A Quest to Attain the Unattainable: Search of Authenticity in Julian Barnes’s 'The Only Story'

Authors : Cansu Çakmak Özgürel

Pages : 597-608

Doi:10.32600/huefd.1638679

View : 130 | Download : 141

Publication Date : 2025-12-23

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Julian Barnes (1946–) is a highly versatile and prolific British author, recognized for his broad thematic range. His thirteenth novel, The Only Story (2018), revisits central concerns that run through his oeuvre, including the passage of time, memory, loss, and the challenge of narrating experience in old age. This article proposes a fresh reading of The Only Story by consulting Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of Being and authenticity, offering a perspective that brings new depth to the understanding of Barnes’s narrative strategies. Heidegger’s existential framework proves particularly illuminating for interpreting the protagonist Paul Roberts’s retrospective storytelling as a philosophical quest for authentic self-understanding. Through its tripartite structure—a narrative form Barnes frequently employs—the novel marks profound transformations in Paul’s perception of love and identity. By analyzing the shifts in narrative voice across the novel’s three parts, this study argues that Paul’s evolving narration reflects his existential endeavour to reconstitute meaning in the face of the loss of his love. Retrospective narration, here, is not merely a stylistic device but an ontological act: Paul’s attempt to render his “only story” authentically mirrors Heidegger’s notion that Being can only be fully grasped through an original and creative engagement with one’s own experiences. In reconstructing his memories, Paul undertakes an inner journey to uncover the constituents of his Being, striving to narrate his love story with the authenticity it demands. Consulting Heidegger thus allows for a nuanced interpretation of Paul’s narrative labor—not merely as recollection, but as an existential project—positioning this study as a novel contribution to both Barnes’ critique and the broader field of existential literary analysis.
Keywords : Julian Barnes, Biricik Hikaye, sahihlik, özöyküsel anlatı, sahih anlatı mesafesi ve stratejileri

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