What is the theme in Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes?

The Past is another theme in the story. Geoffrey Braithwaite is on a quest to learn about Flaubert and his life. He looks back into the past and analyzes it. In the novel, Barnes problematizes this quest and illustrates the incompleteness of "history" as Geoffrey contemplates the aspects of Flaubert's life in unusual ways. Facts are sometimes unverifiable and they sometimes take on different meanings as the direction of view changes. Barnes writes, "The past is a distant, receding coastline, and we are all in the same boat.