Cross Channel - Hardcover

Barnes, Julian

3.37

833 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679446915 ISBN 13: 9780679446910

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 1996

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In his first book of stories, Julian Barnes explores a striking and unusual theme - the British experience of France over three hundred years - with the abundance of sophistication and wit that has established him as one of the most daring and prodigiously gifted novelists at work in our language today.
These ten stories, singly and as a whole, examine the strange and persistent attraction between these two countries, as well as the often ambiguous results. The collection spans the Channel from the late seventeenth century, when mercenary soldiers attempt to "convert" a Protestant village in southern France, to the year 2015, when an aging Londoner travels yet again to Paris, carrying a lifetime of memories with him on the now antiquated Eurostar train. In between, the British appear in various guises: as railway builders in the 1840s, vineyard owners at the turn of the century, artistic exiles in the 1920s; a cricket team departs to play the Gentlemen of France in 1789, a dying composer prepares for the cross-Channel broadcast of his final work, a cyclist competes in the Tour de France, and a woman mourns her long-dead brother in the killing fields of the Great War.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"Always intelligent and perceptive, but so beautifully written that it’s easy to understand." (Jancis Robinson Week)

"Intelligent and perceptive, but so beautifully written it’s easy to understand... He captures the complex relationship between the French and the English." (Jancis Robinson Waitrose Weekend)

"Wonderfully ironic, perceptive and at times tender... Barnes has created something unique in his work, a particular way of looking at life, at words, at relationships, which is the mark of every true stylist" (Financial Times)

"His writing demonstrates the billowing lightness of imagination... reading these stories, you perceive and love France afresh... Cross Channel is characterised by the intelligence, irony and wit you associate with his writing, but it is also suffused with feeling, deeply seasoned with affection" (Independent)

"A glittering collection of stories... His marvellously supple and exact prose is matched with subjects that powerfully stir his creativity... It's impossible to imagine a fictional panorama of Britain's long relationship with France realized with more cordial understanding" (Sunday Times)

From the Publisher:

Wise and witty collection of stories of British in France
In these exquisitely crafted and turned stories spanning several centuries, Julian Barnes takes as his universal theme the British in France, our fascination with that country, our various and mixed reasons for being there and our sometimes ambiguous reception. These clever, wise and imaginative stories are permeated with understanding of what it has meant for generations from these islands to cross the Channel. The No.1 bestseller from one of Britain's finest writers. "Love, sex, art, literature, wars, religion, wine, spirit, the steam engine and, yes, Eurostar: they are all there. All the emotions, attitudes, pursuits and endeavours that typically seem to link Britain to France feature in the first collection of short stories by Julian Barnes...A delightful book" Thierry Naudin, European; "The book is a delight...Undoubtedly Barnes's best book since Flaubert's Parrot" Allan Massie, Scotsman

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.