![]() ![]() The dogged and decent Neil knows he is much less intelligent than his subject EF - is also, much less intelligent than his creator Julian Barnes - so that, as in a late Henry James novel, the reader may believe himself to understand more than the narrator can. So the novel is in a sense a story of detection as well as a philosophical exploration of EF’s thought. He seeks help from her brother,a very different ordinary character, an amiable businessman who loved his sister, was on good terms with her, but shared none of her interests and little of her life. first made possible, though difficult, because she has bequeathed her papers to him. The third part is an attempt to reconstruct her biography. To some an independent scholar whose books are unavailable might seem a laughable figure. ![]() The second is an essay he has written on the Apostate which explores some Christian myths and asks, though clearly cannot answer the disturbing question EF put to her class. She had published two books: Explosive Women, about female anarchists in London between 18 and Our Necessary Myths, about nationalism, religion and family. The first part of the novel tells of EF’s teaching, the lunches Neil had with her and his speculation about her. ![]()
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