Flaubert's Parrot

Postmodernism has often been associated with anarchy, meaning the book is chaotic, all over the place, and usually has no rules, Flaubert's Parrot is no eexception to the rule. Barnes opens the book in a normal way, he intorduces his subject, the contorversy over which parrot is the Flaubert's real parrot, however as soon as he's intorduced his subject he begins writting in a chaotic non-discript way. Chronologies, definitions, random tangents about nets, make up the first two chapters of Flaubert's Parrot. All these things combine to make an interesting and somewhat confusing "novel."

The beauty of this novel lies in it's chaos. While Barnes goes off on random and confusing tangents he always manages to bring them back to Flaubert and thus Flaubert's parrot. To me this is the most appealing part of the book, the anarchy. While Barnes' style of writing is confusing at best, it's also enthralling. You never know where Barnes might take us too next, Flaubert's association with animals, his love affairs, the narrators love for Flaubert, or even the narrators personal life. The book goes everywhere, nothing is off limits. To me this creates a sense of freedom and Independence. Not to mention the fact that the places Barnes takes us too are funny, they're random and pointless but funny. For me this novel has three very important things, no boundries, a sense of humor, and it keeps you on your toes. I think if Flaubert were alive today I would want to be his friend.