Collection of writings by Julian Barnes
Pulse is the third short story collection written by Julian Barnes.
Stories
First publication in brackets
Part One
- "East Wind" (The New Yorker, 19 May 2008 online text) - In an Essex seaside town, Vernon, a divorced estate agent, begins an affair with Andrea an East German waitress, but then he pries into her past.
- "At Phil & Joanna's 1: 60/40" (The Guardian, 2 Aug 2008, online text)- A dinner party with a dialogue discussing attitudes towards smoking on both sides of the Atlantic.
- "Sleeping with John Updike" (The Guardian, 23 Jan 2010, online text) - Elderly authors Alice and Jane discuss their past lives and loves in the literary world.
- "At Phil & Joanna's 2: Marmalade" (Zoetrope: All Story[1]) - Another dinner party, this time with dialogue considering the Britishness of marmalade.
- "Gardeners' World" - Ken and Martha have very different plans for the garden of their new house.
- "At Phil & Joanna's 3: Look, No Hands" - A discussion on the difference between men and women with regard to love.
- "Trespass" (The New Yorker, 24 Nov 2003, online text) - After breaking up with Cath, Geoff considers joining The Ramblers, but then he meets Lynn.
- "At Phil & Joanna's 4: One in Five" - On global warming.
- "Marriage Lines" (Granta, Feb 2008[2])- The narrator makes his first solo trip to a Hebridean island following the death of his wife.
Part Two
Contains five stories, concerning the senses[3]
- "The Limner" (The New Yorker, 5 Jan 2009, online text) - Mr. Wadsworth is a deaf travelling portrait artist whose latest commission is to paint a customs officer, Mr. Tuttle.
- "Complicity" (The New Yorker, 19 Oct 2009. online text) - A lawyer recalls the beginning of his relationship with a young doctor with many references to 'touch'.
- "Harmony" (Granta, 14 Jan 2010, [4]) - Based on Mesmer's treatment of Maria Theresia Paradis for blindness.
- "Carcassonne" (The Spectator online text) uses the relationship between Garibaldi and Anita Riberas as a basis for discussion on 'taste' in its widest sense.
- "Pulse" - the narrator's father suffers from anosmia, then his mother is diagnosed with motor neuron disease, both illnesses playing out alongside the narrator's deteriorating relationship with his wife.