernism+-
+A+Very+Short+Introduction&ots=nasKr5WE0T&sig=Nhw491YlPbd81i1F25ICWB4Xf5c>.
Clark, Alex. The Observer profile - Julian Barnes: master of fiction with whole worlds living in his prose . 3 January 2016. Webpage. 25 April 2021.
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/03/profile-julian-barnes-new-novel-out-noise-of-time>.
"Franz Kafka Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. 24 April 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/franz_kafka_400352
Kirpichnikova, Anna. "The Linguistic Singularity of the Novel the Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes." The Journal of Social Sciences Research
(2018): 556-558. webpage. 25 April 2021. <https://ideas.repec.org/a/arp/tjssrr/2018p556-558.html>.
Silverman, Hugh J. . "Postmodernism, Language, and Textuality Part l." Phenomenology+ Pedagogy . Vol. 4. 1986. PDF. 24 April 2021.
<https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/pandp/article/view/15002/11823>.

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