Nothing To Be Frightened Of
JULIAN BARNES
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Book Description |
Two years after the best-selling Arthur & George, Julian Barnes gives us a memoir on mortality that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction.
If the fear of death is "the most rational thing in the world," how does one contend with it? An atheist at twenty, an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for and against and with God, and at the bloodline whose archivist, following his parents' death, he has become—another realm of mystery, wherein a drawer of mementos and his own memories (not to mention those of his philosopher brother) often fail to connect. There are other ancestors, too: the writers—"most of them dead, and quite a few of them French"—who are his daily companions, supplemented by composers and theologians and scientists whose similar explorations are woven into this account with an exhilarating breadth of intellect and felicity of spirit.
Deadly serious, masterfully playful, and surprisingly hilarious, Nothing to Be Frightened Of is a riveting display of how this supremely gifted writer goes about his business and a highly personal tour of the human condition and what might follow the final diagnosis. |
Other Award Winning Books by Julian Barnes |
Julian Barnes Award Stats |
Major Prize* Nominations |
6 |
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Unique Books Nominated for a Major Prize* |
5 |
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Pulitzer Prize Wins |
0 |
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Pulitzer Prize Nominations |
0 |
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National Book Critics Circle Award Wins |
0 |
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National Book Critics Circle Award Nominations |
0 |
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National Book Award Wins |
0 |
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National Book Award Nominations |
0 |
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Man Booker Prize Wins |
1 |
The Sense of an Ending · |
Man Booker Prize Nominations |
4 |
England, England · Flaubert's Parrot · Arthur & George · The Sense of an Ending · |
PEN/Faulkner Award Wins |
0 |
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PEN/Faulkner Award Nominations |
0 |
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*Major Prize = Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, and PEN/Faulkner Award
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