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The Noise of Time

Julian Barnes

3.73 · Rating details · 17,960 ratings · 1,907 reviews

A compact masterpiece dedicated to the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich: Julian Barnes’s first novel since his best-selling, Man Booker Prize–winning The Sense of an Ending.

In 1936, Shostakovitch, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain ...more

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Hardcover, 184 pages

Published January 28th 2016 by Jonathan Cape (first published January 10th 2016)

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Jun 15, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Having recently read "Do Not Say We Have Nothing", by Madeleine Thien where music came alive for me during heartbreaking times.....I naturally grabbed "The Noise of Time" to read next, ( which I've been wanting to read for some time anyway),......thinking I'd like to experience more music and art appreciation during turbulent times....and learn about a composer I knew next to nothing.
plus .....
I enjoyed Julian Barnes "The Sense of Ending".

Demitri Shostakovich- the great Russian Composer of the Having recently read "Do Not Say We Have Nothing", by Madeleine Thien where music came alive for me during heartbreaking times.....I naturally grabbed "The Noise of Time" to read next, ( which I've been wanting to read for some time anyway),......thinking I'd like to experience more music and art appreciation during turbulent times....and learn about a composer I knew next to nothing.
plus .....
I enjoyed Julian Barnes "The Sense of Ending".

Demitri Shostakovich- the great Russian Composer of the 20th century:
I've taken away that he was brilliant- complex --conflicted morally.... and was compromising his artistic principles in order to maintain a comfortable life.

Is a man a coward when he needs to compromise for the purpose safety? With intentions to protect his family?

The oppressive rule of Stalin that we see in Barnes book -is same the oppression we see in Thien's book.
Shostakovich threatened to commit suicide several times---where as Sparrow ( a fiction character - great musician in Thien's book ), 'did' commit suicide.

This quiet-understated small novel is wonderful with lovely prose on every page. It really had me thinking about the personal conflicts under Soviet rule.
I thought about the personal conflicts under our government today. Perhaps not music -- but other rights that are at risk right now.

But.... back to music - and art.... here is a quote ( rather long - but powerful) --that I sat thinking about for a long time:
"Why, he wondered, had power now turned its attention to music, and to him? Power had always been more interested in the word than the note: writers, not composers, had been proclaimed the engineers of human souls. Writers were condemned on page one of 'PRAVDA', composers on page three. Two pages apart. And yet it was not nothing: it could make the difference between death and life".
"The engineers of human souls: a chilly, mechanistic phrase. And yet... what was the artist's business with, if not a human soul? Unless an artist wanted to be merely decorative, or merely a lapdog of rich and powerful. He himself had always been anti-
aristocratic, in feeling, politics, artistic principal. And that optimistic time – – really so very few years ago – – when the future of the whole country, if not if humanity itself, was being remade, it had seemed as if all the arts might finally come together in one glorious joint project. Music and literature and theater and film and architecture and ballet and photography would form a dynamic partnership, not just reflecting society or criticizing it, but 'making' it. Artist's, of their own free will, and without any political direction, would help their fellow human souls develop and flourish."
"Why not? It was the artist's oldest dream. Or, as he now thought, the artist's oldest fantasy".

Graceful fluid prose.... an examination of a man.... regardless of his handicap, he was a great composer!!! ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Violet wells rated it really liked it

A bit unfair but there were times when I couldn’t help wishing Milan Kundera in his prime had written this and not Julian Barnes. Just for that extra bit of zest and wit and daring of which Kundera is renowned and the rather dry and self-conscious Barnes isn’t.

Not that this isn’t a good novel. It’s very elegantly structured, intelligent and it makes you think a lot about its pervasive themes - courage and conscience and compromise. And it shows not only the enforced humiliations and blanketing A bit unfair but there were times when I couldn’t help wishing Milan Kundera in his prime had written this and not Julian Barnes. Just for that extra bit of zest and wit and daring of which Kundera is renowned and the rather dry and self-conscious Barnes isn’t.

Not that this isn’t a good novel. It’s very elegantly structured, intelligent and it makes you think a lot about its pervasive themes - courage and conscience and compromise. And it shows not only the enforced humiliations and blanketing terror of Stalin’s Russia but the mind-boggling preposterousness of many of its premises, especially the artistic ones. At times, in its depiction of Stalin’s Russia, it was as uncomfortable as watching an intelligent misunderstood man being shouted and spat at by a baying mob. What can a man in such a position do? Shostakovich, in Barnes’ portrayal, kind of grins and bears it. He doesn’t have the courage to commit suicide so he compromises, falls back on irony as his defence council. When a man reads out a speech praising a vile regime penned by him for that regime in a deadpan voice we realise it’s a pretty lame form of protest no matter how much irony he might manage to inject into his voice. In fact, it’s the kind of act that would destroy the self-respect of most people. Probably it destroyed the self-respect of Shostakovich.

I enjoyed the first half of this novel a lot more than the second half. The narrative drive slackened for me as Barnes gradually shifted the focus from an intimate lens to a wide angle one. It ends with a meditation on the artist’s final stocktaking of his achievements when you feel you’re eavesdropping on Barnes’ doubts about his own body of work rather than getting any insight into what Shostakovich felt about his achievements and failings. To be honest I doubt if many artists feel smug about their achievements on their death bed as most creative inspiration is born in large part from the dissatisfaction felt for previous attempts. No dissatisfaction, no new work. It’s highly probable Shakespeare died feeling he could have done better. The more interesting question the novel poses is what ethical compromises an artist has to make in order to produce his work – it’s been said, rather harshly, that Ted Hughes and TS Eliot killed their wives to further their artistic careers; Shostakovich had to slowly kill himself. Sometimes, perhaps, it’s better to die young. ...more

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Mar 24, 2017 Adina rated it really liked it

Shelves: british, historical-fiction, russian, mcewan-barnes-coetzee-and-co

3.5 *

“What could be put up against the noise of time? Only the music which is inside ourselves –the music of our being –which is transformed by some into real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time, is transformed into the whisper of history. This is what he held to”

The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes' latest novel transports us in Russia and into the mind of the composer Dmitri Shostakovitch around three conversations with the Soviet 3.5 *

“What could be put up against the noise of time? Only the music which is inside ourselves –the music of our being –which is transformed by some into real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time, is transformed into the whisper of history. This is what he held to”

The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes' latest novel transports us in Russia and into the mind of the composer Dmitri Shostakovitch around three conversations with the Soviet Power that influenced his destiny. The format of the novel is of a stream of consciousness in 3rd person, where the composer remembers events and people from his past and what they meant for his mind, soul and his career.

I felt distanced in the first part although it should had held the most tension, I got into the “rhythm” for the second one but the third part was torture.

I decided to read this novel although I did not have previous knowledge of Shostakovitch and I do not really enjoy classical music. However, I was mesmerized by The Sense of An Ending and I am interested in reading more books about Russia. Would it have made a difference if I had already been familiar with the composer’s life and work? Probably, I am not sure. I did some research before starting the novel which helped me to better understand the events the author was alluding to but also took away the feeling of tension from the first chapter as I knew the outcome.

The book is full of beautiful quotes that taken alone have a great impact on the reader. However, the narrator voice felt lifeless, dry, especially in the third part. In my opinion, the author did not succeed to make the music come alive, actually there wasn’t much written about music save some composition names and their fate during the oppressive regime. I was expecting the music to flow out of the pages, to transport me in the composer’s soul, to feel his love for music, his fear that the Power will take it from him. Nevertheless, The author succeeded to transmit the composers internal struggle with fear of dying, his cowardice to confront the Soviet Power and his guilt for acting the way he did to preserve his life and career.

I do not normally discuss the cover in my reviews but this time I am going to make an exception. For me it is one of the most beautiful creations that I’ve hold in my hands. I loved the uneven texture, the contrast between the vintage cheap brown paper feel and the salmon pink of the title and the inside jacket. I surprised myself petting the book many times and I felt an exhilarating pleasure just to hold it. I know that you, voracious readers, can understand the lure of a beautiful cover. Here you can read an interview with Julian Barnes and his long-term designer Suzanne Dean on this cover and the other she created for the author.

I appreciated the quality of the writing, the message the author tried to convey but I did not enjoy reading about a third of the novel.

As I said, this novel is extremely quotable so I leave you with some thoughts that I selected.

“Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savour it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

“Sarcasm was dangerous to its user, identifiable as the language of the wrecker and the saboteur. But irony – perhaps, sometimes, so he hoped – might enable you to preserve what you valued, even as the noise of time became loud enough to knock out window-panes.” “If you turned your back on irony, it curdled into sarcasm. And what good was it then? Sarcasm was irony which had lost its soul.

“Being a hero was much easier than being a coward. To be a hero, you only had to be brave for a moment - when you took out the gun, threw the bomb, pressed the detonator, did away with the tyrant, and away with yourself as well. But to be a coward was to embark on a career that lasted a lifetime. You couldn't ever relax. You had to anticipate the next occasion when you would have to make excuses for yourself, dither, cringe, reacquaint yourself with the taste of rubber boots and the state of your own fallen, abject character. Being a coward required pertinacity, persistence, a refusal to change - which made it, in a way, a kind of courage.” ...more

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Dec 14, 2017 Brina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russian-lit, man-booker, novella, music

I am inherently drawn to Russian literature or even books set in Russia written by non Russian authors. Perhaps, it is because the majority of my ancestors come from Russia, but, regardless of the reason, I devour most Russo-centric books that I read. As I have read through my goodreads friends year end reviews, I came across The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes, a novella based on the life of famed composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Having read Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien earlier I am inherently drawn to Russian literature or even books set in Russia written by non Russian authors. Perhaps, it is because the majority of my ancestors come from Russia, but, regardless of the reason, I devour most Russo-centric books that I read. As I have read through my goodreads friends year end reviews, I came across The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes, a novella based on the life of famed composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Having read Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien earlier this year, which featured Shostakovich's music, I had my interest piqued to read this modern novel. And as has been the case with the other books I have read set in Russia or the Soviet Union this year, I was not disappointed.

Julian Barnes is a respected post-modern novelist from London. His books have been nominated for the Man Booker award three times, and The Noise of Time should follow in suit. Barnes sets out to piece together Shostakovich's life in three parts or eras: pre Stalin, the Stalin purge era, and the post Stalin Khruschev era. Each part of the book takes place in vignettes of Shostakovich's memory set in twelve year periods. The composer points out from the book's beginning that during each leap year- 1936, 1948, 1960...- he was destined for bad luck. This could be in the form of close relatives dying, critics denouncing his music as subversive, or the government targeting the composer as an enemy of the state. Shostakovich despite being revered lived his life in constant fear until Stalin's death as he believed that the government wanted to dispose of him, as it had of many artists who had spoken out against the state. As a result despite composing nine symphonies, Shostakovich did not have an easy life.

Today, Shostakovich is regarded in both the west and the Soviet Union yet during Stalin's reign of terror, the composer was targeted as both subversive. He would have been the regime's biggest catch if he joined the party and head of the union of composers, but Shostakovich viewed this as a fate worse than death. Yet, Stalin himself appreciated the composer's symphonies and for the most part left him alone even if his henchmen did not. Shostakovich was never deported or forced to do labor in a gulag as did many famed Russian composers and authors. He was considered untouchable, yet Barnes can not pinpoint exactly why Stalin and his cronies left him alone. Perhaps, because his music was regarded in China, the Soviets' ally, or because after Stravinsky defected to the west, that Shostakovich was the top Soviet composer left and the state would be devoid of its top musician should the communists deport or denounce him.

From reading Barnes' work, it is clear that he is a gifted writer. It is also clear that he has studied Russian literature in depth as he has cited Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and Pushkin in this slim volume. That Barnes is from the west and has studied previous biographies written on Shostakovich it is clear that he has a deep appreciation for the musician's work and his history within the communist historical context. In each of the three parts of this book, a recurring theme is the survival of the noise of time-- who will outlive the government of the day, who will submit to politicians' wishes, who will be their own person, who will continue to create masterpieces despite the threat of censure of socialists and communists alike. Today Putin has lauded Shostakovich's work as being central to the history of Russian music, whereas during the composer's life, he lived in fear of Stalin, Khruschev, and all the government officials of his day. It is clear that Shostakovich has survived the noise of time.

I found this slim autobiographical novel to be full of excellent, post modern prose as well as realistic information about Shostakovich's life. It has been well researched, and Barnes' words flow on the pages like Shostakovich's symphonies. For me, it is always a treat to read Russo-centric novels, and I Barnes' short gem is probably the last one I read this year, so it was a wonderful find for me here on goodreads. I am inclined to listen to Shostakovich's third symphony that was spoke of many times in the other musical book I read this year, as finishing this novella, I desire more of the composer's work. I will definitely be reading more of Barnes' work a well in the future as his books I can tell are a treat for literary aficionados.

5 stars ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Kalliope rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017, britain, biography, russia, 2018, historical-fiction, music

Here I am listening to Shostakovich First Piano Concerto and wondering about Julian Barnes latest novel (?) biography (?). Throughout my reading I was asking myself why had he written this book. I know his interest in classical music. In his The Lemon Table, Vigilance in my favorite short story. It takes place during a concert in which Shostakovich’s music is played. Barnes has also dealt with ‘real people’ in Arthur & George in a highly successful fictional recreation of Sir Arthur Conan ...more

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Sep 02, 2016 Hugh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-classics, read-2017, modern-lit

A magnificent reimagining of three pivotal moments in the life of Dmitri Shostakovich, focusing on three occasions when the direction of his life was determined by conversations with the Soviet authorities, or as Barnes describes it, Power.

The first part covers the events of 1936, when the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was condemned after Stalin saw it and disapproved, resulting in the famous Pravda editorial "Muddle instead of Music". In this case the conversation is a first interview with the ...more

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Feb 14, 2016 Maciek rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2016, reviewed, 2016-releases

Move over, Martin Amis! It's time for another episode of English author does Russia - after a fictional love affair in the Gulag as described in House of Meetings , this time it is Julian Barnes who steps in and employs a real historical figure as his protagonist: one of the most famous contemporary Russian composers, Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Noise of Time is divided into three parts, each focusing on defining moments from Shostakovich's life during Stalin's reign and after his death. The first Move over, Martin Amis! It's time for another episode of English author does Russia - after a fictional love affair in the Gulag as described in House of Meetings , this time it is Julian Barnes who steps in and employs a real historical figure as his protagonist: one of the most famous contemporary Russian composers, Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Noise of Time is divided into three parts, each focusing on defining moments from Shostakovich's life during Stalin's reign and after his death. The first of these happens in 1936, following an adapted historical event - his new opera, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk", was not well received by the supremo who left the performance early. Stalin condemned the opera and denounced Shostakovich as an enemy of the people, banning his work for almost thirty years. A vicious article in Pravda - said to be authored by Stalin himself - denounced the opera as "muddle instead of music". The novel opens with a haunting image of Shostakovich standing outside his apartment deep in the night, in street clothes and with a small suitcase, facing an empty elevator. He is waiting to be taken away by the NKVD, hoping that the secret police will come just for him and not his family. But they never do - instead of being confined to the claustrophobia of a small prison cell, the composer has to endure something much worse: the suffocating claustrophobia of an entire society of constant fear, where anyone can disappear at a whim of the Power that be.

How can an artist follow his personal vision in a totalitarian society? This is a question at the center of The Noise of Time, which has Shostakovich think, think and think about it, and then think some more. Although the novel uses real events from Shostakovich's life, it is not historical fiction, as there is not much of a plot and not much real fiction to be spoken of either: rather, it's a historical essay on the nature of artistry and freedom of thought in the Soviet Union, with Shostakovich as a prime example of a great talent personally targeted and molded by the system. Where the book succeeds is as giving the reader an intimate insight into how a creative mind can work in this condition - can we stay true to ourselves in an environment which aims to change the mind itself? At the same time, this very approach to narration is the book's biggest drawback - since at all times we are aware that it is not Shostakovich who is speaking or thinking, but Julian Barnes who is putting what he thought his thoughts would be into his head.

The book is short, lean and well written; it contains plenty of observations which are true of Soviet life both during and after Stalin, paying close attention to stay faithful to real historical events and characters. But it is also the largest problem that I had with it - because the author focused on a real historical figure as his narrator, I could not stop seeing him behind that figure at all times; instead of Shostakovich's own thoughts and sentences I saw his research and careful writing. This is my own problem which I sometimes have with novels featuring historical figures; I just have read enough of history to not be particularly surprised by any of the insights presented within.

For anyone who thinks that the subject of the book sounds even remotely interesting, I would also dearly recommend Czesław Miłosz's The Captive Mind - which is his famous non-fiction work devoted to explaining how artists exist and work in totalitarian societies and why, based on his own experience and that of fellow writers in post-war Poland. While Barnes's book has the benefit of being well researched and accurate, Miłosz has the great advantage of being true. ...more

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Nov 12, 2015 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This latest work by Julian Barnes looks at the life of the composer Shostakovich. Rather than give us a straightforward, fictional biography, the author takes three key points in his life. He begins in 1936, when the composer finds himself denounced in Stalinist Russia. As critics trip over themselves to find fault with his work, Shostakovich waits – dressed and with his small suitcase packed – for those in Power to take him to the Big House…

Shostakovich was living in a dangerous time and the This latest work by Julian Barnes looks at the life of the composer Shostakovich. Rather than give us a straightforward, fictional biography, the author takes three key points in his life. He begins in 1936, when the composer finds himself denounced in Stalinist Russia. As critics trip over themselves to find fault with his work, Shostakovich waits – dressed and with his small suitcase packed – for those in Power to take him to the Big House…

Shostakovich was living in a dangerous time and the author perfectly creates that period of intense fear, speculation and danger. When a visitor from the Party commentates that he likes the composer’s study, but that it lacks a portrait of Stalin, you can almost feel the composer break out in a cold sweat. Throughout this novel, the composer constantly castigates himself for cowardice. However, when he does feel that he will disappear in the 1930’s, his concern is not just for himself but his wife and baby daughter, as well as his friends and family. Will his beloved child, Galya, be trundled off to a State orphanage if her father is discredited? So begins an uneasy truce with Power.

We meet up with Shostakovich again; after a visit to the United States in 1948, where he is ordered to represent his country at the Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace and again, in 1960, when he is offered the Chairmanship of the Russian Federation Union of Composers. During this time, he feels humiliation and shame, as he endeavours to continue his work and keep his family safe in this period of political danger.

I expect that many will read this novel and find it fairly slow and quiet; perhaps too slow. However, this is certainly a novel which has stayed with me and I found it profoundly disquieting and extremely atmospheric. It has made me wish to discover more about the central character and I feel that Barnes painted a very realistic portrait of Stalinist Russia. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review. ...more

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Jul 21, 2016 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: music, fiction, historical-fiction, russia, communism

A quiet book of the tough moral choices of a famous composer who has to survive in the controlling atmosphere of the Soviet system over the decades. This channeling of the life of Shostakovich takes a minimalist route of presenting little of his family life, childhood, and emotional life. I was a little disappointed not to get any real window on his creative process or even much detail on his musical interests and development. But through Barnes’ focus on his state of mind at a few seminal ...more

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Apr 11, 2016 Paula rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017, best-prose, favorite-authors, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, e-book, cultural, published-2016

“He had also learned about the distruction of the human soul. Well, life is not a walk across the field as the saying goes. A soul could be destroyed in one of three ways: by what others did to you; by what others made you do to yourself; and by voluntarily what you chose to do to yourself.”

Julian Barnes is a master in his field. The Sense of an Ending and Levels of Life are brilliant literary novels. The Noise of Time, however, takes off on a different path. Written about the life of Russian ...more

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Feb 02, 2016 Agnieszka rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, ebook, 2017, julian-barnes

Unfortunately not as good as I had counted for. I hasten to add there’s nothing really to blame the novel for yet somehow it didn’t entirely work for me. The writing is very good, it’s Julian Barnes after all, the idea is more than interesting, the protagonist, to say the least, very complex and ambigous, the setting and times oppressive and ruining personality, yet something was missing.

It’s a quick reading and I read it, well, four months ago, and to tell the truth, apart from some powerful
Unfortunately not as good as I had counted for. I hasten to add there’s nothing really to blame the novel for yet somehow it didn’t entirely work for me. The writing is very good, it’s Julian Barnes after all, the idea is more than interesting, the protagonist, to say the least, very complex and ambigous, the setting and times oppressive and ruining personality, yet something was missing.

It’s a quick reading and I read it, well, four months ago, and to tell the truth, apart from some powerful and haunting scenes, barely remember it today. Maybe it says more about my memory than the novel but I dare say that's not the point. I very much liked the first part, The noise of time is divided into three sections, and the image of the man expecting to be arrested and waiting every night on the corridor near the lift with only small suitcase with himself was very disturbing even if entirely of daily occurance in Soviet Russia. People would disappear without a trace at every hour then, sometimes to not return any more. But our protagonist is not some ordinary Russian citizen but acknowledged composer Dimitri Shostakovich who had that misfortune to draw Stalin's attention to himself. I thought this part was very convincing and I could imagine his dismay, I could almost taste his fear and the sense of claustrophobia and danger was truly overwhelming the reader.

Two other parts unfortunately didn’t feel so successful to me. They were decent with some memorable passages but much more scathing and thoroughful thing on the subject, and that’s artistic freedom in totalitarian regime and artist right to express oneself through art, had written Czesław Miłosz in his The Captive Mind. Perhaps Julian Barnes hadn’t intend to his novel be any treatise on moral choices or morality play on the role of an artist in oppressive time but Miłosz perfectly captured the mechanisms and how authority with all available measures would seduce artists, how bended them, how forced them to more and more artistic and life compromises.

The noise of Time is not a biography of the composer, it’s only loosly based on some pivotal events from his life but it rather have failed to explain fully case of Shostakovich and choices he finally undertook. Nor it delivered wider, deepened picture of the system crushing and corrupting individuals. It definitely felt more powerful on personal level but when Barnes expanded his view and changed the perspective, when he focused on more universal things it did feel less convincing and to me the novel lost some of its initial impact. Dryness of the writing and discernible detachment of the author didn't help either.
...more

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Mar 24, 2018 Dem rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

Having read and loved Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

Symphony for the City of the Dead Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson

I was up to date on the life and work of Dmitri Shostakovich but still had an interest in reading Julian Barnes's The Noise of Time as a friend recommended it to me purely for it's beautiful prose and sentences.

This book is presented as a short fictional account of the life of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. This for me was a book where nothing much happens and yet everything ...more

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Jun 07, 2016 Darwin8u rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016

"A soul could be destroyed in one of three ways: by what others did to you; by what others made you do to yourself; and by what you voluntarily did to yourself. Any single method was sufficient; though if all three were present, the outcome was irresistible."
― Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time

description

The last Julian Barnes I read was The Sense of an Ending which seemed to float perfectly as a short novel. The prose was as delicate, smooth and perfect as rosette frosting. I'm not sure Nabokov would want "A soul could be destroyed in one of three ways: by what others did to you; by what others made you do to yourself; and by what you voluntarily did to yourself. Any single method was sufficient; though if all three were present, the outcome was irresistible."
― Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time

description

The last Julian Barnes I read was The Sense of an Ending which seemed to float perfectly as a short novel. The prose was as delicate, smooth and perfect as rosette frosting. I'm not sure Nabokov would want to follow that novel, but eventually Barnes was bound to write his next novel, comparisons be damned.

'The Noise of Time' is a short 200 page novel about the life and times of Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the great composers of the 20th century. This is not exactly new ground. 11 years ago William T. Vollmann also used the life of Shostakovich to explore the nature of evil, power, etc. Vollmann used Shostakovich as one of several voices to tell his stories. In some ways, Europe Central explores WWII as a symphony and the life of Shostakovich happens to just be one of the major instruments. In 'The Noise of Time' Barnes explores art and music using Shostakovich as a single instrument.

Barnes uses the relationship between Shostakovich and Stalin (later the Soviet state) to delve into how power and fear can externally affect the artist. But he goes further and looks at how man can affect his own art in relationship to the outside world. He looks at how irony is used as a defense against external forces that would control and destroy.

One of my favorite lines from this novel is:

“Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savour it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

Anyway, this month I've been a bit obsessed with Shostakovich. After reading two fictionalized accounts his life, I've also been sucked down the Russian rabbit hole of his Symphonies (primarily the 5th, 7th, and 1oth). These three symphonies play a significant role in both books, so I'm glad to have been reminded several times this year that I should listen to more post-romantics than just Gustav Mahler. Thank you Julian Barnes and William T. Vollmann to push me into the small, shaking hands of Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich. ...more

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Jan 24, 2017 Margitte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-releases, 2017-read, biographical-fiction, literary-novel, british-author, sowiet-russia, russia, reviewed

On the Landing
It had all begun, very precisely, he told his mind, on the morning of the 28th of January 1936, at Arkhangelsk railway station. No, his mind responded, nothing begins just like that, on a certain date at a certain place. It all began in many places, and at many times, some even before you were born, in foreign countries, and in the minds of others.

And afterwards, whatever might happen next, it would all continue in the same way, in other places, and in the mind of others.

In my ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 Meike rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: uk, 2017-read, russia

Strangely, this book reminded me of the stories my father, who was a policeman, told me about the time he spent in Belarus in the context of his job. After seeing the police system there and talking to people who, from an outside point of view, were assigned to do the same job that he did in Germany, he explained that he became painfully aware of the fact that when a profession is turned into a travesty, it destroys those who chose the job based on their convictions and their wish to live up to Strangely, this book reminded me of the stories my father, who was a policeman, told me about the time he spent in Belarus in the context of his job. After seeing the police system there and talking to people who, from an outside point of view, were assigned to do the same job that he did in Germany, he explained that he became painfully aware of the fact that when a profession is turned into a travesty, it destroys those who chose the job based on their convictions and their wish to live up to its ideals. Who should the policemen in Belarus protect: The state? The people? Which group of people exactly? They have to decide, and no matter how they decide, the price they have to pay will always be too high.

Shostakovich is in a comparable position: He believes in the value and merit of his work, but he cannot realize his artistic ideals because the state instrumentalizes music to manifest and expand its power, and so as a composer, he is expected to conform to what “the power” declares to be communist aesthetic ideals. The resulting self-alienation Shostakovich experiences becomes so profound that he feels like it would be more honorable and more merciful to be dead than to go on making compromises that slowly kill his self-respect. So in a way, Shostakovich’s moral dilemma stands pars pro toto for the experience that millions of people shared under the communist rule (an experience that is typical for all types of dictatorial/authoritarian regimes).

I feel like Barnes did not aim to write a comprehensive biography of Shostakovich, as he focuses mainly on the influence the state exerted on him and what this must have meant for the composer. The relationship with friends and family or even the process of composing music is not what Barnes wanted to explore. I liked the way the story is framed, as it allows the author to insert paragraphs that discuss the ongoing dynamic on a meta-level, going deeper into the psychology of authoritarianism, fear, and state terror.

Clearly, there is a reason why Barnes wrote about a composer and not a policeman: It is the job of an artist to express himself, a right that is fundamental to our understanding of freedom and human dignity. Nevertheless, the questions whether there are limits to artistic freedom remains extremely relevant, and while most people, at least in Western democracies, would probably agree that it is wrong to turn art into a tool to maintain political power, there are still plenty of contested areas. For example, free art needs to have the right to be offensive, but how offensive exactly, and who gets to decide what’s offensive in the first place?

4 stars would probably be a fair rating for this book, but as I really like fictional books with a strong and smart take on politics, plus the question of artistic freedom seems extremely current to me, I will rate it 5 stars. ...more

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Jan 21, 2016 Paromjit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, literary-fiction

Julian Barnes gives us three riveting episodes in the life and times of Dmitri Shostakovitch. He explores the relationship between the composer and the State. It begins in the 1930s amidst the infamous purges with Shostakovitch waiting and expecting to be taken by agents of the state. His work has been denounced and you can practically smell the fear and paranoia. He is afraid for his family and friends, and his child. He finds himself in a position where he would rather be alive and safe rather Julian Barnes gives us three riveting episodes in the life and times of Dmitri Shostakovitch. He explores the relationship between the composer and the State. It begins in the 1930s amidst the infamous purges with Shostakovitch waiting and expecting to be taken by agents of the state. His work has been denounced and you can practically smell the fear and paranoia. He is afraid for his family and friends, and his child. He finds himself in a position where he would rather be alive and safe rather than sticking to his principles. In the second episode he finds himself shamed and humiliated as he is forced to go to the US in the 1940s. There is dark humour as all the obstacles placed by Shostakovitch are pushed aside by Stalin and that the composer is coerced into delivering a speech prepared by the state. The third episode in the 1960s under Khruschev, has Shostakovitch joining the party. Until then, he had managed to avoid this particular ignominy. He had acted as an instrument of the State in composing particular music, signing letters denouncing prominent dissidents etc.. Now, he is finally a part of the State.

Barnes has delivered a powerful, if partial, picture of a composer compromised by the State into doing its work. However, his sympathies for the composer are unmistakable. There are compelling reasons as to why this is so. Whilst many have condemned Shostakovitch, they have not walked in his shoes. Stalinist Russia was not a place where you can challenge the state and live. It is a murky and dangerous place to survive as an artist who criticises the state. Surely it is better that Shostakovitch was compromised and continued to compose? We know what happened to dissidents. Maintaining artistic integrity in this milieu would have been folly. Additionally, I am certain anyone who finds themselves having to compromise their personal integrity in such circumstances pays an exceedingly heavy price in so many ways.

The way the narrative itself is presented in a musical form underlines the skills of an expert writer. I absolutely loved this atmospheric book and Julian Barnes has drawn attention to the circumstances under which many artists have operated. As ever, a masterful writer. Many thanks to Jonathan Cape, the publishers for a copy of the book via netgalley. ...more

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May 22, 2016 BlackOxford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: british, biography-biographical

A Human Genius

Dmitri Shostakovich is a human being. Really. He's a hero at the very same time he's a coward, a steadfast lover and a cad, a musical genius and a hack, a prodigy and a parvenu. He is what he has to be to survive in a society that considers him a tool. And who of us escapes that fate or the personal and professional compromises demanded by it? Nevertheless at least some, like Shostakovich, can be heard above the noise of their time. I recommend listening to the Piano Quintet in G ...more

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Dec 08, 2016 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2016, reviews-4-stars, vollmann, reviews, barnes

The Noise of Opinion

Two other novels came to mind as I read this 184 page work:

* William T Vollmann’s “Europe Central”; and

* John Banville’s “The Untouchable”.

I recall a comment by a member of the Vollmann fanclub pronouncing his book necessarily superior to Barnes’, because it was written by Vollmann and it was under-read by critics, while admitting that he hadn’t read any Barnes at all, let alone this one.

“Europe Central” is a five star achievement, but in retrospect it displays some of ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 ·Karen· rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, brits, best-of-2018

I don't believe Julian Barnes has ever written a better book, and he has written some very fine ones.

Stunning.

There's no way I can review this without it turning into a quotation fest, great swathes of Mr Barnes rather than anything I can trot out. So we'll go for a quintessential selection.

So, he had lived long enough to be dismayed by himself. This was often the way with artists: either they succumbed to vanity, thinking themselves greater than they were, or else to disappointment. Nowadays,

...more

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Jan 11, 2017 Geza Tatrallyay rated it it was amazing

Excellent book; Barnes draws you into the soul of Shostakovich, a composer trying to make a living in Stalinist Russia. The encounters with the tyrant and the horrific system are believable, and Shostakovich comes across as an all too human character. The writing is wonderful; this is an enchanting little book I found hard to put down. Kudos to Mr. Barnes.

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Mar 25, 2016 Bam cooks the books ;-) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: russia, 2017-reads, historical-fiction

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period and was regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. In this elegant piece of work, Julian Barnes explores Shostakovich's life and creativity while under the thumb of Soviet dictators.

"Lenin found music depressing.

Stalin thought he understood and appreciated music.

Khrushchev despised music.

Which is the worst for a composer?" thought Dmitri Shostakovich.

"Art Belongs to the People" said V. I. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period and was regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. In this elegant piece of work, Julian Barnes explores Shostakovich's life and creativity while under the thumb of Soviet dictators.

"Lenin found music depressing.

Stalin thought he understood and appreciated music.

Khrushchev despised music.

Which is the worst for a composer?" thought Dmitri Shostakovich.

"Art Belongs to the People" said V. I. Lenin and those words were inscribed on an enormous banner at the university conservatory in Moscow where Dmitri Shostakovich was once a professor.

But to Shostakovich, 'Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savor it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the NOISE OF TIME. Art does not exist for art's sake; it exists for people's sake. But which people, and who defines them?'

'He wrote music for everyone and no one. He wrote music for those who best appreciated the music he wrote, regardless of social origin. He wrote music for the ears that could hear. And he knew, therefore, that all true definitions of art are circular, and all untrue definitions of art ascribe to it a specific function.'

Shostakovich suddenly fell out of favor in 1936 and was declared an enemy of the state after Stalin had attended a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre of 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,' leaving before the final act. The next day Pravda published a scathing review entitled 'Muddle instead of Music.' It was deemed too complex to be properly Communist and lacked artistic credibility. This was at the beginning of the Great Terror and many of Shostakovich's friends and family were being imprisoned and killed so he lived in fear that they would come for him in the middle of the night--so much so, that he spent many nights standing outside the elevator door waiting for them to arrive.

And so for a time, he tried to maintain a low profile and composed film music, a genre favored by Stalin, and conservative symphonies.

Towards the end of his life 'he was often inclined to think of himself as a dull, mediocre composer. And this perhaps, was their final triumph over him...by allowing him to live, they had killed him.'

Many of my goodreads friends know that I am enjoying a small Russian book phase at the moment with one great book leading to another. So if any of you have favorites to recommend to me, please do! One thing that added great enjoyment to the reading experience of this book was listening to recordings of Shostakovich while reading. So many are available free on youtube.

This is my first taste of Julian Barnes' writing and I will certainly be back for more. I thoroughly enjoyed the way this book was written, with stream of consciousness style--and the look at Soviet life through the eyes of one of its most talented musicians. ...more

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Jan 08, 2017 Chadwick rated it it was amazing

What a delight this elegant little gem from Julian Barnes is.

It's not easy to breathe new life into a subject that's been written about so often. But in a compact package, this novel about composer Dmitri Shostakovich provides a fresh glimpse into life in the Soviet Union at the height of Stalin's purges. With wit and humanity, Barnes has captured something essential about the terror, paranoia, and absurdities of that time: "a vast catalogue of little farces adding up to an immense tragedy."

What a delight this elegant little gem from Julian Barnes is.

It's not easy to breathe new life into a subject that's been written about so often. But in a compact package, this novel about composer Dmitri Shostakovich provides a fresh glimpse into life in the Soviet Union at the height of Stalin's purges. With wit and humanity, Barnes has captured something essential about the terror, paranoia, and absurdities of that time: "a vast catalogue of little farces adding up to an immense tragedy."

It's a story about art and creativity struggling to survive under impossible conditions, but it's also the story of a man literally trying just to survive. And it's about the compromises he makes to survive: personal and artistic.

What a terrific and lasting central image: Shostakovich dressed and with a suitcase out on the landing of his apartment every night, waiting to get picked up by the secret police, because he hopes that will keep the police from bothering his family inside (and he doesn't want to keep his wife up all night with his own terror-induced insomnia). But night after night, the police don't come. And so he waits, and ponders his fate. "This was one of the questions in his head: was it brave to be standing there waiting for them, or was it cowardly? Or was it neither -- merely sensible? He did not expect to discover the answer." Should he smoke, or save his cigarettes for after his arrest? But what if he saves the cigarettes, and they then get confiscated? Or what if he's quickly executed before he gets a chance to smoke them? And so it goes. . . .

Barnes has given us a thoughtful meditation on art and the life of the artist. In the end, are music and its historical context inextricably woven together? Can music ever escape the noise of time?

"What he hoped was that death would liberate his music: liberate it from his life. Time would pass, and though musicologists would continue their debates, his work would begin to stand for itself. History, as well as biography, would fade: perhaps one day Fascism and Communism would be merely words in textbooks. And then, if it still had value -- if there were still ears to hear -- his music would be . . . just music."

It's a graceful and understated book, full of compassion. But there is also dark humor at every turn:

"In the old days, a child might pay for the sins of its father, or indeed mother. Nowadays, in the most advanced society on earth, the parents might pay for the sins of the child, along with uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws, colleagues, friends, and even the man who unthinkingly smiled at you as he came out of the lift at three in the morning. The system of retribution had been greatly improved, and was so much more inclusive than it used to be."

I've read a fair amount of Barnes's fiction over the years, but this is my new favorite among his books. I'm very fond of it.

So here I sit, listening to Shostakovich's string quartets as I type this review. It seems only fitting. ...more

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Feb 15, 2016 Perry rated it really liked it

Historical Significance of Art as a Form of Protest.

This short novel enriches with aesthetics of art and music, and in Barnes' take on how Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, one of history's greatest, might have personally handled Stalin's sinister oppression in light of canonical compositions he created under constant fear that the next time his door knocked could well be his death knell.

Julian Barnes' re-imagining of Shostakovich's life under Stalin resonates with ironies of humanity. We ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 Barbara rated it it was amazing

PEACE OF MIND- a state of mind that Dimitri Shostakovich never knew. Was it the result of living under Stalin, or can the same be said of all great artists? It is probably true of most artists but Shostakovich had no chance of peace of mind living during a totalitarian regime that thwarted his genius and artistry.

I loved this book. The writing is superb (does Barnes ever not write superbly)? Barnes expertly describes the torment and tragedy of a great composer not allowed to pursue his talent as ...more

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Oct 12, 2015 Cheryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, music, biography, british, library, russian, both

I love what Julian Barnes can do with the facts.
When the Russian composer Shostakovich was denounced in 1936, at the beginning of Stalin’s Great Terror period, he knew he was likely to be “purged”. Everyone dreaded the nocturnal sound of pounding on the door - it had only one meaning. “They always came for you in the middle of the night. And so, rather than be dragged from the apartment in his pyjamas, or forced to dress in front of some contemptuously impassive NKVD man, he would go to bed I love what Julian Barnes can do with the facts.
When the Russian composer Shostakovich was denounced in 1936, at the beginning of Stalin’s Great Terror period, he knew he was likely to be “purged”. Everyone dreaded the nocturnal sound of pounding on the door - it had only one meaning. “They always came for you in the middle of the night. And so, rather than be dragged from the apartment in his pyjamas, or forced to dress in front of some contemptuously impassive NKVD man, he would go to bed fully clothed, lying on top of the blankets” For a period of time, to spare his family, he waited every night outside his apartment, beside the lift, fully dressed and with a small suitcase of essentials. And while he waited:
“The cacophony of sounds in his head. His father’s voice, the waltzes and polkas he had played while courting Nita, four blasts of a factory siren in F sharp, dogs outbarking an insecure bassoonist, a riot of percussion and brass beneath a steel-lined government box.
These noises were interrupted by one from the real world: the sudden whirr and growl of the lift’s machinery. Now it was his foot that skittered, knocking over the little case that rested against his calf.
He waited, suddenly empty of memory, filled only with fear. “

How did Shostakovich live through this, and survive until 1975, producing so many great works? ”Well, life is not a walk across a field, as the saying goes. A soul could be destroyed in one of three ways: by what others did to you; by what others made you do to yourself; and by what you voluntarily chose to do to yourself.”

He was constantly torn between an experimental style and a conservative melodious style that was pleasing to the ears of Stalin and the bureaucrats. The navigation was fraught with unseen pitfalls. He was denounced several times. At times he was forced to repudiate his own work, in addition to that of others such as Prokofiev and Stravinsky. “Being a hero was much easier than being a coward. To be a hero, you only had to be brave for a moment””

Wikipedia outlines the salient features, the skeleton, of Shostakovich’s life. Julian Barnes has added the flesh, the heart and the soul.

“What could be put up against the noise of time? Only that music which is inside ourselves – the music of our being – which is transformed by some into real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time, is transformed into the whisper of history.
This was what he held to.”

...more

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Apr 26, 2016 Roger Brunyate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, history, biography-fiction, russia-east-europe

Music Belongs to Music

In his middle years, when the composer Dmitri Shostakovitch is fulfilling his required function as examiner at the Moscow Conservatoire, he asks a trembling student, "Tell me, whom does art belong to?" Perhaps terrified rather than aided by her examiner's repeated gestures with his head to the banner hanging over the table ("ART BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE—V. I. LENIN"), the girl remains tongue-tied. At the very end of his life, Shostakovitch recognizes that she was right: "Not ...more

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Feb 04, 2018 Matt rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: media-ebooks, the-music-never-stopped

This wasn’t at all what I looked for and expected in a novel. This was muddle instead of prose.

From the first page, the reader is shocked by deliberate dissonance, by a confused stream of conscience. Snatches of thoughts, the beginnings of a lyrical phrase, are drowned, emerge again, and disappear in a grinding and squealing clamor. To follow this “prose” is most difficult; to remember it, impossible.
Thus it goes, practically throughout the entire novel. The sentences on the page are replaced ...more

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Feb 16, 2016 Michael rated it liked it

There is an old saying that goes, 'art for art's sake', but in British author Julian Barnes latest novel we see what can happen when art is used for political propaganda. Set in the USSR in three distinct time frames, The Noise Of Time explores the life of composer Dmitri Shostakovich as he goes from a popular conductor to one who's life goes on a downward spiral after falling out of favor with the government of the time and it's tyrant leader, Stalin.

Meticulously researching the musician's ...more

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Jun 18, 2019 TBV rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, performing-arts, classic-literary, fiction

“Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savour it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

In a novel which is sharp, witty, ironic, funny, sad, menacing and perceptive, Julian Barnes fleshes out the life of Dmitri

“Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savour it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

In a novel which is sharp, witty, ironic, funny, sad, menacing and perceptive, Julian Barnes fleshes out the life of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) from 1936 when Shostakovich was denounced as an Enemy of the People after a performance of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Thus far the opera had been a success, but this particular performance was attended by Stalin, and to be noticed by Stalin was dangerous. His opera was labelled a "MUDDLE INSTEAD OF MUSIC". “The composer had written not an opera but an anti-opera, with music deliberately turned inside out." "He noted how critics who had consistently praised Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk over the past two years suddenly found no merit at all in it.”

And so, during Stalin's Great Terror, begins a time in which Shostakovich, like so many others, has to dodge the bullets. He has to protect his family, he has to acquiesce to doing things that cause him shame and regret, such as having to read out a letter (written on his behalf!) which condemns fellow composer Igor Stravinksy. This is particularly mortifying to Shostakovich as he is a great admirer of Stravinksy. He is eventually also "invited" to join the Party, but this is an invitation no man can refuse even if it happens to be the last thing on earth that one might want to do.

Shostakovich soon learns to appear to be doing what is required, to say what he is expected to say. His music, however, speaks for itself. Music cannot lie, and those with ears can hear. He keeps a postcard with Titian's 'The Tribute Money' by his bedside: “One man, sly and swarthy, with a dangling ruby earring, grips a coin between thumb and forefinger. He shows it to a second, paler man, who does not touch it, but instead looks the first man straight in the eye.” This is a constant reminder of his situation. He learns to live by irony: “All his life he had relied on irony. He imagined that the trait had been born in the usual place: in the gap between how we imagine, or suppose, or hope life will turn out, and the way it actually does. So irony becomes a defence of the self and the soul; it lets you breathe on a day-to-day basis.” At the end if his life he realises that: “This was the final, unanswerable irony to his life: that by allowing him to live, they had killed him.”

Mr Barnes, you have yet another fan! ...more

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Nov 11, 2015 Rebecca rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, political, reviewed-bookbag

(Nearly 3.5) “Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time.” Through a fictionalized biography of the Russian composer Shostakovich, Barnes questions how art can withstand political oppression. Knowing Barnes’s penchant for stylistic experimentation, this was never going to be a straightforward, chronological life story. Instead, as he so often does, he sets up a tripartite structure, focusing on three moments when Shostakovich has a reckoning with Power.

The book is full of ...more

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About Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes

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Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer of postmodernism in literature. He has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize--- Flaubert's Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005), and won the prize for The Sense of an Ending (2011). He has written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh.

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“Art belongs to everybody and nobody. Art belongs to all time and no time. Art belongs to those who create it and those who savour it. Art no more belongs to the People and the Party than it once belonged to the aristocracy and the patron. Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.” — 60 likes

“Sarcasm is irony which has lost its soul” — 37 likes

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