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A review by tamarasbooknook
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
4.0
Literary fiction on the nature of love, friendship, history and biography, in which Neil recounts his experiences of meeting Elizabeth Finch when she teaches an adult education class on Culture and Civilisation.
Neil is enthralled by Elizabeth and they continue their discussions over lunch for a further 20 years until her death. He is surprised to learn that she has bequeathed her personal papers to him and sets about trying to understand more about this erudite and enigmatic woman.
He recalls her teaching about the nature of history, the way history has been re-written over time depending on who is telling the story, and follows her notes to consider an alternative path without religious wars and the dominance of Christianity.
He contemplates whether he could or should write some kind of biography, which this book ultimately turns out to be. But even after immersing himself and reading all her personal papers, he learns that other people think of her very differently and that there is much more to her than he realises. Inevitably, the history he has written is just as subjective as the texts he has pondered over.
Neil is enthralled by Elizabeth and they continue their discussions over lunch for a further 20 years until her death. He is surprised to learn that she has bequeathed her personal papers to him and sets about trying to understand more about this erudite and enigmatic woman.
He recalls her teaching about the nature of history, the way history has been re-written over time depending on who is telling the story, and follows her notes to consider an alternative path without religious wars and the dominance of Christianity.
He contemplates whether he could or should write some kind of biography, which this book ultimately turns out to be. But even after immersing himself and reading all her personal papers, he learns that other people think of her very differently and that there is much more to her than he realises. Inevitably, the history he has written is just as subjective as the texts he has pondered over.