The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

January 19, 2020

January 19, 1946

Julian Barnes (January 19, 1946) is a modern British novelist. Several of his books like Arthur and George (2005) were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, before The Sense of an Ending, won the 2011 Booker.

According to his website, the awards began with his graduation from Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated in modern languages (with honours) in 1968.


[We read on:] After graduation, he worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary supplement for three years. In 1977, Barnes began working as a reviewer and literary editor for the New Statesmen and the New Review. From 1979 to 1986 he worked as a television critic, first for the New Statesmen and then for the Observer.

.... Barnes's other awards include the Somerset Maugham Award (Metroland 1981), Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (FP 1985); Prix Médicis (FP 1986); E. M. Forster Award (American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1986); Gutenberg Prize (1987); Grinzane Cavour Prize (Italy, 1988); and the Prix Femina (Talking It Over 1992). Barnes was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1988, Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1995 and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2004. In 1993 he was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the FVS Foundation and in 2004 won the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. In 2011 he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature. Awarded biennially, the prize honours a lifetime's achievement in literature for a writer in the English language who is a citizen of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. He received the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence in 2013.


This really impressive list throws into contrast a personal detail of interest. The book Conversations with Julian Barnes (Vanessa Guignery, ‎Ryan Roberts, 2009) quotes our author, regarding pseudonyms:

For instance I hate cats, but in a Julian Barnes novel I doubt whether I'd do more than lightly push one off my lap, but give me a pseudonym, and I'll have one barbecued by the end of the first chapter."

Perhaps another Barnes quote, used in a Google blurb, is relevant here: "I don't have a sentimental side. I'm suspicious of sentimentality. In my experience, sentimentality often goes with cruelty." 

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