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Staring at the Sun
"There was no courage without fear, and without admitting fear. Men's courage was different from women's courage. Men's courage lay in going out and nearly getting killed. Women's courageor so everyone saidlay in endurance." Staring at the Sun, p.78
Staring at the Sun charts the life of Jean Serjeant, from her beginning as a naive, carefree country girl before the war through to her wry and trenchant old age in the year 2020.
We follow her bruising experience in marriage, her probing of male truths, her adventures in motherhood and in China and we cannot fail to be moved by the questions she asks of life and the often unsatisfactory answers it provides.
EDITIONS & TRANSLATIONS
NOTE: When possible, editions are linked to entries in the online Julian Barnes Bibliography. These entries feature multiple images of the book and additional bibliographic details.English Editions
Staring at the Sun. London: Jonathan Cape, 1986.
Staring at the Sun. London: London Limited Editions, 1986. (Limited edition)
Staring at the Sun. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
Staring at the Sun. Toronto: Random House, 1987.
Staring at the Sun. London: Picador, 1987. Pp. 195; Picador, 2005 [Rejacketed]
Staring at the Sun. Toronto: Random House, 1987. [Canadian paperback]
Staring at the Sun. New York: Harper & Row/Perennial, 1988.
Staring at the Sun. New York: Vintage International, 1993.
Staring at the Sun. Groningen: Marlies Louwes, 1997. Pp. [12]
[With artwork by Marlies Louwes. 'Typeset in Bembo and Printed in 40 copies on Zerkall-Bütten.' Text reprinted with the author's permission. Yellow paper cover. (11.7 x 19 cm)]
Staring at the Sun. Vintage Books, 2009; Vintage Books, 2014 [Rejacketed]
Translated Editions
Chinese - 凝视太阳. 外语教学与研究出版社 [Foreign Language Teaching and Researching Press], 2018. Translated by 丁林棚 (Ding Linpeng).
Czech - Pohlédnout do slunce. Prague: Mladá fronta, 2010. Translated by Ladislav Nagy.
Danish - Op mod solen. København: Tiderne Skifter, 1988. Translated by Lisbeth Hertel.
Dutch - In de zon kijken. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij de Arbeiderspers, 1986. Translated by Tinke Davids.
French - Le soleil en face. Paris: Editions Stock, 1987. Translated by Raymond Las Vergnas. (hardback / paperback). Other edition: Bibliothéque cosmopolite Stock, 1990.
German - In die Sonne sehen. Zürich: Haffmans Verlag, 1991; Other editions: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1996. [hardback / paperback]; Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2006; Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2007.
Hebrew - Liltosh enayim la-shemesh. Tel Aviv: Zmora-Bitan, 1993. Translated by Yair Borla.
Hungarian - A napba nézve. Budapest: Ulpius-ház, 2002. Translated by Lukács Laura.
Italian - Guardando il sole. Milano: RCS Rizzoli Libri, 1989. Translated by Andrea Terzi. Other edition: Einaudi, 2019. Translated by Daniela Fargione.
Japanese - Taiyo o mitsumete. Tokyo: Hakusui-Sha Limited, 1992. Translated by Mitsuya Kato.
Korean - Seoul: Open Books, 2005.
Norwegian - Se solen! Oslo: Ex Libris Forlag A/S, 1990. Translated by Kjell Olaf Jensen.
Polish - Pod slonce. Poznan: Zysk i S-ka Wydawn, 1994. Translated by Tomasz Bieron.
Portuguese - De frente para o sol. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Rocco, 1990. Translated by Aulyde Soares Rodrigues.
Romania - Privind in soare. Bucuresti: RAO, 2003; Other edition: Bucuresti: Nemira, 2011. Translated by Mihai Moroiu.
Russian - Глядя на солнце. Moscow: ACT, 2004. Translated by И. Гуровой (I. Gurova); Other editions: Eksmo, 2014.
Spanish - Mirando al sol. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama, 1987. Translated by Agustín Tena.
Swedish - Se in i solen. Stockholm: Forum, 1988. Translated by Mats Hörmark.
Turkish - Gÿndogumuna Yolculuk. Istanbul: Ayrinti Yayinlari, 2006. Translated by Didem Atay.
REVIEWS
03/27/1988 - Dos veces, el sol: La nueva novela de Julian Barnes - Carlos Fuentes, Suplemento Lit. La Nacion p.6
Fall 1987 - Julian Barnes - Patrick McGrath, Bomb 21 p.20-23
05/07/1987 - The Home Front - David Lodge, New York Review of Books p.21
04/12/1987 - The Enchanting Blue Yonder - Carlos Fuentes, New York Times Book Review (92) p.3,43
11/06/1986 - Real Questions - Ian Hamilton, London Review of Books (8.19) p.7
09/28/1986 - The Genre-Bender Gets it Wrong - Mark Lawson, Sunday Times (London) p.53
French Translation
12/1998 - Voyage au centre de la métaphore: Staring at the Sun de Julian Barnes - Richard Pédot, Etudes Britanniques Contemporaines (15) p.1-11
10/16/1987 - Une nouvelle non confirmée - Claude Roy, Nouvel Observateur p.144
10/02/1987 - L'an 2000 de Julian Barnes - Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Le Monde p.24
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