Evermore

by Julian Barnes

Evermore is a short story written by Julian Barnes with six original etchings by Howard Hodgkin.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Julian Patrick Barnes is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with The Sense of an Ending, having been shortlisted three times previously with Flaubert's Parrot, England, England, and Arthur & George. Barnes has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh (having married Pat Kavanagh). In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories.
In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize.

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's a little book full of British humour - verve and intelligence in this author who knows how to smile at everything.

[Padmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per tutto il tempo futuro

Uno dei più bei romanzi brevi (o racconti lunghi) che abbia mai letto.
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"Un'anziana signorina inglese scorrazza per le colline intorno ad Arras, nel nord della Francia, con la sua piccola Morris grigia dagli interni rossi. Nella settimana di vacanza che trascorre sempre negli stessi luoghi, quelli in cui l'esercito inglese ha combattuto durante la Prima Guerra mondiale, Miss Moss dorme in macchina avvolta in un plaid e consuma pasti frugali a base di croissant e thé à l'anglaise. La meta finale dei suoi pellegrinaggi non cambia: Cabaret Rouge, il cimitero di guerra dove è sepolto il soldato Samuel Moss dell'East Lancashire Regiment, caduto il 21 gennaio 1917. E non cambia nemmeno la domanda che l'anziana signorina si pone, avviandosi con le ginocchia anchilosate sul prato bagnato di rugiada, verso la tomba del fratello: vivrà davvero "per tutto il tempo futuro", evermore, la memoria di quei giovani uccisi nel fiore degli anni?"
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Se non fosse tragica, segnalerei come "spassosa e balzana" una fisima della signorina Moss: il suo rancore, l'astio (se non odio) per i caduti -ed i cimiteri!- della Seconda Guerra, che "oscurerebbero", secondo lei, la memoria e la grandezza della Prima.
Quasi un'ossessione, una mania patologica. Tanto più singolare quando si pensi che l'adorato fratello Simon -caduto alla fine della battaglia della Somme- era ebreo ...

[Sandra Miksa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story deals with collective vs. individual trauma - the act of commemoration, preservation, and "word-use consciousness" that post-war survivors face. I really sympathized with the main character but this was way too short and needed a bit more exploration.

[Beverly Agius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad protest reminiscing the deaths of the First World War victims.

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

A meditation on death, WWI and memory. There is some humor strewn throughout.

[Béatrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Déjà que je ne suis pas friande des nouvelles, j'avoue que celles-ci ne m'ont pas réconciliée avec le genre !

[Shehroze Ameen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just think that this particular story was not exceptionally good to be honest. Even though it's 42 pages, I got bored after the 30th page because it just felt like a rambling about the First World War and how British and German and French troops and how the political systems in those regions simply mislead and misguided populations so far as the impact of the First World War and it's impact is concerned.

I found it shallow. It's merely a self-indulgent self-pity infested dribble in a compact short story form. The woman defined in this story, let's just call her nameless, is shallow and boring. Actually, if you remove the people in this story, as well as the narrative, I found that the environment this writer sets - the starting with the postcard, the subtle comments about the directions in nameless is moving. It just makes France look like a shallow little shithole in my opinion. (Note: It is).

All in all, it's a boring 42 pages. All you read is a whining and wallowing perspective of the First World War that has been done to bits, and should be stopped. For sanity's sake anyway.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok not great.