A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

		Connecting themes of voyage and discovery, History has become one of Barnes's most studied and talked about novels. The mixture of fictional and historical narratives provides Barnes the opportunity to question our ideas of history, our interpretation of facts, and our search for answers to explain our interaction and placement within the grand scope of history. "Frequently brilliant, funny, thoughtful, iconoclastic and a delight to read." -- Salman Rushdie, Observer "History isn't what happened. History is just what historians tell us. There was a pattern, a plan, a movement, expansion, the march of democracy; it is a tapestry, a flow of events, a complex narrative, connected, explicable. One good story leads to another." -- A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, 242.

English Editions (View Translations)

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. London: Jonathan Cape, 1989. £11.95. Print run: 13,000.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. $18.95.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Toronto: Random House of Canada, 1989. $21.95.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. London: Jonathan Cape, 1989. The Reader's Collection. Pp. 28. Reprinted the first chapter of the novel. "This free sample chapter is one of the four specially printed for the Summer Reader's Collection"

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. London: Picador, 1990. Pp. 309.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. New York: Vintage International, 1990. Pp. 307.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Toronto: Vintage Books, 1990. Pp. 307.

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Oxford: Clio, 1990. Pp. 499. (ISIS large print).

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. 349. (Cambridge Literature Series. Edited by Ron Middleton. Includes study questions for educators and students).

Reviews

Candel Bormann, Daniel. “The End of Society in Historiographic Metafiction: A Case Study”. Actas del XXIII Congreso de AEDEAN (16-18 december 1999, León) 2003.  

Candel Bormann, Daniel. “Julian Barnes’s A History of Science in 10½ Chapters.” English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature 82(3) (2001): 253-61.  

Buxton, Jackie. "Julian Barnes's Theses on History (in 10½ Chapters)." Contemporary Literature 41(1) (Spring 2000): 56-86. (ISSN: 0010-7484)  

Goer, Charis and Christoph Henke. "'How do you turn catastrophe into art?' Oder: Der Stoff, aus dem die Katastrophen sind. Ein Zwiegespräch zum 'Floß der Medusa' in Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Verstärker 4, no. 4 (4 November 1999): http://www.culture.hu-berlin.de/verstaerker/vs004/goer_henke.html

Finney, Brian. "Fictionalizing the Factual: Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Brian Finney Website (21 March 1999) http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/Barnes.html

Candel Bormann, Daniel. “Nature Feminised in Julian Barnes’s A History of the World in 10½ Chapters.” Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos XXI.1/2 (Junio-Diciembre 1999): 43-58.  

Candel Bormann, Daniel. “From Romanticism to Postmodernity: Two Different Conceptions of Nature in Julian Barnes’ A History of the World in 10½ Chapters”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 36 (1998): 173-83.  

Kotte, Claudia. "Random Patterns? Orderly Disorder in Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 and ½ Chapters." AAA -- Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 22 (1997): 107-128.

Raykowski, Harald. "Gegenwartsromane im Englischunterricht? Julian Barnes und der neue historische Roman." Neusprachliche Mitteilungen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis 50(2) (1997): 93-97. (ISSN: 0028-3983)

Guignery, Vanessa. "Palimpseste et pastiche generique chez Julian Barnes." Etudes Anglaises 50(1) (January-March 1997): 40-52. (ISSN: 0014-195X)

French, Jana L. Fantastic Histories: A Dialogic Approach to a Narrative Hybrid. Dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 1996.

Samb, Bathie. "Histoire, fiction et remaniement de soi dans A History of the World in 10½ Chapters de Julian Barnes." Bridges: An African Journal of English Studies Vol. 7 (March 1996): 107-127. (ISSN: 0850-1335)

Halim, Nadia Maria. "An Ark on Which Two Might Escape": Modernist and Postmodernist Discourse Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Queen's University At Kingston (Canada), 1994. pp.78 (Dissertation. Adviser: Patricia Rae)

Hallet, Wolfgang. "A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Ein Hinweis auf Julian Barnes' postmoderne Weltgeschichte." Anglistik and Englischunterricht 49 (1993): 137-148. (ISSN: 0344-8266)

Kelly, Lionel. "The Ocean, The Harbour, The City: Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Etudes Britanniques Contemporaines no.2 (1993).

Little, Roger. "A Simple Story: 'Sur la mer des Caraibes'." Revue de Litterature Comparee 66(4) (October-December 1992): 439-44. (ISSN: 0035-1466)

Salyer, Gregory. "One Good Story Leads to Another: Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Journal of Literature & Theology 5(2) (June 1991): 220-233.

Raucq Hoorickx, Isabelle. "Julian Barnes' History of the World in 10½ Chapters: A Levinasian Deconstructionist Point of View." Le Langage et l'Homme: Recherches Pluridisciplinaires sur le Langage 26(1) (March 1991): 47-54. (ISSN: 0458-7251)

Higdon, David Leon. "'Unconfessed Confessions': the Narrators of Graham Swift and Julian Barnes." In The British & Irish Novel since 1960. Ed. James Acheson. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. 174-191.

Kermode, Frank. "Stowaway Woodworm." London Review of Books 11 (22 June 1989): 20.

Taylor, D. J. "A Newfangled and Funny Romp." Spectator (24 June 1989): 40-41.

Woods, James. "Blinded by the Might." Times (London) (24 June 1989): 36-37.

Oates, Joyce Carol. "But Noah Was Not a Nice Man." New York Times Book Review 94 (1 October 1989): 12-13.