The Lemon Table - Hardcover

Barnes, Julian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022407198X ISBN 13: 9780224071987

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2004

Synopsis

If Julian Barnes' new collection of stories has a theme it is 'rage in age'. Among the Chinese the lemon is the symbol of death. At the 'lemon table' (a coinage of Sibelius, protagonist of the final story) it is permissible - indeed obligatory - to talk about death, and each of Barnes' characters is facing death, but each in a very different way.

The settings range from eighteenth-century Sweden and nineteenth-century Russia to the 'Barnet Shop', a hairdessing salon where an old man measures out his life in haircuts, or a South Bank concert hall where a music lover carries out an obsessive campaign against those who cough in concerts. In 'Knowing French' an eighty-four-year old woman, a former teacher 'incarcerated' in an old people's home, begins a correspondence with an author - 'Dear Dr Barnes' - that enriches both their lives. In 'Appetite' a woman reads elaborate recipes to her sick husband as a substitute for sex. In 'Hygiene' an old soldier makes his regular trip to town to do errands for his wife - stilton from Paxton's, rubber rings for Kilner jars, Elizabeth Arden powder - and to spend the afternoon with a tart called Babs.

These stories are wise, funny, clever and moving.

About this title

Review:

'A moving portrayal of characters facing the end of their lives and looking back with regret, resignation or defiance.' (The Independent)

'Masterly ... his best stories have a strong air of Maupassant about them ... extraordinarily effective ... a compelling series of vignettes of old age, executed with great skill.' (The Daily Telegraph)

Book Description:

A new collection of stories by one of the masters of the form.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 022407198X
• ISBN 13: 9780224071987
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224