SOURCE: A review of Flaubert's Parrot, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, March 17, 1985, pp. 2, 12.

In the following review, Rubin lauds Barnes's ability to mix literary criticism and fiction in Flaubert's Parrot.

What have we here: literary criticism masquerading as fiction? Is Julian Barnes, British television critic and author of two previous novels (Metroland and Before She Met Me) attempting to gratify his lust for literary criticism under the guise of what is often miscalled “creative” writing? Does he not risk producing a book too dry and lifeless to succeed as a novel, yet too undisciplined to stand as literary criticism?

The answer to these questions is a qualified “Yes.” But Flaubert's Parrot proves, in spite of these perils, that a novel can be lively without purporting to serve up huge chunks of raw life and that literary criticism can be more than an academic exercise. Strictly speaking, this...