Depressing.

I was hungry for some quality short stories, and I hadn't read a Julian Barnes book in a while (used to be my favorite contemporary writer) and so I picked up The Lemon Table, a collection of 11 stories about the bitterness of growing old. I wasn't disappointed. What struck me is how good Barnes is at crafting different "voices", and he never pulls the same stylistic trick twice. If I had to name a favorite, I guess it would be Hygiene, in which a regular visit to the out-of-town hooker is met with disappointment, but if you're a fan of Barnes' more postmodern work, like Flaubert's Parrot, check out Knowing French, which is written as correspondence to the author.

"Cheer up! Death is round the corner."

"Nowadays, when friends desert me, I can no longer tell whether it is because of my succes or because of my failure. Such is old age"

"Why make the assumption that the heart shuts down alongside the genitals? Because we want - need - to see old age as a time of serenity?"

The Lemon table is a wonderful collection of 11 short stories written by Julian Barnes. The common theme? Ageing, and the emotions that come with it. Memories. Regrets. Eleven completely different stories in different settings, but all about characters that are in the later years of their life, trying to coming to terms with that.

Most stories I really really liked, a few were harder for me to relate to or to take to, especially those with a setting in the past. Nevertheless; this was a truly enjoyable read with lots of food for thought. My favourite stories :
1. Bark (the absolute best!)
2. Vigilance
3. The fruit cage
4. A short story of hairdressing
5. Hygiene

Interesantne i nesvakidašnje priče koje se uglavnom bave temom prolaznosti vremena, starenja i umiranja.
Džulijan Patrik Barns, britanski je pisac, sa kojim sam se malo ređe sretala, ali sam ove godine odlučila da mu posvetim punu pažnju.
Sto od limunovog drveta , je prva knjiga koje sam se latila ove godine, i mogu reći da sam prilično zadovoljna ovim kratkim pričama. One nisu preterano sentimentalne, niti drže stranu nekog od protogonista, one su zaista pripovedačke.
Takodje, ono što mogu da primetim jeste kvalitet izražavanja, tok radnje i ređanja misli, pa se vidi kada je pisac ujedno i književnik (književno obrazovan).
Barns govori mnogo sa jako malo opisa, što mi se takodje dopada.
Najupečatljivija priča mi je''Znati francuski'', zato što se bavila upravo staricom Silvijom u njenom staračkom domu. I pomislili biste da je priča o starici sve samo ne zanimljiva, a bili biste daleko od istine. Ona zapravo piše dnevnik samom Barnsu jer se susreće sa njegovim delima, te vodi retoričku debatu sa njegovim likom izazivajući i dovodeći u pitanje njegovu filozofiju života. U isto vreme ona je koketna i puna avanturističkih zamisli, te je njen život starice daleko zanimljiviji od prosečne mlade osobe.
Ona se ne predaje olako životu, ne prepušta starosti, niti meri vreme . Ona diše, doživljava, preispituje i prouzrokuje nevolje a sve to prati doza odličnog humora.
Za smrt kaže : ''Jedini način da budete sigurni da niste dosadni jeste da budete u svom kovčegu, tako da ja i dalje nameravam da budem dosadna.''
Polemiše o Prustovim knjigama koje jojd osadjuju, zalaže se za prava jednog tužbog papagaja, testira da li slučajnosti postoje, i to bez ikakve čvrste vere u neke više sile, obzirom na to da je agnostik.
Dopis koji sprema za Barna, krajnje je upečatljiv i odiše snagom života punih pluća.
Tu se vide niti brilijantnosti ovog autora.
Dopale su mi se i druge priče, od kojh bih izdvojila ''Kratku istoriju šišanja'', gde je borba sa kosom i odlaskom kod frizera tek jednaposebno interesantna priča o starenju. Sa kosom se borimo kao sa prirodom. Ona prirodno raste, a mi , podraumeva se, ne dozvoljavamo prirodan tok stvari već je šišamo, nameštamo, zalizujemo i stilizujemo. U biti borimo protiv prirode postojanja i poretna stvari.
''Neprestalna borba između prirode i civilizacije, to je ono što nas održava na nogama.''

Na kraju, ako ti život da limunove...

What heals pain? Time, the old wiseacres respond. You know better. You are wise enough to know that time does not always heal pain. The conventional image of the amatory bonfire, the eyeball-drying flame which dies to sad ashes, needs adjusting. Try instead a hissing gas-jet that scorches if you will but also does worse: it gives light, jaundicing, flat-showed and remorseless, the sort of light that catches an old man on a provincial platform as the train pulls out, a valetudinarian who watches a yellow window and a twitching hand withdraw from his life, who walks after the train a few paces as it curves into invisibility, who fixes his eye upon the red lamp of the guard's wagon, holds on that until it is less than a ruby planet in the night sky, then turns away and finds himself still beneath a platform lamp, alone, with nothing to do except wait out the hours in a musty hotel, convincing himself he has won while knowing truly he has lost, filling his sleeplessness with cosy if-onlies, and then return to the station and stand alone once more, in kinder light but to make a crueller journey, back along those thirty miles he had travelled with her the previous night.


So Mr Novelist Barnes,
If I asked you 'What is Life?', you would probably reply, in so many words, that it is all just a coincidence.
So, the question remains, What sort of coincidence?
S.W.

Erudite short stories with a sharp and candid understanding of the way our minds think, the petty cruelty & confusions of our relationships with each other. Painfully evocative too of middle class Englishness compounded by the wonderful reading by Timothy West & Prunella Scales. Not read Julian Barnes before so this was a revelation.

Juliana Barnese mám rád, přestože jsem toho od něj mnoho nečetl. Nicméně jeho styl mi vyhovuje a tak jsem se těšil na povídky, které vydalo nakladatelství Plus a které přeložil Viktor Janiš.

Jejich leitmotivem je stárnutí, což na první pohled působí dost depresivně. Ale nakonec jsem neměl pocit, že by byly povídky kdovíjak sentimentální, nebo trudné. Na některé z nich budu dlouho vzpomínat, ať už kvůli skvělému jazyku Barnese/Janiše, a nebo proto, že ty příběhy byly prostě skvělé. A to byly všechny.

Proč jsem nedal pátou hvězdu? Zdá se mi, že povídky jsou jakoby náhodně poskládáné za sebe a že kdyby byly poskládané jinak, vůbec nic by se nestalo. U povídek, které mají jedno společné téma bych spíš čekal, že tam bude nějaký pojící prvek; nějaká osa příběhu, která bude pokračovat dopředu. Není to vyloženě špatně, ale pro mě to byl důvod zvážit pátou hvězdu, kterou jsem nakonec nedal.

To ale neznamená, že Stolek s citróny není skvělá kniha. Je. Za dlouhou dobu to jsou nejlepší povídky, které jsem četl. Barnes je mistr. A Viktor Janiš je lingvistický čaroděj.