Hauptinhalt

Topinformationen

Details

Julian Barnes. "England England" (1998)

English History, Geography, Culture, etc. in one Novel.

7.110109

Dozenten

Beschreibung

Close reading of one novel (266 pages) with attention to details will teach you a lot about English History, Culture, Geography, etc. At the end of the term you will be faced with the question of what is reality and what is fake?
-------------------------------
England, England is a satirical postmodern novel by Julian Barnes, published and shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1998. While researchers have also pointed out the novel's characteristic dystopian and farcical elements,[2] Barnes himself described the novel as a "semi-farce".[3]
England, England broaches the idea of replicating England in a theme park on the Isle of Wight. It calls into question ideas of national identity, invented traditions, the creations of myths and the authenticity of history and memory.[4]
Plot summary
England, England is divided into three parts entitled "England", "England, England" and "Anglia". The first part focuses on the protagonist Martha Cochrane and her childhood memories. Growing up in the surrounding of the English countryside, her peaceful childhood is disrupted when her father leaves the land family. Martha's memories of her father are closely related to playing a Counties of England jigsaw puzzle with him.
The second part, "England, England", is set in the near future. Martha is now in her forties and is employed by the entrepreneur Sir Jack Pitman for a megalomaniacal project: Sir Jack aims to turn the Isle of Wight into a gigantic theme park which contains everything that people, especially tourists, consider to be quintessentially English, selected according to what Sir Jack himself approves of. The theme park − called "England, England" − thus becomes a replica of England's best known historical buildings, figures and sites. Popular English tourist attractions and icons of "Englishness" are crammed together to be easily accessible without having to travel the whole of "real" England.
While working on the set-up of the project, Martha starts an affair with one of her colleagues, Paul Harrison. They discover Sir Jack's adult baby fetish and blackmail him with incriminating evidence when Sir Jack wants to dismiss Martha. She thus becomes CEO of the Island project, which turns out to be a highly popular tourist attraction. As a consequence of the huge success, "England, England" becomes an independent state and part of the European Union, while the real, "Old England" suffers a severe decline and increasingly falls into international irrelevance. After a major scandal in the theme park, however, Martha is eventually expelled from the island.
The third part of the novel, "Anglia", is set decades later and depicts Martha who has returned to a village in Old England after many years of wandering abroad. The original nation has regressed into a vastly de-populated, agrarian and pre-industrial state without any international political influence, while "England, England" continues to prosper.

Weitere Angaben

Ort: 41/E02
Zeiten: Mo. 10:00 - 12:00 (wöchentlich)
Erster Termin: Montag, 16.10.2023 10:00 - 12:00, Ort: 41/E02
Veranstaltungsart: Seminar (Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen)
ECTS-Punkte: 2