Vanessa Guignery brings to this work her own unparalleled knowledge of Julian Barnes's work, her years of study in the archives, her keen critical ability to extract meaning from that study, her access to the author's own thoughts about his working practices, and a fluent, lucid and compelling prose style to produce a brilliant and essential book. * Merritt Moseley, Professor Emeritus of English, University of North Carolina at Asheville *
This much-anticipated study of Barnes under erasure by Vanessa Guignery bristles with fresh insights and with new information drawn from Barnes himself, as well from his archived and unarchived writings. An original and revealing examination of the writing and re-writing process of a major contemporary novelist, it will be essential reading for all Barnes scholars. * Peter Childs, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature, Newman University, UK *
Vanessa Guignery's book is unique in employing Barnes's discarded drafts and other archival documents to take readers on an enlightening journey through the intellectual and psychological processes that determined the final shape of his published novels. Her commentary is knowledgeable, lucid, and very insightful. * Frederick M. Holmes, Emeritus Professor, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada *
