Staring at the Sun (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Julian Barnes
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Work: Psychological realism/science fiction
- Time of Work: c. 1930-2020
- Setting: Southern England
- Principal Characters: Jean Serjeant, Michael Curtis, Gregory Curtis, Tommy Prosser, Uncle Leslie, Rachel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Future, Marriage, Twenty-first century, England or English people, Feminism, Lesbianism or lesbians, Single parents or single-parent families, Life and death
- Locales: England
The Novel
Staring at the Sun is divided into three main sections, preceded by a very short preface. Section 1 is concerned with the life of Jean Serjeant from early childhood to her wartime marriage, ending with her appallingly unsuccessful honeymoon and loss of virginity. Section 2 appears to be directly consecutive but in fact skips over the twenty years of Jean’s marriage in a few pages, beginning once more to be detailed when, in quick succession, Jean becomes pregnant late in life, makes up her mind to leave her husband, does so, has her baby, and then...
[The entire page is 2079 words long]
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