The book is an attempt to testify to the prodigious heterogeneity of Julian Barnes' fictional work which oscillates between the realist tradition and a deconstruction of codes and conventions. The study first gives a broad view of the various forms of Barnes's work, starting with the novels of formation and the detective fiction, going on with the short stories, essays and novels that focus on contemporary history, and ending with the formal experiments of innovative works of fiction. The analysis then moves to the polyphony of voices and the multiplicity of perspectives that may be found in various novels, and delineates Julian Barnes' deep attachment to Gustave Flaubert and French culture. The book then shows how many of Julian Barnes's works attempt to preserve historical traces and fight against oblivion, but also acknowledge the irretrievability of the past and the uncertainty of historical knowledge. The final chapter focuses on the various forms of humour and eccentricity in Julian Barnes' work, and eventually demonstrates the writer's wonderful knack for irony.