"Where Do You Really Come from?" Unofficial Englishness in Julian Barnes' Arthur & George: English

Abstract

Imagining the nation and commenting on the state of nationhood in different periods of history are among the functions of historiographic metafictional novels. They reach back into particular moments in the history of a nation in order to connect shared memories to collective cultural identities. Julian Barnes' Arthur & George (2005) reflects a growing concern with the politics of belonging at the very beginning of the third millennium when concepts such as migration, diaspora, hybrid identity, and overall belonging come to the fore in social and cultural studies. From the very beginning of the novel the readers are exposed to two different versions of the past, not a single definite one. We are also shown different versions of Englishness (the Scot-Irish Arthur's, the Anglo-Indian George's, and the English Captain Anson's). Both Arthur and George abide by an English "gentleman's code of proper behavior," yet there are times when they both feel they are "unofficial Englishmen."  The gap between these differing definitions of Englishness allows the author to examine the issue of racial prejudice in the heyday of British imperialism.