LANGUAGE OF IDEOLOGY AND CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN JULIAN BARNES’S THE PORCUPINE
LANGUAGE OF IDEOLOGY AND CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN JULIAN BARNES’S THE PORCUPINE

Summary/Abstract: Julian Barnes’s obvious interest in European history and contemporary European scene was naturally reflected in his response to the events of 1989, the result of which was his first political novel The Porcupine, distinctly different from his earlier fiction in that it focused on the previously unexplored territory. The Porcupine seems to have been inspired by a desire to comprehend, through a creative effort of imagination, the nature and the manifestations of political and human climate following the collapse of the Soviet bloc. The main event of the narrative is a trial of a deposed communist leader, President Petkanov, which takes place in an unnamed East European country. Even though the country is easily identifiable as Bulgaria (and, as we learn from the blurb, Todor Zivkov asked for a copy when he was awaiting his own trial), Barnes is interested in constructing a story which would synthesize the political events and collective experience of the societies in the former Soviet bloc countries in, and following, the autumn 1989. The sequence of political events which produced the domino effect and resulted in the final break-up of the whole bloc, is still an area for speculation. The movement which appeared as an enthusiastic and spontaneous fight for freedom and put a spectacular conclusion to nearly 50 years of the Soviet domination in Eastern and Central Europe, was later on to be reexamined, its spontaneity called into question, and the role of the Soviet government and the local communist agents in negotiating the best deal for themselves were being investigated, and never sufficiently clarified. The romantic version of the events was occasionally replaced by a more cynical scenario and some heroes came under suspicion, in several cases confirmed later on by revelations of their complicity in helping the communists retain privileges and escape responsibility

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