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HISTORY AND SPACE MODEL OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN JULIAN BARNES'S NOVEL ENGLAND, ENGLAND
Abstract
The article analyses the physical representation of national identity in BarnesВ’s England, England (1999). In his novel, Barnes constructs a two-dimensional model of English national identity comprising history and landscape. The significance of these two concepts in the system of national English symbolism is acknowledged by both the English and the outsiders. In the three parts of the novel, the author successively depicts three landscapes with various degrees of symbolic meaning. In the first part, the perspective of the past years transforms the space of the characterВ’s childhood into a national image of the country. Similarly, the replicas of historic and cultural sites constructing the simulacrum landscape of the theme park in the second part are turned into national heritage by the pseudo-historical background invented for them. On the contrary, in the third part, AngliaВ’s landscape robbed of its historical context is shown as devoid of any value for the nation or visitors. Thus, the novel proves the influence historical connotations have on a landscape in transforming it into a symbol within the authorВ’s model of national identity
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References15
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