A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

Julian Barnes. Vintage Books USA, $15.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-679-73137-5

Noah's Ark, Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa and ``an offbeat vision of the Hereafter'' are some of the ingredients of this pyrotechnical work. ``Admirers of Barnes are accustomed to thoroughly unorthodox approaches to the novel, and his latest, while brilliantly entertaining, certainly strains the limits of the genre,'' PW remarked. (Dec.)

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