Letters from London

Rating:
Summary: Seemed like a decent chap at the time
Review: But it is hard to take Barnes' outrage about the fatwa against his friend Salman Rushdie seriously when you know the dreadful leftwing bilge he spouted about George Bush and Tony Blair before the liberation of Iraq ("not worth a single child's finger," he said, conveniently ignoring that children and their fingers were always in considerably more danger from the regime than from bombs). Barnes is another dedicated follower of political fashion who can express solidarity with another trendy writer of his class, but can't conjure up sympathy for ordinary Iraqis if it would mean, oh horrors, letting brute America use its military to save them.

Rating:
Summary: Blithe & Cheeky
Review: Julian Barnes is never cowed by the seeming smallness of subject; he turns it into a tiny gem. Conversely, he is willing to go all sails unfurled into vast global matters. There is a great deal more politics in the collection than I expected. Mr. Barnes must be former Prime Minister Thatcher's bête noir for he ever so elegantly lacerates her at every turn. However, since the political letters are highly topical and they were written between 1991 and 1994, it is a bit like reading yesterday's newspaper.

He fares much better when musing over a small happenings or events. Somehow he sparks our interest and amusement in such unlikely subjects as Building Mazes or the First World Championship Chess Match Held in Great Britain. I think he is at his best and wittiest when discussing traits of his fellow Englishmen. In his letter "Froggy, Froggy" talking about the lack of understanding between the average Brit and the French cast of mind: "The bickering legacy of history is exacerbated on the British side by the poverty of geography. Britain has only France as its obvious neighbor, while France may divert itself with three other major cultures-Spain, Italy, and Germany. Beyond France's southern shore lies Africa; beyond Britain's northern shore lie the Faeroe Islands and many seals. Small wonder, then, that we think about the French much more than they think about us. The British are obsessed by the French, whereas the French are only intrigued by the British."

"Letters From London" can be enjoyed in small parcels, a letter at a time or read straight through. Highly pleasurable for anyone who is even a minor anglophile.

Rating:
Summary: Not Like Any Letters I have Read
Review: This collection of "letters" by Mr. Julian Barnes, are actually a collection of articles that he wrote during his 5 years as the London Correspondent for The New Yorker Magazine. His predecessor held the position for over half a Century. However if judged by the quality of this collection of work, tenure is in no way related to talent. A book's preface is rarely mentioned as a great piece of writing. This preface is, and that's before the true collection begins.

If you have never read a work by Mr. Barnes, this would be a great place to begin. I have read almost all of his work, and this series of articles or short stories are really tremendous. I don't know how writers feel about the topic, but it would seem to be more difficult to be constrained by actual events, than having the ability to let their imaginations fill their books. Mr. Barnes takes some topics that are truly mundane on the surface, and transforms them into extremely clever pieces.

One of the comments on the jacket commented the table of contents alone justified the price of the book. A bit of hyperbole perhaps, but they are clever and more often than not lead to subjects that are very distant from what a first glance may suggest. "MPTV" gives his take on how one of the older operating institutions of Democracy is changed when cameras put the MP'S on public display. "Britannia's New Bra Size" has nothing to do with undergarments, but is full of his unique wit on the peculiarities of British Bureaucracy and the imaginative ways it consumes years.

His pen strays From England to France, The United States, and the Nation's Leaders. He is even handed with his crisp wit, but he never sinks to levels lower than his subjects have generally sunk before him.

I also enjoy the writing and humor of Christopher Buckley. If you do as well you will enjoy Mr. Barnes. He is certainly a British Practitioner of the art of satire, and while I never have heard a satisfactory explanation of what "British Humor" is, this man excels at it.