"Unofficial Englishmen": Landscape, Mobility, and Identity in Julian Barnes's Arthur & George and Its TV Adaptation. Issue 3 (27th May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Muren
• Is Part Of: Critique. Volume 60:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 382
• Page End: 392
• Publication Date: 2019-05-27
• Subjects: Arthur & George -- Englishness -- Julian Barnes -- landscape -- mobility; Fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Letterkunde; Engels; Electronic journals; 809.304
• DOI: 10.1080/00111619.2019.1582473
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0011-1619

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article examines the way in which the landscape is represented in both Julian Barnes's Arthur & George (2005) and its 2015 television adaptation in order to demonstrate the dynamic that exists between space, place, and the notion of English identity. It argues that unlike the TV adaptation, which celebrates the perceived notion of the English landscape and its role in the construction of English identity, Barnes's novel reveals the constructed and contested nature of Englishness. While a good deal has now been written about Arthur & George in a neo-Victorian and postcolonial context, my focus on the landscape and the title characters' movements in it leads a new dimension to the discussion.