In and Out of Postmodernism: The Sense of an Ending and The Only Story
Author(s)
Niedda, Daniele
Date Issued
2021
Type
article
Volume
LXXIV
Issue
2
Start Page
197
End Page
209
Abstract
In The Sense of an Ending (2011), the acclaimed novel by Julian Barnes, the possibility that the narrator and protagonist Tony Webster has represented himself much worse than he actually behaved cannot be ruled out. If this were the case, Tony nevertheless would offer a form of self-praise, as Paul Roberts, the narrator of the latest novel by the same author, The Only Story (2018), is eager to point out at the beginning of the new book. The self-warning to avoid the danger of what appears as a masochistic form of narcissism leads Paul to unanswered questions concerning meaning (“Can a word have two opposites?”). However, as in the previous story, the problem of making sense at the end turns out to be very problematic, not to say impossible.