"Getting History Wrong": The Heritage/Enterprise Couplet in Julian Barnes's England, England. Issue 5 (20th October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Jong-Seok
• Is Part Of: Critique. Volume 58:Issue 5(2017)
• Page Start: 587
• Page End: 599
• Publication Date: 2017-10-20
• Subjects: Julian Barnes -- England, England -- heritage industry -- enterprise culture -- heritage tourism; Fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Letterkunde; Engels; Electronic journals; 809.304
• DOI: 10.1080/00111619.2017.1347554
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0011-1619

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Julian Barnes's 1998 novel England, England is a tongue-in-cheek but pointed critique of the Thatcherite entrepreneurial heritage industry. Written in the context of the "anti-heritage animus" of late twentieth-century Britain, the novel criticizes the heritage-enterprise couplet based on the commodification of the UK's national past into fake artifacts and clichéd nostalgic images. Sir Jack Pitman is a satirical caricature of a Thatcherite entrepreneur. The very success of his heritage theme park seems intended as an endorsement of a close partnership between heritage and enterprise. The result of their combination, however, turns out to be potentially harmful and disturbing.