{"product_id":"something-to-declare-essays-on-france","title":"Something to Declare: Essays on France","description":"Julian Barnes's long and passionate relationship with la belle France began more than forty years ago, and in these essays on the country and the culture he combines a keen appreciation, a seemingly infinite sphere of reference, and prose as stylish as classic haute couture.\n\nBarnes's vision of France-\"The Land Without Brussels Sprouts\"-embraces its vanishing peasantry; its vanished hyper-literate pop singers, Georges Brassens, Boris Vian, and Jacques Brel (\"[he] sang at the world as if it… could be saved from its follies and brutalities by his vocal embrace\"); and the gleeful iconoclasm of its nouvelle vague cinema (\"'The Underpass in Modern French Film' is a thesis waiting to be written\").\n\nIn several dazzling excursions into the prickly genius of Flaubert, Barnes discusses his letters; his lover Louise Colet; and his biographers (Sartre's The Family Idiot, \"an intense, unfinished, three-volume growl at Flaubert, is mad, of course\"). He delves into Flaubert's friendship with Turgenev; looks at the \"faithful betrayal\" of Claude Chabrol's film version of Madame Bovary; and reveals the importance of the pharmacist's assistant, the most major minor character in Flaubert's great novel: \"if Madame Bovary were a mansion, Justin would be the handle to the back door; but great architects have the design of door-furniture in mind even as they lay out the west wing.\"\n\nFor lovers of France and all things French-and of Julian Barnes's singular wit and intelligence-Something to Declare is an unadulterated joy to read.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0375415130\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.0375415130.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Barnes, Julian\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Former library book with the usual stamps, stickers and labels. The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact  including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43915607244861,"sku":"BVV.0375415130.G","price":7.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/0375415130-0.jpg?v=1793311911","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/something-to-declare-essays-on-france","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}