2. Presented by : Bhavna Sosa
Roll no. : 02
Semester : 4
Batch : 2021-23
Paper : Contemporary Literature
Topic : Reconstructed Memory of Love in Julian Barnes’s novel
The Only Story
Submitted by : Department of English MKBU
4. About Julian Barnes:
Full name : Julian Patrick Barnes
Pseudonyms : Edward Pygge and Dan Kavanagh
Born : January 19, 1946, Leicester, England
Genre : Novels, short stories, essays, memoirs
Literary Movement: Postmodernism
Works :
Metroland (1980)
Before She Met Me (1982)
The Sense of an Ending (2011)
The Noise of Time (2016)
The Only Story (2018)
Elizabeth Finch (2022)
5. Notable Award:
Prix Femina 1992
Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2004
Man Booker Prize 2011
Jerusalem Prize 2021
6. About novel :
Title :The Only Story
Author: Julian Barnes
Original Language: English
Genre: memory novel
Published: 2018
Publishers: Jonathan Cape
Setting: "stockbroker belt"outside London, 1960s
Narrator: Paul Roberts
Parts: 3
7. Introduction
The Only Story is primarily about the nature of love, and its impact on the people involved in it. The
novel begins with a quotation:
Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less?
That is, I think, finally, the only real question.
You may point out – correctly – that it isn’t a real question. Because we don’t have the choice. If we had
the choice, then there would be a question. But we don’t, so there isn’t. Who can control how much they
love? If you can control it, then it isn’t love. I don’t know what you call it instead, but it isn’t love.
8. Memory sorts and sifts according to the demands made on it by
the rememberer. Do we have access to the algorithm of its
priorities? Probably not. But I would guess that memory
prioritises whatever is most useful to help keep the bearer of
those memories going. So there would be a self-interest in
bringing happier memories to the surface first. (p.
34)
9. Reconstructed Memory of Love
The narrator in part three is haunted with some particular moments of his unforgettable experience in the
past. In The Only Story can be read as an independent part from the two previous parts. Compared to
them, part three fairly represents Barnes’s taste and interest.
In Cornelia Stott’s words, Barnes is “very interested in answering questions concerning memory, finding
ways of making the past accessible, and dealing with the tendency of wanting to change the view of the
past to fit the present”.
According to Child’s argument, Barnes’s “novels can sometimes seem like conversational forays that
develop a line of thought about society and culture into all kinds of fictional avenues but they are also
often formally unusual and almost perversely experimental”.
In this part, Paul outlines his recollections on his only story as the most effective event in his entire life.
Five decades after their meeting, the narrator recounts his third person contemplation on his
unforgettable experience as he believes it will help him to “assess” his life “more accurately”.
10. In Part Three of the novel, the narrator’s obsession with finding a definition of love becomes an unhealthy
fixation. He reflects on the concept of love and concludes that it is elusive and constantly changing. He
also revises his rigid thoughts about concepts and people, but remains fixated on his experience with
Susan. This part in the including the elusive nature of memory, the construction of history, and the
evasiveness of truth. Despite the unreliable nature of memory, the narrator attempts to accurately
reconstruct his life with Susan.
According to Childes:
Ironic comedy and false memory are two of the poles around which Julian Barnes’s work revolves … If
the past is alive for us in the present because we remember it, Barnes’s fiction would suggest that it is not
necessarily the past that we remember. The versions and details that inhabit memories are mutable and
changeable. Recollections fashion a current sense of identity and arguably vice versa, but for Barnes the
most important aspect to memory is that it is imaginative. (2011, p. 6)
In this point how Paul, in part three of the story, reconstructs his memories through imagination, allowing
him to transfigure his memories into what he desires. Through this process, he experiences a different
kind of love based on shared singularity and accepts the differences between himself and Susan. By
reviewing his memories, he realizes his own shortcomings and ignorance in terms of love, sex, and his
relationship with Susan. Paul also attributes the root of his unfulfilled life to the communal life structure in
the village, where nobody recognized his complications. As a result, Paul tries to reorder his thoughts
about love and his life in his early twenties, becoming more flexible as he grows older.
11. The last segment of part three presents the narrator’s deep philosophical contemplation on love. He
is now mostly concerned with the plausible definition of love and the nature of his own experience of
it. He comes to the conclusion that love is a painful experience as nobody can experience love
without being hurt.
The narrator has experienced cognitive and emotional growth, but he does not seek forgiveness
orbredemption. Instead, he chooses to accept the reality of his past life in a minimalistic way. His
perspective on his past life undergoes a dramatic change, and he focuses on the prospect of his
future life at the end.
I looked at her profile, and thought back to some moments from my own private cinema. … But after
a few minutes of this, my mind began to wander. I couldn’t keep it on love and loss, on fun and grief.
… I didn’t feel guilty about any of this; indeed, I think I am now probably done with guilt. But the rest
of my life, such as it was, and subsequently would be, was calling me back. (2018, p. 383)
12. Paul has resolved a long-standing inner conflict about his experience of love,
after struggling with it for five decades. He recognizes the importance of external
factors such as time, social institutions, and individual differences, as well as the
constructed nature of memory. By changing his perspective and overcoming his
self-critical and repetitive thinking, he enters a new phase in his life.
13. To Conclude, The novel "The Only Story" by Julian Barnes exposes the flawed
nature of love and the idea of shared identity through the lens of reconstructed
memories. The protagonist learns that his romantic relationship with his partner
was primarily based on unfulfilled expectations and egotistical demands, which
ultimately led to their breakup. According to Lacan's concept of love, their
relationship could not provide them with a sense of fulfillment or completeness.
The protagonist describes his experience of love as a unique occurrence that
took place during the 1960s in Europe, a time of sexual revolution, where he was
a precursor to the modern generation in his society.
Conclusion :
14. Work Citated
Barnes, Julian. The Only Story, Jonathan Cape, 2018.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Julian Barnes". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Jan. 2023,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Barnes. Accessed 6 March 2023.
Childes, P. “Julian Barnes.” Manchester University Press, 2011.
NAYEBPOUR, Karam, and Naghmeh VARGHAİYAN. “Reconstructed Memory of Love in Julian
Barnes’s the Only Story.” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 38, no. 2, 2021, pp.
336–347., https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.693265.
Stott, C. “The Sound of Truth. Constructed and Reconstructed Lives in English Novels since Julian
Barnes's Flaubert's Parrot.” Marburg: Tectum Verlag Marburg., 2010.
Thank you
