Barnes, Julian (Patrick) (1946– )

English novelist and critic. His first novel, Metroland, was published in 1981, followed by Before She Met Me in 1982. It was his third novel, Flaubert's Parrot (1984) – skilfully combining fiction, biography, and essay – that brought him an international reputation, winning the French Prix Medicis Etrangère (the first British book to do so). Later works include The Porcupine (1992), a political parable, Cross Channel (1996), a collection of stories about the British in France, England, England (1998), a futuristic comedy (shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1998), and Love, Etc (2000), a novel.

His work is characterized by a distinctive blend of irony, intellectual playfulness and a subtle, tightly controlled style. He has also published detective novels under the name Dan Kavanagh.

His other works include the novels Staring at the Sun (1986), A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters (1989), and Talking It Over (1991). He has also worked as a journalist and critic, notably for the Times Literary Supplement; Letters from London 1990–1995 (1995) is a collection of articles written as London correspondent of the New Yorker.

Barnes was born in Leicester and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was made Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1989 and Officier in 1995.