AS and A Level: Other Authors

'So where does love come in? It's not strictly necessary, is it?' What are Barnes' views of the role of love in history and in this novel? [A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters]

'So where does love come in? It's not strictly necessary, is it?' What are Barnes' views of the role of love in history and in this novel? In this novel, Barnes makes little reference to love in any of the 'main' chapters of the novel, however he explores the concept in some depth in the 'parenthesis' chapter. He seems to display very confused and contradictory views of love, his opinion oscillating wildly as the chapter progresses. Julian Barnes, at the beginning of the chapter, starts to ponder on the necessity of love. He begins by listing various languages' words for 'I love you', and muses upon the concept of tribes without words for the saying. 'Or have they all died out?' he wonders. This seems to be idle thought, in which Barnes merely hypothesises that, perhaps, without love humanity cannot survive. However, he later expands upon and contradicts this idea. 'Our love does not help us survive... Yet it gives us our individuality, our purpose.' States Barnes. It is perhaps worth noting the conclusive tone evident in this phrase; here, he doesn't pose a question, but instead offers an answer. This appears to imply that he has a certain confidence in his answer, that he has reached a personal conclusion in his mind. Therefore, one can read into it that Barnes decisively views love ass being superfluous to survival in practical terms, but is necessary to make us