Hassan's Schematic

Flaubert's Parrot is definitely creating a new perspective on Flaubert. Julian Barnes is witty and writes to keep readers on their toes. So far I have really enjoyed his book, but I think there is much more to be discovered in the depths of the real story.
Barnes writes fiction with non-fiction and throughout some of the chapters it is hard to distinguish between who is actually narrating the story. This is a new type of writing and perhaps because I have never read any postmodernism books this is why I am feeling like this is an unusual, but interesting read. The anti-narrative demonstrates a new type mood throughout the book and gives the novel a different kind of flow. Geoffrey Braithwaite is credited as the "main character" who tells the tale of the mini-stories, but continuously throughout the beginning of the book I keep thinking that this is a personal journal from Julian Barnes. In a sense Geoffrey Braithwaite is just Barne’s mouthpiece, but stuck in the story so that Flaubet’s Parrot can be viewed as a novel.
Also, the reader is left to choose amongst certain topics and decided what they mean to them. Barne's uses parataxis to relay the biographical information to the reader through three separate chronologies. The reader is then left to choose which one makes the most sense to them and in the end can make an accumulation of all three creating a specific image of Flaubert personal to them. For me this section left a kind of schizophrenia tone and the facts were jumbled all over the place. Little stories and snippets seem to be thrown in at random times during the chapters. For instance we learn about Geoffrey through past recollections like when he discusses he feelings compared to what it may have been like for his wife to open the engagement ring case.
Hassan’s schematic views on postmodernism create distinctions that are relevant in Flaubert’s Parrot. I look forward to discovering more of the postmodernism devices that will hopefully be thrown into the rest of the story.