ian mcewan’s atonement
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Ian McEwan’s Atonement. Atonement is a novel about Writing:. Letters Stories Plays Biography Journals Perspective Truth Lies Words. When writers do this, it is called. Metafiction (above, or looking down from above on the act of writing). - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Ian McEwan’s Atonement
Atonement is a novel about Writing:
• Letters• Stories• Plays• Biography• Journals• Perspective• Truth• Lies • Words
When writers do this, it is called
Metafiction(above, or looking down from above on the act of
writing)
Consider the English tradition of epistolary novels. In these novels, guess what kind of writing consumes the
majority or all of the text?
Letter writing
Consider the Epistolary Novel:Letters are used for the entirety of the novel, or for presenting the most important parts of the novel:
The Color Purple
Dangerous Liaisons
Pride and Prejudice
Consider the many ways the written word, in letters, operates in this text:
The big letterLetters of information (too much information
78, too little information 192)Love letters that serve as holy
relics/talismans ( 194, 213)Letters of evidence/ crime 107Letters of rejection 294Letters as correction for writing (metafiction)
295, 339, 340
Stories
• Just whose story is this???• Briony, certainly• Others: Robbie, Cecilia• Others: Lola, Paul, Mrs. and Mrs. Tallis,
Nettle and Mace, etc.• Others: the unnamed victims/soldiers of
WWII, prisoners with stories• Modern society, modern people who
mess up
One thing is for sure . . .
• McEwan believes that stories enable us to empathize better than any other medium
“The novel is supreme in giving us the possibility of inhabiting other minds. I think it does it better than drama, better than cinema. It’s developed these elaborate conventions over three or four hundred years of representing not only mental states, but change, over time.” (McEwan Interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2003)
Just a reminder:
• This is Ian McEwan’s story . . . He’s made it all up!
• The narrative is a “draft of atonement”
• The narrative structure of the novel is storytelling by a storyteller who is created by another storyteller . . . . .
Biography/Novel
• We readers have to remind ourselves: this is a novel, not a biography. The “author” lies to us.
• Pg. 349• How does Briony make us assume
this is her biography?Detail, perspective, authority of I, lies
directly told
Plays
The Trials of Arabella
– Serves as “bookends” of Briony’s story– The tragedy (three acts)– The unfolding of the drama of the story
with characterization central in Act I– Pg 16, 347,348 the play is quoted– The play falls apart, mirrors the action of
the narrative
Journals
• Briony’s nursing journal: 264-265– “true self” seen in writing– Names changed, imagination– “no obligation to the truth”– Like Chaucer: characters make a moral point– Reveals connection to her past, to others– “Age of clear answers was over”
Perspective
1. Several perspectives of the fountain sceneCecelia 20-23Briony 35-37Young Writer’s ? Perspective 38Older Writer’s perspective 295
2. The famous library sceneBriony 116Robbie 130
Postmodernists distrust the notion of only one
So, how does McEwan play with truth and lies through writing?
Multiple perspectives of narrativeMoral complexity of plotLevel of detailUsing non fiction sources of writing to
build trust in “characters”All fiction is a beautiful lie that tells the
truth
But for a work of metafiction . . .
It’s all about the words:
• The word in the Robbie’s letter• Rape, Divorce, Adultery, Prison, “Come back
to me,” Dunkirk, Gov’ner, NT, Horror, speaking to the french patient . . .
• Watch the power of a single word• Watch the power of single person’s word to
commit evil• Watch the power of the military’s word • Watch the power of Briony’s words to make
atonement
But is it possible to atone for actions using words?
• Works Cited • Atonement book cover. United Methodist Church. United Methodist Church. United Methodist
Church. 7 Sept. 2008 <http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=3990>. • The Color Purple [Book cover]. Digital image. The Color Purple. Barnes and Noble. 8 Sept.
2008 <http://search.barnesandnoble.com/the-color-purple/alice-walker/e/9780156028356>. • Dangerous Liasons [Film poster]. Digital image. Dangerous Liasons. DVDVideo.co.nz. 8 Sept.
2008 <http://www.dvdvideo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=2055&oscsid=70a27433ae019babff51dad15eb44482>.
• Daveblog. Kernals of Truth [Pop corn kernals spell truth]. Digital image. Flickr. 14 Feb. 2006. Flickr. 10 Sept. 2008 <www.flickr.com>.
• From Atonement, Beach at Dunkirk. Digital image. Imagining War. Film in Focus. 10 Sept. 2008 <http://http://www.filminfocus.com/article/imagining_war>.
• Gabeandchry. IM000947_2.JPG [Photo of old English house]. 2 Dec. 2006. Flickr. 3 Dec. 2006. 7 Sept. 2008 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabeandchry/313333994/>.
• McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Anchor, 2003. • SouthernPixel. Words [Penance and Penalty]. Digital image. Flickr. 28 Dec. 2006. Flickr. 10
Sept. 2008 <http://www.flickr.com>. • Thespian masks. Digital image. Off Broadway Acting. 10 Sept. 2008
<http://http://offbroadwayacting.com/img/thespianmask2.jpg>. • Ward, Dave. L.C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter [Photo of old typewriter]. 23 May 2003. Flickr. 24
May 2003. 7 Sept. 2008 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveward/15453474/>.