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”

Perspective1. Several perspectives of the fountain scene

Cecelia 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/>.