Exploring Intertextuality and Literary Echoes in Julian Barnes's 'The Only Story' .pdf

“Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.” (Barnes, 2018) The Novel Published in 2018. Through Paul's reflections on his young liaison with an older lady, Susan, the novel delves into themes of love, responsibility, marriage, memory, and regret.The novel questions whether love is a source of joy or inevitable pain. The shifting narrative perspectives and unreliable narration, Barnes examines how memory distorts reality, making readers question if there is truly only one story of love.

1. Exploring Intertextuality
and Literary Echoes in
Julian Barnes's ‘The Only
Story'
Prepared by: Rahul Desai
Date: 11/03/2025

2. Personal Information
Presented By :- Rahul Desai
Roll No :- 22
Semester :- 4
Paper No :- 207
Paper Name :- Contemporary Literature in English
Presentation Topic:- Exploring Intertextuality and Literary Echoes in
Julian Barnes's 'The Only Story'
Submitted To :- Smt. S.B. Gardi, Department of
English (MKBhavnagar University)
Email ID :- [email protected]

3. Table of Contents
●Introduction of Julian Barnes
●Introduction of Novel
●Literary Influences on the Novel
●Existential and Philosophical Influences
●Subversion of Classic Love Narrative
●Metafiction and Self-Referential Storytelling
●Comparison with ‘The Sense of an Ending'
●Conclusion

4. Research Question :-

How does Julian Barnes utilize intertextuality and literary echoes in The
Only Story to challenge traditional love narratives and explore the
complexities of memory and identity?
Hypothesis :-

Barnes employs intertextuality, drawing from literary and philosophical
influences, to deconstruct conventional love stories in The Only Story,
portraying love as both transformative and destructive while questioning the
reliability of memory and storytelling.

5. Introduction of Julian Barnes
➢Julian Barnes is an English writer of short stories, essays, and novels.
He was born on January 19, 1946, in Leicester. His writing is
renowned for its originality and intelligence.
➢Julian Barnes explores a variety of themes in his writing, including
memory, history, identity, love, and death.
➢He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ‘The Sense of an Ending.’
➢His work is often associated with the postmodernist movement, which
rejects traditional storytelling.

6. Introduction of Novel
➢“Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more;
or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think,
finally, the only real question.” (Barnes, 2018)
➢The Novel Published in 2018.
➢Through Paul's reflections on his young liaison with an older lady,
Susan, the novel delves into themes of love, responsibility,
marriage, memory, and regret.
➢The novel questions whether love is a source of joy or inevitable
pain.
➢The shifting narrative perspectives and unreliable narration,
Barnes examines how memory distorts reality, making readers
question if there is truly only one story of love.

7. Literary Influences on the Novel
➢Barnes mirrors Proust’s exploration of memory, as Paul reconstructs
his past through fragmented, subjective recollections.
➢Barnes adopts modernist techniques like Woolf and Ford Madox,
using nonlinear storytelling and shifting perspectives to challenge
narratives.
➢Barnes reflects Greene’s themes of doomed love, depicting Paul’s
affair as passionate yet destructive, leading to moral conflict.
(Juliette)
➢The novel subverts Shakespearean romance particularly from Romeo
& Juliet, portraying love as painful and disillusioning, shaping Paul’s
identity and regrets. (Shakespeare)

8. Existential and Philosophical Influences
➢Paul like Camus’ absurd heroes, Paul’s love lacks meaning but
remains emotionally inescapable, embracing absurdity despite its
futility.
➢Paul’s journey mirrors Camus’ existential despair, revealing love
as offering no answers, only suffering and self-reflection.
➢Paul’s choices reflect existential dilemmas, as he believes in free
will but is shaped by emotions and fate.
➢Paul’s disillusionment reflects Sartre’s idea of creating meaning
through choices, yet he remains trapped in regret.
➢Barnes questions love as fate or choice, as Paul’s retrospection
reveals how people justify actions amid emotional suffering.
(Jappa, & Ijaz, & Anjum)

9. Subversion of Classic Love Narrative
➢Barnes portrays Paul’s love as destructive, challenging the ideal of first
love as pure and enduring.
➢The novel highlights Paul’s detachment and regret, showing love as a
path to loss, not fulfillment.
➢Paul and Susan’s relationship defies norms, as Susan is older and
married, challenging romantic ideals.
➢Barnes presents love as a question rather than an experience, forcing
Paul and the reader to confront whether it is better to love deeply and
suffer or to love less and avoid pain. (Sunayna, & Dr.Sonia)

10. Metafiction and self-Referential Storytelling
➢Barnes shifts between first-person, second-person, and third-person
narration, making the reader question who is telling the story and how
reliable the account is.
➢Paul frequently interrupts the narrative to directly address the reader,
acknowledging the act of storytelling itself, which blurs the line
between fiction and reality.
➢Barnes shows Paul revising his past, emphasizing memory’s fallibility
and storytelling as a constructed truth.
➢Barnes highlights the fallibility of memory, Paul revises and
reinterprets his past.
➢Paul admits his story is based on memory, not facts, making his
reliability questionable. (Barad)

11. Comparison with ‘The Sense of an Ending’
➢Both novels explore memory fallibility, with Paul facing emotional
disillusionment (The Only Story) and Tony reshaping events to escape
guilt (The Sense of an Ending).
➢Paul and Tony are unreliable narrators; Paul questions his memory,
while Tony reshapes events for comfort.
➢The Only Story depicts tragic love shaping Paul’s life, while The Sense of
an Ending explores Tony’s regret and moral reckoning.
➢Both grapple with loss; Paul becomes emotionally detached, while Tony
gains self-awareness and partial closure.
➢Both novels explore literary and philosophical themes; The Only Story
contrasts romantic idealism with reality, while The Sense of an Ending
critiques historical truth and self-deception. (Chalupsky)

12. Conclusion
➢Julian Barnes' 'The Only Story' deftly employs shifting narrative
approaches and intertextual connections to examine love, memory,
and regret. The book questions conventional love stories by
presenting love as both transforming and destructive. Barnes
challenges the nature of storytelling and the accuracy of memory
through existential and philosophical themes, which causes readers
to reevaluate the emotional significance of prior experiences. In the
end, the book reinforces the universal yet distinctively individual
character of love by portraying it as an inevitable but profoundly
flawed human experience.

13. Learning Outcomes
●Understanding how Barnes uses intertextuality to enrich
The Only Story.
●Analyzing the philosophical and existential themes within
the novel.
●Exploring the novel’s narrative techniques, including
unreliable narration and metafiction.
●Recognizing how The Only Story subverts classic love
narratives and traditional romantic ideals.

14. Works Cited
★Barad, Dilip. (2020). EXPLORING NARRATIVE PATTERNS IN JULIAN BARNES' "THE
ONLY STORY". 6. 179-188. 10.13140/RG.2.2.16090.93125.
https://www.researchgatenetpublication/371874310_EXPLORING_NARRATIVE_PATTE
RNS_IN_JULIAN_BARNES'_THE_ONLY_STORY . Accessed 09 March 2025.

★Barnes, Julian. “The Only Story.”. United Kingdom. 1 February 2018. ISBN:
978-1-78733-069-6.

★Barnes, Julian. “The Sense of an Ending.” United Kingdom. 2011. ISBN:
978-0-224-09415-3.

★Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (1942).

15. ★Chalupsky, Petr. (2021). Julian Barnes's The Only Story -Within and Beyond the Author's
Idiosyncrasies. American and British Studies Annual. 14. 9-23.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366399149_Julian_Barnes's_The_Only_Story_
-Within_and_Beyond_the_Author's_Idiosyncrasies. Accessed 09 March 2025.

★Jappa, Arshad & Ijaz, Muhammad & Anjum, Khalid. (2021). Postmodern Absurdist Critique
of Julian Barnes’s The Only Story. Global Language Review. VI. 94-100.
10.31703/glr.2021(VI-II).11.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357212384_Postmodern_Absurdist_Critique_of
_Julian_Barnes's_The_Only_Story. Accessed 09 March 2025.

★Juliette De Soto. “The Poetics of Domestic Space in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.” Journal
of Modern Literature, vol. 42, no. 1, 2018, pp. 49–64. JSTOR,
https://doi.org/10.2979/jmodelite.42.1.04. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

★Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet (1597).

16. ★Sunayna, and Dr.Sonia Luthra. “Dissolution of Self of Paul and Susan
in The Only Story of Julian Barnes.” Vol. 11, No. 9. September 2023.
ISSN: 2320-2882. https://www.ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2309539.pdf.
Accessed 09 March 2025.

★The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Julian Barnes".
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Jan. 2025,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Barnes. Accessed 10
March 2025.