''Barney's Version'' is a novel written by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
author
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel '' St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...
, published by
Knopf Canada
Random House of Canada was the Canadian distributor for Random House, Inc. from 1944 until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it amalgamated with Penguin Canada to become Penguin Random House Canada.
Company history
Random House of Canada was established in ...
in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
.
Plot summary
The story is written as if it is an autobiography by Barney Panofsky recounting his life in varying detail. Barney's version of events may be viewed as that of two
unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unr ...
s, in that his recollections are told from varying mental states and then posthumously edited by his son. Underlying the story of Barney's three marriages is the mysterious disappearance of his friend Boogie. Though there is no body, police suspect murder, and Barney himself is tried but acquitted of murder.
Characters
*Barney Panofsky – Main character, an English-speaking Jew from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, going from struggling friend of artists in Paris to rich TV producer back in Quebec.
*Bernard "Boogie" Moscovitch – Barney's best friend, whom he was judged not guilty of
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
ing.
*Terry McIver – Barney's friend turned sworn enemy. It is McIver's published memoirs that drive Barney to write his versions of events.
*Miriam Greenberg – Barney's third wife, who leaves him for Blair. Barney always hopes that she will come back to him.
*"The Second Mrs. Panofsky" – Barney's shallow and verbose second wife, whose name we do not learn, and who
leaves Barney at the time of the disappearance of Boogie. She lives very well off Barney's money after their divorce.
*Clara Charnofsky – Barney's beautiful but mentally ill first wife, whom he met in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, and whose poetry from their time in Paris becomes best-selling
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
literature.
*Leo Bishinsky – Barney's friend from Paris, who became a famed artist.
*Cedric Richardson a.k.a. Ismail ben Yussf – Barney's rich friend from Paris.
*Morty Herscovitch – Barney's doctor in Montreal.
*Blair Hopper né Hauptman – A draft-dodging American who is taken in by the Panofskys and eventually becomes the partner of Barney's third wife, Miriam.
*Hymie Mintzbaum – A movie producer friend of Barney's.
*Sean O'Hearne – A ''
Sûreté du Québec
The (SQ; , ) is the provincial police service for the Canadian province of Quebec. No official English name exists, but the agency's name is sometimes translated to 'Quebec Provincial Police' or QPP in English-language sources. The headquarters ...
'' detective, certain Barney is guilty of Boogie's homicide.
*Duddy Kravitz – A character who appeared originally in Richler's ''
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' and ''
St. Urbain's Horseman'', now a wealthy man in his sixties.
See also
* ''
Barney's Version'', 2010 film by
Richard J. Lewis
Further reading
*
Mordecai Richler, le Québec et les Juifs, Victor Teboul.
External links
*
{{Giller Prize
Novels by Mordecai Richler
1997 Canadian novels
Knopf Canada books
Books about Alzheimer's disease
Fiction with unreliable narrators
Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning works
Canadian novels adapted into films
Chatto & Windus books
Fiction about memory