Flaubert's Parrot is an exceptionally erudite blend of fiction and literary history.

The story of Dr. Braithwaite and a commentary on the life and work of Gustave Flaubert co-exist in a way which makes the work both highly entertaining and enormously informative. It also raises questions (many more than it answers) about the ethical implications of critiquing either a work of literature or its author's life. Perhaps the biographer does, invariably, do violence to an author's life; perhaps the critic does destroy the vitality of the author's work.

Barnes' outlook, however, is not entirely pessimistic; he does not advocate a moratorium on literary scholarship. Instead, he calls the reader's attention to the inadequacy of history and memory, to point out that all writing is, in a way, creative, and that each reader and every writer will interpret books and events differently. The subjective nature of reading...