The Politics of Postmodern Narrataive:Julian Barnes’sFlaubert’s Parrotas a Historiographic Metafiction

Abstract

Julian Barnes’sFlaubert’s Parrottells the story of Geoffrey Braithwaite, an English doctor, who is the character as well as the narrator of the present novel, is obsessed withnineteenth Century French novelistGustave Flaubert. In this historical fiction, Braithwaite narrates the fictional and non fictional history of nineteenth century realist novelist, Gustave Flaubert. While narrating Flaubert’s history he becomes self- confessional, self-reflexive and reveals his own autobiography. Geoffery states that he has three stories to tell: Flaubert’s, his own and his wife Ellen’s. The novel is comprised partly of fiction and partly of literary criticism, as the book traces Geoffery’s searchfor ‘facts’about Flaubert and his works. At the last part of the novel Geoffery is unable to find out the actual ‘truth’ or ‘fact’ about the authenticFlaubertianparrot and his wife’s suicide. The narrator seeks the relevanceof thepast forthepresent without any nostalgic tone. Moreover, he subverts the realist mode of historiography that makes the novel historiographic metafiction. While mixing up fictional and factual events Barnes uses inter-textuality, inter-connectedness, self-reflexivity, contradiction, irony, self-opinion, open ending and parody of the past history of Gustave Flaubert,which is the Barnes’s politics of postmodern narrative.