Simon Baker

No getting away from it

Simon Baker on Julian Barnes' new book

issue 15 March 2008

Some non-fiction books seem inevitable before they are even written. Dawkins on atheism, Hitchens on contrarianism, Ackroyd on London: with such works, the author is allied so closely to the subject that it is a question of when, not if, their full-length treatment of it will appear. Julian Barnes on death must fall into that category. Barnes’s preoccupation with old age and extinction is noticeable all the way back in his first novel, Metroland (1980), which he published at 34; even in his physical prime he was looking ahead towards the decay of the body and the end.

Nothing to Be Frightened Of, therefore, is the result of a lifetime’s thanatophobia. Barnes’s fear of death is not unique, of course; it is also not, as that ‘phobia’ label suggests, irrational — it can hardly be that, given the 100 per cent probability that our fear will be realised: being scared of death isn’t in the same quirky category as being scared of beards or good news.

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