Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes is one of the brightest and most original prose writers of modern Britain, the author of such international bestsellers as The Noise of Time, The Sense of the End, Arthur and George, A History of the World in 10? chapters" and many others. Perhaps his main talent is the ability to easily and naturally play styles and directions. Subtle stylization and caustic irony, refined lyricism and sarcasm almost reaching the point of cynicism, aggressive toughness and cheerful mischief - Barnes is capable of all this and much more. “Flaubert's Parrot” is the first of Barnes’ books to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize. it is “a delightful novel, satiating the mind and soul” (Joseph Heller); it is “a true gem – a novel so literary and yet unabashedly entertaining” (John Irving). Through the prism of Flaubert's biography, Barnes tries to answer the question of what is more important for us readers - the author's books or his life? If books, then why does the writer’s work make us literally hunt for the smallest facts of his life? Why do we believe that a stuffed Flaubert parrot can provide the key to understanding everything written by the French classic?