Julian Barnes on ELIZABETH FINCH

“This is one of the great differences between journalism and literature, which I practice in. You write journalism in order for everything to be absolutely clear at the first reading … you write fiction in order to reflect the complexity of the world. And that complexity isn't necessarily grasped at first meeting.” Elizabeth Finch is the latest (and deceptively slim) new novel from Julian Barnes, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The Sense of an Ending. He joins us on the show to talk about cutting to the chase, unreliable narrators, the intersection of time and memory and history, translating Flaubert, his friendships with fellow Booker Prize-winners Anita Brookner and Ian McEwan, electric typewriters and Blackwing pencils, and more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we finish this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.

 

Featured Books:

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (translated by Frances Steegmuller

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (translated by Lydia Davis)

 

Featured Books (TBR Topoff)

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

 

A full transcript of this episode is available here.