Precedent texts as the indicators of the opposition genuine – fake in J. Barnes’s and P. Ackroyd’s novels

Authors

  • Darya I. Danilevich Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus; Minsk State Linguistic University, 21 Zacharava Street, Minsk 220034, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-0471

Keywords:

Julian Barnes, Peter Ackroyd, precedent text, intertextuality, simulacrum, antithesis

Abstract

The article deals with the representation by J. Barnes and P. Ackroyd of the antithesis genuine – fake, which holds a prominent place in the aesthetics of postmodernism. It is shown that when illustrating this antithesis, the writers often refer to precedent texts. In Barnes’s novel «England, England» with the help of precedent texts, the cultural layer with which the characters deal is referred: the names of historical figures, place names, artifacts. And venerable English history is recreated on the island as the entertainment. In J. Barnes’s «A history of the world in 10½ chapters», the motive of the inseparability of binary oppositions is crucial when the artist is tormented by the inability to transform reality into an object of art without infelicities, and the survivor of Titanic seeks how to return to the past with the help of the setting for a film. The plot of P. Ackroyd’s «Chatterton» is based on revealing the authenticity of some artifacts. Precedent texts enrich the narrative, turning historical figures into characters of the novel. The novel «Lambs of London» by P. Ackroyd is a study of the actions of the falsifier of Shakespeare, who tried to erase the line between the genuine and the fake, revealing to the world the «lost» works of the J. Bard.

Author Biography

  • Darya I. Danilevich, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus; Minsk State Linguistic University, 21 Zacharava Street, Minsk 220034, Belarus

    senior lecturer at the department of English for economics, faculty of international relations, Belarusian State University, and postgraduate student at the department of foreign literature, Minsk State Linguistic University.

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Published

2020-12-11

Issue

No. 3 (2020): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology

Section

Literary Research

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How to Cite

Precedent texts as the indicators of the opposition genuine – fake in J. Barnes’s and P. Ackroyd’s novels . (2020). Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology, 3, 20-28. https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/philology/article/view/3024