Product Description

Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader of a former Soviet satellite country, is on trial. His adversary, the prosecutor general, stands for the new government's ideals and liberal certainties, and is attempting to ensare Petkanov with the dictator's own totalitarian laws. But Petkanov is not beaten yet. He has been given his chance to fight back and he takes it with a vengeance, to the increasing discomfort and surprise of those around him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41722 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
A minor masterpiece of political satire: compelling, funny and frightening The Porcupine is a new indisputable proof of Mr Barnes's creative power, yet what really astonished me, the Prosecutor, was the amazing precision of the intellectual's view of a socialist dictator, which so accorded with Zhivkov's true character Critics have overlooked his tenderness, underestimated his intelligence, and denied his wisdom... The Porcupine is a superbly accomplished novella The neatness of the novel's structure is complemented by the rampageous energy of the characters for which it is the cage Daily Telegraph

About the Author
Julian Barnes is the author of nine novels, including Metroland, Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10 Chapters, England, England and Arthur and George, and two collections of short stories, Cross Channel and The Lemon Table.

Customer Reviews

A work of fiction?
To the normal reader, this is a well-penned novel reflecting upon the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. To someone who knows Bulgaria, it is something else entirely. That Mr. Barnes who only travelled here on holiday can write such a detailed novel which portrays the Bulgarian people and psyche to a level that is unbelievable. The youngsters who scream at the TV, the grandmother who knows that socialism shall eventually prevail, the unsure prosecuter and the very sure ex-President are all Bulgarians that I know. Yes, he changed the names, but that is all. Bulgaria is a fascinating country going through a fascinating period in history. It is just a shame that it is left to an Englishman to write about her history. Thankfully, Barnes fulfills this duty admirally.

Mirror Image Show Trials
The elaborately choreographed show trials of Stalin are as well known, as they are infamous. There are few examples in History when one, malformed creature, both mentally and physically, could rule as a dictator for so long, and without challenge. Even Kirov cannot be considered more than a potential challenge, as the murdered do not compete. The number, who rules a country they were not born to, narrows the numbers further. Hitler did come from Austria, but by any measure of terror, killing, and longevity, he is not even close to Stalin.

In, "The Porcupine", by Julian Barnes, it is the tyrant that is on trial, not Stalin, for the country of this dictator's origin is never mentioned. Much historical detail is used, and the quandary the prosecution faces would have been the same if Stalin had been tried. Some of the circumstances that span from the beginning to the end of the book, in a manner of speaking, can be witnessed today. What was "The Evil Empire" when viewed from here is a way of governed life that would still be welcomed back by large portions of not just Russia, but members of the former union as well. Life may not have been ideal, but if "the two words" have not made them better, why not go back?

Who charges the dictator, who can sit in judgment when those passing a verdict were a part of the machine themselves? Who is qualified to prosecute, what can the charges be, and what is the punishment to entail? Crimes Against Humanity, as tried in Nuremberg, placed the defendants before those that had defeated them. The crimes were appalling, but even bringing that trial to the point of beginning was anything but certain, and certainly not with precedent.

Mr. Barnes pens a great Counter Factual History a bit of "what if? That it has not happened as described does not detract from the fascination the idea provokes. The issue seems easy in theory, the outcome preordained. But wishing and wanting don't just make it so, or does it?

Hats off for Mr. Barnes
This seems to be one of Barnes' most overlooked works and it is really a pity. Although the novel is fairly short, it still manages to offer a brillant and nuanced account of the dilemmas which people have to face when they choose to discard a long-established way of living for a new system. Barnes has placed the story in a former communist state at the beginning of the 1990s, where the former leader of the state is about to be prosecuted for the crimes which he has committed during his reign. The new democratic leaders consider the trial to be a formality but as it progresses, the ostensibly clear-cut moral disinction between good and evil becomes blurred, and the truth is lost. Barnes manages to depict the trial from both sides of the fence and thus creates some very memorable characters whose interactions are highly interesting to observe because they represent a wide spectrum of ideas which are in tension with eachother. I especially like the charged confrontations between the prosectuor and the former head of state who represents new and old. This also makes it impossible for the reader to determine the moral and political dilemmas inherent in the story for his sympathies are taken on a rollercoaster-ride. Rather than seeing this as a muddle, one should see it as a way of comprehending these problems in a new light, and I certainly realised that I had shifted my sympathies during the reading. On a more general level, the story opens up for a probing of and quest for the concepts of "truth" and "authenticity", something which I believe is central to Barnes' work taken as a whole. In short, Barnes has created a fantastically vivid and varied account of the contempoary dismantling of communism in the east, and coupled it with more universally applicable musings.