Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Picador (2002), 336 pages
Description
Anyone who loves France (or just feels strongly about it), or has succumbed to the spell of Julian Barnes's previous books, will be enraptured by this collection of essays on the country and its culture. Barnes's appreciation extends from France's vanishing peasantry to its hyper-literate pop singers, from the gleeful iconoclasm of nouvelle vague cinema to the orgy of drugs and suffering that is the Tour de France. Above all, Barnes is an unparalleled connoisseur of French writing and writers. Here are the prolific and priapic Simenon, Baudelaire, Sand and Sartre, and several dazzling excursions on the prickly genius of Flaubert. Lively yet discriminating in its enthusiasm, seemingly infinite in its range of reference, and written in prose as stylish as haute couture, Something to Declare is an unadulterated joy.… (more)
Media reviews
Something to Declare has an index as delightful and intriguing as that to Barnes's Letters from London. The same ingenious techniques are deployed.
User reviews
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
Julian Barnes has with something with France, as the title of his collection of essays published in 2002 states: Something to declare. However, what Barnes has with France is not something superficial, but rather intellectual and deep. Therefore, following titles of essays such as "The land without
The Preface also states that the seventeen essays collected in Something to declare were written over a period of 20 years. At the back of the book, a list shows the publication dates of the "original" essays. However, with the exception of the two essays about the "Tours de France", the essays in Something to declare are extremely well integrated. Subsequent essays build on previous essays, making the collection remarkably coherent. This tight coherence is probably the effect of some re-writing, which is, unfortunately, detectable at the beginning of the essays. Various essays beging with a type of preamble and then, after about a page or page-and-half suddenly switch to their actual topic. Some of the essays have a confusing beginning.
'Tis true that the essays in Something to declare are about France and French culture, but this could be made more precise by saying that the essays are more specifically about Gustave Flaubert and both literary figures and people around Flaubert. Various essays are about obscure biographers, obscure family relations of Flaubert or obscure details brought to light about the legacy of Flaubert. In fact, the essay collection is rather specialized, presupposing quite a profound interest in and knowledge of the work of Gustave Flaubert, like ..... the author himself. Thus, the essays are rather self-indulgent. They are an intellectual treasure trove if you are interested in Flaubert, but otherwise rather boring and difficult to read. Incidentally, the essay collection sheds some light of overarching nature on French culture, paired with Julian Barnes tongue-in-cheek humour, concluding that France is essentially a very rustic nation, with a deep longing to life in the countryside, as illustrated by "the typical peasant."
Almost all essays in Something to declare are based on reviews Julian Barnes wrote for The New Yorker, the London and New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. The essays are very well-written, and packed with details: fodder for the intellectual reader with a profound interest in French Nineteenth Centurary literature.
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Brussels sprouts" or "Tour de France 1903" and "Tour de France 2000" are a bit misleading if the reader expects a light, summer holiday read that tells us how peculiar or special the French are. In the Preface, Barnes explains how deep France goes with him; both his parents were teachers of French, they spent all their summer holidays there, Barnes studied French, he lived and worked in France, in a word, Julian Barnes breathes French.The Preface also states that the seventeen essays collected in Something to declare were written over a period of 20 years. At the back of the book, a list shows the publication dates of the "original" essays. However, with the exception of the two essays about the "Tours de France", the essays in Something to declare are extremely well integrated. Subsequent essays build on previous essays, making the collection remarkably coherent. This tight coherence is probably the effect of some re-writing, which is, unfortunately, detectable at the beginning of the essays. Various essays beging with a type of preamble and then, after about a page or page-and-half suddenly switch to their actual topic. Some of the essays have a confusing beginning.
'Tis true that the essays in Something to declare are about France and French culture, but this could be made more precise by saying that the essays are more specifically about Gustave Flaubert and both literary figures and people around Flaubert. Various essays are about obscure biographers, obscure family relations of Flaubert or obscure details brought to light about the legacy of Flaubert. In fact, the essay collection is rather specialized, presupposing quite a profound interest in and knowledge of the work of Gustave Flaubert, like ..... the author himself. Thus, the essays are rather self-indulgent. They are an intellectual treasure trove if you are interested in Flaubert, but otherwise rather boring and difficult to read. Incidentally, the essay collection sheds some light of overarching nature on French culture, paired with Julian Barnes tongue-in-cheek humour, concluding that France is essentially a very rustic nation, with a deep longing to life in the countryside, as illustrated by "the typical peasant."
Almost all essays in Something to declare are based on reviews Julian Barnes wrote for The New Yorker, the London and New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. The essays are very well-written, and packed with details: fodder for the intellectual reader with a profound interest in French Nineteenth Centurary literature.
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LibraryThing member rocketjk
I bought this book because my wife and I have been to France a couple of times and I thought it would be fun reading the thoughts of this very erudite English author on "France and French culture." The first essay, about a famed Tour de France rider from, I believe, the 1930s, was quite good. But
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after that one and one or two about French cinema, all the rest were about Gustav Flaubert: about his life, his thoughts, and the insights to be gleaned about him by a careful study of his many surviving letters (sent and received) and other such topics. Well, OK, I guess it's not too surprising that the author of the novel Flaubert's Parrot would be fascinated by Flaubert. And the essays are, in fact, interesting as far as they go, assuming one has an interest in the subject matter. But, really, calling this a collection of essays on France and French culture is misleading. So although the essays are very well written, I can only recommend the collection to readers interested in Flaubert. Show Less
LibraryThing member mstrust
This book of essays covers many of the topics that are recognized as French territory: filmmaker Truffaut and the New Wave, the Tour de France, the singers of the 50's-60's who moaned on finding out that they were sharing their mistresses with others. And then there are the nine, yes nine, chapters
The writing is engaging from the beginning as Barnes describes his family vacations around France year after year, and his growing sense of comfort with the French culture. I especially appreciated his chapter on those singers such as Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens (though I can't understand why my favorite, Serge Gainsborg wasn't included) and the one on author Georges Simenon was full of decadent scandal and therefore wonderful.
But you should probably really, really like Flaubert in order to get through those eight chapters which discuss not just his work, but his childhood, his affairs and the many pages on whether or not he burned his ex-girlfriend's love letters. Barnes spends quite some time telling the reader why Satre's bio on Flaubert was wrong.
So, I guess I'm saying that if you're not so into Flaubert, the first eight chapters are still good reading, and if you love Flaubert, you'll be happy here.
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on Barnes' favorite writer, Flaubert.The writing is engaging from the beginning as Barnes describes his family vacations around France year after year, and his growing sense of comfort with the French culture. I especially appreciated his chapter on those singers such as Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens (though I can't understand why my favorite, Serge Gainsborg wasn't included) and the one on author Georges Simenon was full of decadent scandal and therefore wonderful.
But you should probably really, really like Flaubert in order to get through those eight chapters which discuss not just his work, but his childhood, his affairs and the many pages on whether or not he burned his ex-girlfriend's love letters. Barnes spends quite some time telling the reader why Satre's bio on Flaubert was wrong.
So, I guess I'm saying that if you're not so into Flaubert, the first eight chapters are still good reading, and if you love Flaubert, you'll be happy here.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This book collects France-related essays by Julian Barnes written over the course of almost two decades. There are some travel-pieces, and some personal reminiscences, but the bulk of the pieces are essentially book reviews -- and the bulk of those deal with a Barnes favourite, Gustave Flaubert. It
This is France through the senses and sensibility of Julian Barnes. From the Tour de France to French cooking you get a British perspective of the country. Barnes is a student of the language and literature and includes several essays on Flaubert - well-written and fun to read.
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does not read like a review-collection, however, as Barnes is in his Montaigne-like mode of writing with the books under discussion often merely a convenient stepping-stone for Barnes to share his own thoughts and knowledge. This is France through the senses and sensibility of Julian Barnes. From the Tour de France to French cooking you get a British perspective of the country. Barnes is a student of the language and literature and includes several essays on Flaubert - well-written and fun to read.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
The title is something to declare: essays francs. The essays on France were good but only half the book. The rest was about Flaubert and Madame BOVARY. I found this part went on and on.
LibraryThing member hhornblower
I would probably have liked this book much more if I was at all interested in Gustave Flaubert; I would guess 40% of the collected essays touched on him in someway. It would also help it I was much more of a Francophile. Having said that, Julian Barnes is a wonderful, extremely talented writer.
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Even on topics that don't really catch my interest, I'm still fell compelled to push on, just because of his engaging style Show Less
LibraryThing member m.belljackson
Except for the Tour de France with Henry James and Edith Wharton, these essays from the 1950s are really quite tedious.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2002
Physical description
336 p.; 4.37 inches
ISBN
0330489267 / 9780330489263