- my dedication to this novel(film) Atonement -- Dawn, 09:06:39 07/15/08 Tue
i wrote this for the beautiful heartbroken couple in atonement who touched my heart so deeply
with love-
Atonement
July 8, 2008 by Dawn
Come back
Comeback to me
Moments are pain
As moments reign
Moments are long
These moments again
Come back
Come back to me
In silence
And peacefully
In love
As my destiny
Come back
As you have gone away
Comeback
As you have drifted away
Come back
As you only know how
Come back
As the moment is now
Nothing else
No one else
Come back
Comeback to me
When I am walking in a dream
And I know I am not dreaming
Without you
Is cruel
When the heart is stabbed
And it’s unforgiving
I am not living without you
I do not believe
I am breathing without you
I love you and I am not leaving without you
Comeback
Comeback to me
My heart is tired
And my heart is in pain
Your heart is on fire
I know
Don’t live in a shame
You should not
You have not shamed
I know
Come back
Come back to me
Without you is unforgiving
Life is cruel
Life is not living
Breathing is not possible
Living is not possible
Without you
My heart is not beating
Come back
Comeback to me
The sun is black
The moon is blood
My heart wants revenge
On the childish mind
My heart wants revenge
On the one
Who has done us wrong
Who is so strong
Come back
Comeback to me
I pray to the gods
Those have abandoned us
I pray to the power
That has destroyed us
Comeback
Comeback to me
I remember your eyes
I remember your lips
They were the skies
They were the seas
Comeback
Comeback
Comeback
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement -- Clemency Newman, 13:19:27 07/15/08 Tue
I would just like to say that I recently read Atonement and I thought it was amazingly emotional and shows how a misunderstanding can affect people so drastically. I then saw the film and made me cry - twice.
I am just about to do AS Level English Literature and I look forward to studying On Chesil Beach.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
-
Atonement's Letter from the editor -- JP, 18:25:35 07/08/08 Tue
I couldn't help agreeing with Briony's editor that her story was promising, but too long, with too many viewpoints given and not much new achieved. The first section of the book made me feel like Briony had ignored his advice and kept the draft just as needlessly wordy as he had criticized it for being. If she had truly rewritten and revised the story over the decades, would she not have learned to streamline her prose? I guess that a writer (like Briony/you) who is critically acclaimed and adored can afford to not listen to one's editor! The letter from the editor seemed oddly ironic and a little tongue-in-cheek. Were you poking fun at yourself? at editors in general? at this editor? at those of us poor souls who agreed with the editor's criticism?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- MCEWAN NOT A RACIST -- Morten Jensen, 17:42:36 07/05/08 Sat
Ian McEwan's comments were directed at terrorists - extremists - not muslims in general. He expressed disgust towards a fanatic world view in which women have no rights and homosexuality is condemned and punished. There is nothing racist or ignorant about his comments. It's a sad time we live in when we no longer stand up for equality, decency, tolerance and open-mindedness.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Your Opinion -- thomas, 07:39:50 06/24/08 Tue
Ian,
Thank you for supporting your friend and freely giving your opinion. Personally, I love opinion questions because you can never be wrong giving one. After all, it is 'your' opinion. Sadly some of the messages already posted only serve to reinforce your opinion which I to some extent share. You are also right about Christians who still cling to beliefs rooted nearly 2000 years ago. The big difference being that their message is spread more by their commitment and sometimes their blood instead of the sword. Most of Islam would collapse in on itself if it weren't for the ruthless enforcement of it's laws. The other nice thing about opinions is that they can change. New information should never be ignored at the risk of changing one's opinion. Thank you for having the courage to speak up. Humanity owes much to people willing to do so.
Thomas
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
-
YOUR VIEWS ON ISLAM -- TALAT ALI (THE MISUNDERSTOOD), 15:54:51 06/23/08 Mon
Dear Sir,
I read and was surprised whilst reading the daily telegraph on your comments on Islam.
It seems you are ignorant on the subject and you should not analyse an issue you do not fully understand.
Islam is a fast growing religion were all creeds and races
mingle, just go and see in the mosque.
If one wants to be critical have your facts in view do not
conjure up stories.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Lovely Enduring Love -- geoff Herbert, 18:58:18 06/14/08 Sat
The plot line in Enduring Love is bizarre. It seems to reflect in part upon the writer's failing or failed marriage [circa 1995]. There is something eerily unrealistic about the train of events, from balloon to obsession to climax, and the marriage seems synthetic.
The film version only serves, by its cinematic failure, to emphasise the difficulty of the storyline.
In other words, when the superb writing is shaken off, there is precious little to support it.
Quite how McEwan refers to homosexuality is itself worthy of deeper research.
As in his [now denounced by him as no longer a valid expression] The Comfort of Strangers, the male homosexual is portrayed as obsessive and murderous.
I have extreme difficulty also in accepting the storyline of Atonement.
In Saturday, his brilliant exploration of the neurosurgeon is spoiled by a trivial application of a road rage encounter and an aircraft [not a balloon]in difficulties.
There is a strange other-worldly aspect to McEwan. he is aware of the world out there, but he struggles superficially to bring it to book.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Atonement -- Celwen, 01:19:12 05/21/08 Wed
Hi! I'm an Italian student, and I'm writing my final degree about this Ian McEwan's novel.
I need some help, expecially about the collateral elements, such as the female characterization or the historical element(ex. the differences and prejudice between social classes, the condition of woman at the time...).
The theme of my thesis is the use of metafictional devices to show the power and the danger of the Word(its creative power)and the ethical implications about the power of an artist...Any help? Link, suggestions...
Write me(I can read French too, and obviously Italian..., as soon as possible, I have not so much time left...My Mail: celwen@interfree.it
Thank you so much!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Packet of crisps -- Sarah Moor, 15:51:30 06/02/08 Mon
Dear Ian,
I read about your Hay reading and your request for other examples of the scene in which your protagonist unwittingly eats somebody else's crisps.
The short film Lunch Date by Adam Davidson won an Oscar in 1991 using the same premise. In it a woman dressed in a fur coat has missed her train in Grand Central Station. She orders a salad and sits in a booth opposite a man who looks like a vagrant. There is no dialogue.
The film is discussed in a variety of books on screenwriting including Linda Cowgill's Writing Short Films.
Regards
Sarah Moor
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- saturday -- glenda clarke (satisfied), 13:36:21 05/24/08 Sat
I read "Saturday", my first toddle into McEwan,slightly egotistical with self knowledge, BUT- with every right to be so.I loved it, the research alone should have earned you a booker prize. Thankyou- so much- for this journey into an intelligent and normal mind.
Sincerely
Glenda Clarke
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Kleist references in Atonement? -- M.H. Dupree, 09:34:21 05/06/08 Tue
I am a German Lit scholar and am writing a conference paper about the parallels between McEwan's Atonement and Heinrich von Kleist's play "The Broken Jug." Both include the motif of a broken vessel (jug/vase) that represents familial/national identity; there are multiple eyewitnesses and multiple accounts of what happens when the vessel gets broken. However, I'm not 100% sure that McEwan is really referencing Kleist; I.M. never mentions Kleist in his interviews, and James's The Golden Bowl is usually cited as the source for the motif of the vase in Atonement. I think Kleist might fit better. Any thoughts?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- bergerie de tedenat causse du larzac -- fabrice dermenghem, 08:17:27 04/30/08 Wed
en esperant que vous comprenez le francais!!
je suis le propriétaire de la bergerie de tedenat a la vacquerie sur le causse du arzac et j ai lu votre livre les chiens noirs
comment avez vous connu ce lieu?
si vous repassez dans notre belle region j aurai plaisir a vous rencontrer
fabrice dermenghem
467 rue des gelinottes
34 090 montpellier
tel 04 67 79 22 94
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- influences -- jodee, 08:56:17 04/22/08 Tue
what do you all think the main core influence of Atonement was?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- The Child in Time -- Tom, 19:44:02 09/14/04 Tue
I have read and enjoyed several of Ian McEwans books but
when I recently started The Child in Time I couldn't finish
it even though I was over 100 pages in. It was way too
wordy, jumped around between time and situations causing
confusion, and frankly even though I was intrigued at the
beginning, it was boring. I would like to hear from anyone
who has read the entire book. Am I completely wrong,
did you enjoy it, or....? What am I missing here?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Re: The Child in Time -- H, 03:27:45 09/15/04 Wed
- Re: The Child in Time -- Maz, 03:43:56 09/21/04 Tue
- Re: The Child in Time -- Carl, 16:59:26 01/11/05 Tue
- Re: The Child in Time -- Linda C Savage, 07:12:20 01/13/05 Thu
- Re: The Child in Time -- Magda, 13:38:26 02/20/05 Sun
- Re: The Child in Time -- vee, 11:56:58 02/28/05 Mon
- Re: The Child in Time -- Rene Buhler, 20:33:21 07/25/05 Mon
- Re: The Child in Time -- gertz, 06:11:20 05/28/06 Sun
- Re: The Child in Time -- Silviya, 04:28:00 01/03/07 Wed
- Re: The Child in Time -- Glenn Parrington, 17:09:06 01/22/08 Tue
- Re: The Child in Time -- maria, 21:04:59 02/23/08 Sat
- bachelor work -- lenka (help), 09:17:11 04/06/08 Sun
hi there, I am writing a bachelor work, which is a translation of one of the books about Ian McEwans work. Could someone give me additional/more info about Ian McEwan, e.g. his past, his ex-wife etc. anything you can think of. that would be a great help. thank you so much
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- On Chesil Beach -- Nathan Z, 04:50:08 03/28/08 Fri
I feel somewhat embarassed to make such a crass comment about such a beautifully crafted work of fiction, but the marriage could have worked had Edward not refrained from *ahem* pleasuring himself for the week before the marriage. For the want of a w***...
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- On Chesil Beach -- Maud, 14:12:33 03/23/08 Sun
After I wrote my message on 'On Chesil Beach' I read in this discussion-forum, that other readers shared my questions about possible sexual abuse by Florence's father.
Cool!
And that indeed it had happened (weird to write that of fictional characters).
I wrote before that it did not matter to know it for sure, however it IS good to know it for sure.
Even more painful.
But in a subtle way.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- New novel 2009? -- Rollo, 10:37:56 05/01/09 Fri
Can anyone (Ian? Publisher? even) throw any light, give any information (clues even) to when we might get Ian's new novel??
I was at Hay Festival last year and was delighted to hear Ian read the draft of chapter of his 'forthcoming' book. We were captivated and left salivating at the prospect.
Is this the book that 'may' be coming or something else??
Please Ian ? Publisher, It’s been too long, give us a clue when our hunger may be (?) satiated.
Best to all.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement -- A2 English Literature Student, 18:19:53 10/07/08 Tue
On behalf of my A2 English Literature class, i would like to put forward a question about the Editor's letter in part three of Atonement.
The reference to the changing of the name 'Piazza' from "Navona" to "Barberini" suggests that the version of Atonement we are reading has been changed by Briony due to the criticism by the Editor. If this is so then surely the suggestion of ' Briony coming between Robbie and Cecilia in a "disastrous fashion" ' has been taken on board by the retrospective author. This then compells the reader to believe that anything following the fountain scene is merely a fabricated drama that Briony has conducted in order to make it 'publishable'?
Doesn't this deter the whole didactic function of the novel (for Briony to Atone for her sin) presented through the most of parts one, two and three? Or is it simply more recognition that Briony's actions as a ten year old had huge repercussions therefore making her atonement even more imperative?
Also in the following chapter, immediately after the letter, when Briony refers to this suggestion, should the reader interpret her reply "Yes indeed" as a hint to her further redraft she would then go on to do, or a surprised acknowledgement of the event that actually did occur?
This concept could potentially change our entire view of the novel's self-aware structure so it would be great to have some views on this subject.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement-Is Briony jelous of Cee?? -- Camilo Escamilla, 10:09:13 04/15/09 Wed
I am writing a paper on Atonement for my english class, and well my argument is:
We know that Briony reads the letter and finds Robbie and Cecilia in the library and the scene in the fountain. Because of those scenes Briony believes that Robbie could be dangerous towards Cee. We later find out that Briony also had once love, or atleast had a crush on Robbie. My point of my paper is that could it be possible that the letter and the other scenes were not the only reason for Briony to lie about Robbie and send him to prison? Could it be that she felt betrayed or even jelous of Cee? Because it was Cee who Robbie loved and not her?
I know it's a random topic but if anyone can help atleast let me know if you think this is a valuable argument. Thanx
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Corporal Mace -- Demian (puzzled?), 10:55:08 12/30/08 Tue
Needless to say, Atonement is a masterpiece. I finished reading it yesterday and was truly moved by the story. Then, I tried the film, which I liked, but I started wondering about the screenplay and something that either I skipped or was the fancy of Mr Hampton and that was the fact that Corporal Mace was black. I went back to my copy and couldn't find a thourough description of that character. Actually, there wasn't a thourough despcription of Corporal Nettle either. Could anybody lend me a hand? I'd like to check that.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement -- Emma (Moved), 15:25:34 07/21/08 Mon
I watched and then read and then watched "Atonement" and I have never been so moved by a book before. The feelings that came to life while reading the book were so emotional that I have yet to cease thinking about the characters involved. I would simply like to express my regards for Ian and his obviously incredible mind and for providing me such pleasure in reading and discovering something that I never knew was there. Thank-you.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- delight -- Anton from Novosibirsk (happy), 07:15:31 12/18/08 Thu
Read your "Amsterdam".
Just wrote the message because I'd enjoed the book.
I'm going to be a philogist, and appreciate it at its true (high) value.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- For You -- Ross McLennan, 04:00:28 12/13/08 Sat
How many composers have written music for "For You"? I love the idea of a libretto being interpreted by different composers. Is it open for experimentatal operas for example? If so, I would love to have a bash at it. I'd happily send you the results....in ayear or two:)
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement -- Janie stone (indifferent janie), 09:17:25 10/21/08 Tue
I would like to point out that those tearing to pieces the facts in Atonement, that to them the story is lost! If you are critising the book instead of reading of it how can you expect to enjoy this enthralling and inspiring novel. Im 17 and read with passion before criticism.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- On Chesil Beach -- Maud, 13:28:53 03/23/08 Sun
I am from the Netherlands, but I read Ian McEwan's books in English - I love them.
I think he is one of the best writers I know.
I finished 'On Chesil Beach' and it moved me deeply, even though it is way shorter than f.i. Saturday or Atonement.
His books make me cry - the love in them.
I love the way he describes women - it's been a while, I read the other books, but Florence from 'On Chesil Beach'- she becomes real to me and very lovely.
I kept wondering whether she had been sexually abused by her father - some of the things McEwan writes: how she remembered lying in the cabin of her father's boat and how 'she was of no use to her father as a sailor and that surely was the source of her shame' and later, after Edward has prematurely ejaculated she has 'summoning memories she had long ago decided were not really hers'.
Maby it is not necessary to really know that for a fact, maby it is even better to have these questions.
Anyways, just wanted to express my admiration and also my gratitude - his books feed my soul.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- The practicalities of running an author's website -- Dan O'Hanlon, 08:39:44 03/09/08 Sun
Hello Mr. McEwan.
Publishers today expect writers, especially those of the Nappy-class like myself, to include in a book proposal a committment to run a promotional website. You, of course, have graduated to paying professionals to run it for you. Writing, marketing and (other) promotional measures are time consuming enough--but to run a website as well? It seems impossible. Accordingly, I'm asking the same questions of every writer I can find who has managed it. How did you do it, at first, and how much time did it suck from your week? (Or did all this, in fact, come after you'd "made it"?)
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Some different thoughts on Global Warming -- Kevin Cox (optimistic), 02:16:46 03/10/08 Mon
While watching the 7:30 report I heard that Ian McEwan is writing a book on global warming. This message is to him and to others on a way of looking at "the problem" and a possible solution.
We see global warming as an example of "the tragedy of the commons" and we see the solution coming as a result of finding a general solution to this problem. The basic idea of a possible solution can be found in the article "Reward the frugal and charge the profligate" at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7085
The concept is explored further with a submission to the Garnaut investigation at
http://cscoxk.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/emissions-permits-trading-inferior-to/
A practical application of the idea and how it might work to address all manner of community issues can be found at http://rewards.edentiti.com
The idea at the heart of this works is that the "solution" is arrived at by choice and evolution and responsibility to community spending. That is, it gives us a general approach to the allocation of funds to the public good in the most cost effective way.
Another variation on the idea can be found in this talk on ants http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/view/id/127
Essentially the idea is that if we get person to person transactions "fair" to each party then we will get progress if we keep in mind community as well individual objectives. What gives us hope is that humans are wired for cooperation and not competition and our current emphasis on the cult of the individual and blatant consumerism is not the natural order.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- "The Child In Time" length -- tre, 10:42:38 02/20/08 Wed
Possibly silly question here. Approximately how long is "The Child in Time"? A page count tells me very little.
I ask this because I'm slowly working my way through Mr. McEwan's oeuvre and prefer to start with the shorter novels. I don't have the actual book yet, hence the question!
Using one of his more recent books as a comparison will help: i.e. it's almost as long as "The Innocent", it's twice as long as "Black Dog", etc.
Thanks!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Humbert Humbert in Atonement -- Rachel Worden, 09:58:08 01/08/08 Tue
Humbert Humbert in ATONEMENT
(any advice on editing this note?)
Briony Tallis is the thirteen year old protagonist of Ian McEwen’s Atonement. Like any early-teen female in literature, Briony cannot avoid a comparison to another literary figure: Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. McEwan is certainly aware of this and has peppered his text with allusions to the famous nymphet.
Atonement has a character named Lola. Lola is the pet name that Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert gives Lolita specifically when wearing slacks. McEwan’s Lola is fifteen (just a year too old to be classified as a nymphet) and like Lolita she is raped by a man much her senior who happens to notice and comment on the girl’s slacks. Another allusion comes from Briony’s migraine burdened mother who shares one of Humbert Humbert’s talents. Humbert who likes to keep informed of the doings in Lolita’s home without leaving his study describes himself as a spider sending silken threads throughout the house in search of the young girl. Briony’s mother, Emily, while staving off a headache sends “tendrils” out from her bed to keep track of her household. Nabokov’s dismissal of psychology is well documented and Emily Tallis’ Freudianism is quite comical. The reader also learns in Lolita’s preface that all the characters involved are deceased, Atonement’s final pages inform the reader likewise. Lolita’s preface also redirects readers who want to know “the real people behind the true story." Atonement’s final pages subtly admonish the reader who wants to know “what really happened." The novels seem to share important dates: Atonement opens in 1935 the year of Lolita’s birth and Briony’s second draft is complete in 1947 the fatidic date of Humbert and Lolita’s first acquaintance. You can even find Lolita’s name hidden in Briony Tallis. Briony writes a play titled “The trials of Arabella” which seems a nod to Humbert's first love Annabell. But it is in Briony’s “ancient lust” of writing where the young girls diverge.
Rather than producing another Lolita, Ian McEwan seems to have reinvented Humbert Humbert as a thirteen year old girl. Like Humbert, Briony is the author of the text. Like Humbert, Briony is only aware of her inner world and is therefore oblivious and destructive to the life of those around her. Like Humbert, Briony becomes aware of the extent of her lie too late and she, like Humbert, can only hope to achieve atonement through writing. Humbert believes in fate to the point where he supposes his hotel room number to be “a key” and He excuses his behavior as destined. This is where the characters differ; Briony’s room number “told (her) nothing” and her pain of guilt is sincere. Whether either achieves atonement is for the reader jury to decide.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- on chesil beach -- Lorna Schofield (OK), 13:45:50 02/16/08 Sat
I kept being thrown during on Chesil Beach because everything was telling me it was 1912 rather than 1962.
The name Florence; the general air of restriction and repression; the gentility of the hotel, the absolute sexual innocence of the couple.
Perhaps this was deliberate, but over and over again I was imagining the woman in long skirts and pinned-up hair and the man in braces and collarless shirt and then - oops - she and he are in early 60s garb. It jarred, rather.
I suppose you wanted to underline the fact that there was so much restriction and repression until relatively recently...Perhaps if you had called the girl Angela or Susan or something more of that era, I wouldn't have drifted so far into the past!
Anyway, thank you for so many brilliant books.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Inspiration -- Elizabeth, 13:04:58 01/16/08 Wed
Forgive me if this question has already been asked, but I was wondering if anyone knew what the inspiration for the characters Robbie and Cecilia were derived from. The author used a great deal of letters sent back and forth during the war, and I'm interested in which ones.
Maybe it's my foolish hope to think that somewhere out there, the story might have been real. Or at least bits and parts of it.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Enduring Love -- Katie, 06:22:39 10/08/07 Mon
Hello, just wondering if anyone knows...are Clarissa and Joe married in Enduring Love? In chapter one it says 'childless marriage of love' but in chapter two it mentions when Joe was about to propose. So... are they married or not?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- QkwsZNwAFGhCbSUmnc -- Rolish (lgeQGvbyWpG), 19:27:16 06/26/09 Fri
showing some love,
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Ian McEwan's place in the tradition of literature -- Jenny, 13:15:04 02/01/09 Sun
I am writing a research paper on Ian McEwan for my AP English class, and I am having some difficulty answering these two questions:
1) Why is your writer important to the literary world?
2) What has he don to influence literature?
If you could help me answer those questions that would be great! Thank you!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Atonement -- Nat (Confused), 10:43:26 04/03/09 Fri
Where is the Atonement in Atonement? Or is that the point there is none? Briony never seems to atone for her actions - she thinks about them, writes about them, imagines apology and an alternate end for those she wronged, but where is the attempt to atone?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Booker Prize -- Claire, 01:01:25 05/28/09 Thu
I think it is a complete and utter disgrace that Amsterdam won the Booker Prize in 1998 instead of Julian Barne's England, England which was a truly inspired work and quite possible the best novel of the 90's.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- passages from Saturday -- Leonie (from the Netherlands), 02:40:42 05/21/09 Thu
Part of my MA thesis is on intertextuality in Saturday. I've read the novel but I cannot find certain passages anymore.
Can someone help me find these passages in Saturday? I'm looking for the passage where Daisy calls her father a Gradgrind.
Also, I read on wikipedia that Perowne has read a story in which a man travels back in time to a pub which his parents had visited before he was born. It is supposed to be the plot of McEwan's novel The Child in Time. Is this true? Where in Saturday can I find this passage?
Your help is very much appreciated.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Paul marshall chocolate factory -- Trod, 09:48:58 05/14/09 Thu
I was just wondering, is there really a chocolate factory or is it all
Made up? Is it based off of something true?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- On Chesil Beach -- Steve N, 16:15:58 05/11/09 Mon
Just finished this book and totally blown away, couldn't put it down and finished it in two sittings. The last 10 pages were devastating and the comment on the last page about love and patience so poignant. A classic story of regret.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- McEwan and Virginia Woolf -- Vera (fascinated), 04:40:37 02/26/09 Thu
Has anyone noticed that most of the books by McEwan bear some likeness to works of Virginia Woolf?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- On Chesil Beach -- Kevin (elated after reading), 01:41:27 04/22/09 Wed
I have just finished this book and was simply blown away by its brilliance. The construct was superb and the characterisation just excellent. I hope that this is going to be dramatised. The best novelist since Mary Wesley ...
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
-
Amsterdam -- tania (confused), 09:44:16 04/15/09 Wed
I have been through all these messages and I am surprised that none of them deal with McEwan´s Amsterdam...I´m an university student from Slovakia and I have just read this book and I´m confused about one thing in the novel: What was the real reason Vernon and Clive killed each other? Was it actually revenge or was it the accomplishing of their pact they made? cuz we have discussed this problem at our english lesson and the majority was for the revenge but I somehow feel that vernon though clive was loosing his mind so he just did what he had promised and vice versa...I would be very glad if someone share his opinion on this, thanks a lot!!!!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- child in time, who took the girl? -- robert, 03:41:11 04/07/09 Tue
The tragedy of the little girl missing is not solved at the end. Felt a bit frustrating, but Mc Ewan gives a clue. I feel I might have found the most possible solution. It is the girl who was begging in the streets and reacted hostile when she was given some money. Could it be she is the kidnapper? Most likely so, Kate could have been condident and sensed no threat, since her father had treaten the begging girl nicely. Who agrees?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Various Questions -- Sophie-Barat-School, Hamburg, Germany, 23:45:45 04/02/09 Thu
Dear Mr. McEwan
We are 6th formers at a grammar school in Hamburg and have chosen to study your novel "Atonement" in our English Lit. Class.
We found it was a very interesting and multi-layered book and it left us with many questions that arose in our discussions in class.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to help us solve some of our problems with the novel which we really enjoyed reading.
Thanking you for your help in advance,
Advanced Course English, Sophie-Barat-Schule
1. Would you say "Atonement" is a story about love, war, or rather about writing as such?
2. Do you personally think Briony`s atonement was successful?
3. In your interviews you describe yourself as an atheist. To what extent do you think your understanding of guilt in "Atonement" can be seen as having parallels to this Christian concept?
4. In many of your novels there is a key event that has a huge impact on the main characters' lives. Why are you fond of using this device?
Thank you!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Atonement -- fiona wilson, 12:38:56 07/09/08 Wed
i am struggling with the concept that Briony knows Paul Marshall raped Lola. She never saw who it was but later quite categorically knew it was Paul Marshall. On what grounds? Why did Cec and Robbie believe her so easily after years of thinking it was someone else, especially given her vivid imagination?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- The Amis/McEwan Blind Spot -- Nick Chavasse (Perplexed), 06:46:28 06/23/08 Mon
Dear Ian McEwaan,
I'll try my best not to make this just another angry complaint on your recent comments on Islam - I am sure you have had quite enough of them already.
Millions of Muslims would agree with your comments, if only you were able to make a clear distinction between radical and moderate Islam. Simply dismissing Islam in its entirety will leave you open to accusations of racism - on the basis that you have managed to dismiss an entire ethnic/religious group on the basis of the violent actions of a very small percentage of its its adherents. Its rather akin to American racist assertions that all blacks were libidous, rapacious animals intent on impregnating white women.
What is most disturbing about both your comments, and those of Martin Amis, is the total ommission of any Anglo-American culpability for the attacks on 7/7 and 9/11. You correctly point out that you do not resent American Christians because they do want to "attack our cities". But then again we have not spent 40 years destroying any chance of socailaism or democracy taking seed in America; funded and armed brutal dictators like the House of Saud and Saddam; and assassinated their left-wing political leaders to install right-wing puppet regimes busy hacking and torturing their own people. If we had behaved that way in America, there would be a mushroom cloud over every British city by now. Radical Islam is the product of Anglo-French-American colonial policies that perpetuated extreme poverty in the Arab world by design - just as long as the flow of oil was maintained.
Why is it that you and Amis never acknowledge or reference this? It's almost as if you have a blind spot to the historic brutality of the West. By pouring fuel on the absurd "Clash of Civilizations" thesis put forward by Samuel Huntingdon as justification for imperial aggression, you are further aggravating the situation.
If you were to start your arguement by at least acknowledging that the Muslim world has some very good reasons to want to attack the West in reprisal for 40 years of murder and aggression, I would have more respect for your opinions. Without such acknowledegement, they can indeed be seen as racist in origin,
In Peace,
Nick
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Butterflies -- Iain deuchar, 11:19:05 03/29/09 Sun
I wanted to read the short story "Butterflies" online. Can anyone help?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Enduring Love research paper -- Barry Lauren (confused), 07:04:49 02/01/09 Sun
I am doing a research paper on Enduring Love and I can not seem to think of a strong Central Idea and Thesis Statement for my paper, though I have done a lot of research. So I was wondering if you guys cold be able to help me out??
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- New Yorker Profile -- Frank, 11:06:55 03/09/09 Mon
Thinkah.com, in its Arts and Entertainment section, has two entries on this profile. One is generating some discussion and a question.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- The CHILD in McEwan novels : Possible Criticism? -- Sarah, 08:36:37 02/25/09 Wed
I am currently attempting a degree level research project on the portrayal of the child in Ian McEwan novels.
I am focusing on The Cement Garden, A Child in Time and Atonement.
Could anyone point me towards possible critical books or journals, or perhaps even approaches?
Thanks, Sarah
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
-
Violence in Atonement -- Grace, 12:57:35 02/11/09 Wed
I was wondering if anyone had an idea if the violence within this novel was itself a means of atonement? For example the suffering Briony sees whilst at the hospital. There are many theological debates on whether violence and suffering are necessary for atonement. Do you think McEwan has encorporated this into 'Atonement'?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Rose Blanche -- Sergio, 12:24:43 01/23/09 Fri
Hello from Italy. I'm currently working on my Ph.D. in Modern Languages and my subject (if I get the scholarship)is basically the theme of "growing pains". Now as I ordered on line "Rose Blanche" and received it today, I found out that I got the US version of the book which text is written by Gallaz and not by McEwan. Can someone please tell me if the text is different from McEwan's? And how comes there are 2 versions? One with the text of Gallaz and one with the text written by McEwan? Is it because one's Uk copyrighted and the other by the US?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
-
Art and artists in Ian McEwan's fiction -- Magdalena, 08:00:20 12/18/08 Thu
I was just wondering, does anybody know why Mr McEwan makes so many references to art in his novels? And even in the novels which have nothing to do with art? This is the case of Saturday, where the main character, though he is a neurosurgeon, is literally surrounded by art and artists...
I'm deeply interested in the subject, so I'll be very grateful for your ideas.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Feverish Robbie at Dunkirk "sees" his mum.What is the first room. the laundry? -- Nancy Hall (astounded), 15:14:40 01/14/09 Wed
Question: At Dunkirk when Robbie breaks away from his friend and has vision of his mum before he enters the room where she washes his feet...what are the hanging things in the ante-room; is the mum in the laundry or what? The scene is so short I can't figure out what the room is and what is hanging in loops...I'd love some ehlp with this. Thank you.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Imagination and true Atonement -- Milly, 12:21:07 11/12/08 Wed
"My aim in Atonement was to examine the relationship between what is imagined and what is true." - McEwan.. How successful do you think McEwan is at achieving this in Atonement?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Atonement -- Patricia Lowe, 00:27:14 08/30/08 Sat
Dear Ian
Having read "How Novels Work by John Mullan, Professor of English at University College, London (Oxford University Press, 2006) I refer to his various comments on your novel "Atonement", in which he discusses Briony's 'novel within a novel', when discussing the metanarrative of "Atonement".
Can you please tell me when you intended Briony's novel to start. Is the whole story - INCLUDING the first chapter - part of her imagination or did the actual murder and her subsequent denunciation of Robbie actually happen in her life as a 13-year-old, and she later (between the age of 18 and 77) wrote a fictional story about this actual occurrence in her childhood?
I'd love to have your comments please.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Who writes like Mcewan? -- jadenite, 19:57:20 11/05/06 Sun
I enjoy so much Mcewan's books, and have greedily devoured each and every one of them. Going on past experience, I may be waiting for a while until his next, so any recommendations, anyone? Who is similar to the mighty Mcewan? Obviously not the same, but just a similar intelligence, and interesting read.......
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Atonement and delusion -- Milly, 06:14:10 10/30/08 Thu
Hi, I am an A2 English literature student and I am studying Atonement.
I will be particularly focusing my study on the themes of self-deception and delusion in the novel and I was wondering if anybody had any ideas they could share on this aspect.
Any advice would be appreciated,
Thank you so much in advance,
Best wishes.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Discussion Questions -- Kimberly, 16:13:43 10/27/08 Mon
My discussion group is looking for discussion questions for "On Chesil Beach". If anyone can point me in the right direction, or have suggested questions, please email me or post reply. THank you
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- atonement -- MaryOverin (frustrated), 09:53:40 01/10/08 Thu
I find Atonement unsatisfactory because the plot rests on a total impossiblity: that someone might be convicted and imprisoned on the unsupported and unexamined evidence of a child (statement to police). She would have had to give evidence in court and be cross-questioned by Defence Counsel.
Does anyone see a way round this problem?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- the Cement garden -- Sofia, 10:10:42 04/30/08 Wed
I just finished reading the Cement Garden, and was wondering what those of you who read it thought of the ending? What do you think happened after the police came? Would it have been different if the children had let Derek into their life and not excluded him about their mother's body through telling him that it was a dead dog? Does this show that children truly cannot survive on their own without parents? Also, did anyone think that Tom might have been gay, with the constant playing dress up and mimicking relationships with his friend? Or was it just a cry for attention, like the baby thing towards the end. I'm curious to hear what everyone else thought.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Chesil Beach -- Mario Rios Muniz Pinot (Love it.), 06:46:50 10/10/08 Fri
I just picked this novel up by chance, along with Beloved by Morrison. Chesil Beach is interesting and revealing. I hope to read more in the future. I got some list of 100 best novels that I was using in my local public library that included Atonement but I found Chesil Beach which I think is wonderful. Thank you.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Why ? -- Ace (Sad), 20:45:06 06/22/08 Sun
Ian McEwan comments about Islam was unnecessary & racist. He should know that his novels are read by many muslims & he should never have made such nazi comment about all muslims. I feel ashamed that I shaked his hands not knowing his inner filth.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Chesil Beach -- Linda Kohler, 07:11:30 07/13/08 Sun
I read Chesil Beach in one sitting travelling from Zurich to Bellinzona in southern Switzerland, where I have lived for over 30 years. I think I got off the train feeling bereft and uplifted; I had not even noticed the time passing. So much in such a short book, well, novella really.
Over the last couple of days I have listened to the book on CD being read by Ian McEwan himself and enjoyed it even more as the beauty of the language became even more apparent. Since some of my friends have said they were bored by the book and couldn't see where my interest lay, it was satisfying, on hearing the interview with IM on the last CD, to realise that I had fully understood what he was trying to convey. This was not only a love story but also a social history and the asides describing the very different social backgrounds of the two lovers and the social climate of the time in which they grew up, were fascinating and necessary if we are to understand their reactions and misunderstandings.
The real tragedy for me lies in moment when Florence finds the courage to touch her beloved intimately without finding it as awful as she imagined and begins to relax at last. His passion bursts its banks and her disgust returns with all the tragic consequences. The misunderstanding between them at this point is excruciating.
One of the above comments suggests that by the sixties, this kind of inability to discuss sexual matters with one's partner was probably over, but I don't agree. Outwardly it was an era of sexual permissiveness but this was only a veneer. We (I'm now 60)were the "bridge generation, still very much influenced by our parents' hang-ups and prejudices and sense of respectability. I myself had a maiden aunt, who gave up all idea of marrying the man she truly loved when, after a village dinner and dance he dared to put his hand up her jumper. She never married. My father, at 80, after my mother died, confessed to me that after he returned from Burma, at the end of the war, my mother no longer wanted him (if she ever had) "in that way". We, as young girls, suffered from the strange atmosphere this created at home as we felt but couldn't explain his moods. When I was engaged to my now husband of 38 years and was working au-pair in Italy, we had sex for the first time when I was 19. At home, visiting my parents my mother managed to read the imprint of a letter to my fiancé which my writing had left on the next page of her writing pad. When back in Italy, I got a letter in which she begged me to stop "playing with fire". Out of love and respect for her, I did just this and we didn't "do it" again until we married when I was 21. It was the biggest mistake I ever made and I have always regretted it. Anyway, this is and indication of how sexual repression was still being passed down the generations, even in the era of "free love".
I could indentify so strongly with this book and the tragedy of this couple was in some ways the tragedy of my aunt and, thought they were married and loved each other for nearly 60 years, also the tragedy of my parents, who never learned the art of sexual communication and were even less able to hand on to their children a sense of the beauty of a successful sexual relationship where love and friendship and physical satisfaction blend in a blessed whole.
Thank you, Ian McEwan for your insight and sensitivity and the sheer beauty of your language.
Linda Kohler, EFL teacher, Switzerland
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- cement garden -- PJ O'Connor (Nimblestoof), 18:42:47 07/27/08 Sun
after reading and then seeing the Cement Garden, I could help thinking how devastating repressed emotions can be in dyfunctional families. It struck a deep personal nerve in me and in helped me come to terms with my own childhood dysfunction and rudderless parental guidance.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Ian McEwan Addresses Recent Comments on Islamism -- Ryan, 13:27:47 06/28/08 Sat
Please visit Ian's website for his comments regarding his recent statement about Islamism (not Islam, as has been misrepresented):
http://ian-mcewan.blogspot.com/
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Clarification... -- Ben, 17:48:31 06/26/08 Thu
I have been saddened by the unwarrented backlash following Ian's comments on extremist Muslism. The entire religion is not being condemned, just the actions of those fanatics who preach hate and openly wish destruction upon the western world.
I echo Mr McEwan's sentiments, and his freedom to express them.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Symbolism -- laura (Help), 13:36:00 06/26/08 Thu
Can You Help I Need To Know The Symbolism And The Themes Of The Book 'Saturday'???
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Packet of chips -- Philip Davis, 14:32:23 06/02/08 Mon
The biscuit/packet of chips episode is from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Just thought yu'd like to know!
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Packet of Chips -- Bronwen Kiely, 17:27:43 06/02/08 Mon
It seems there are a few versions of the 'packet of chips' scenario.
I immediately recognised it from a short story called 'Broken Routine' by Jeffrey Archer from 'A Quiver Full of Arrows'.
In this story, a public servant named Septimus Horatio Cornwallis never varies from his daily routine. On his train trip home from work he always buys the Evening Standard and a packet of 10 cigarettes, two of which he habitually smokes during the journey home as he reads his paper.
On this particular day, his routine is disrupted by a stranger on the train who grabs Septimus' newspaper and smokes his cigarettes throughout the journey.
After a tussle that lasts all the way to his stop, during which he grabs half the paper back and furiously smokes the entire packet of cigarettes, Septimus gets up to leave the train and, as he does, he bumps his briefcase which springs open.
There inside is his untouched copy of the Evening Standard and his full packet of Benson and Hedges cigarettes.
The story is on p. 111 of this online e-book.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2512720/Archer-Jeffrey-A-Quiver-Full-Of-Arrows
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- scientific interests -- teresa antoja (life full of science), 07:54:46 05/25/08 Sun
I am reading the fascinating Enduring Love. It is incredible that a writer has done so well in mixing literature and scientific issues. I am writing a short report about it and I would like to know how did Ian McEwan become so interested (and so informed!) in science or any particular thing that could help me. I only know that he usually reads Scientific American.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Is Briony's imagination a curse? -- Lucy, 06:44:43 04/12/08 Sat
I would really like to know your opinions on Briony;is her imagination a gift or a curse, is it either?
There is the obvious; her imagination acts as a destructive tool against Robbie and Cecilia. Her imagination as redeption from her sins.
I am doing my coursework on the nature of storytelling within Atonement and i believe this is a vital point to my argument, but sadly, one i am finding increasingly hard to come to an opinion on... any views?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- On Chesil Beach -- Edna, 07:49:40 11/26/07 Mon
I'm wondering if Florence is really frigid, or she thinks she is.It seems to me another possibility is her lack of knowledge and experience. Maybe time and communication could have helped her discover something she didn't know about herself.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- Poen in Saturday -- Peter, 09:07:45 03/29/08 Sat
In teh novel "Fahrenheit 451" Montag recides a poem to his woman and two of her friends. This poem ist "Dover Beach".After he has finished, a woman starts to cry. In "Saturday" there is barely the same scene. Is this just random our is ist the authors intention to have a comparrison?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- questions -- Katkins282 (wondering), 04:11:08 03/04/08 Tue
does anybody believe that the controversial writing that Ian McEwan uses could have any thing to do with his own past? Almost like a controversial writing to match his controversial life?
Could someone email me back its for my work... if you dont think it is to do with that, maybe some other suggestions?
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
- atonement -- jack, 12:31:52 03/10/08 Mon
Violence appears to play a role in Atonement, however I am interested in McEwan's treatment of violence, most notably in the retreat from Dunkirk. I was wondering if anyone could provide backgroud etc or point me in the direction of a useful article.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- Tasmania's forests -- Florence Harwood (Not happy Jan), 20:57:29 03/09/08 Sun
I offer these comments as I respect Mr McEwan's work deeply but I am extremely disappointed that Ian McEwan has been captured by a campaign that often disregards truth and facts.
Ian has recently visited Tasmania's forests with well Richard Flanagan and Bob Brown. I must say I am astonished that a writer of his sensibilities and intellect chose to accept such a one eyed view and did not seek any information about the other side of the forestry debate.
Then to involve the issue of climate change without the slightest nod to the findings of the Garnault and Stern reports on carbon sequestration through the forestry industry!
I adore McEwan's work and have read his novels with a sense of admiration and wonder. The most important duty an artist has, as Gunter Grass would say, is to speak out about what you observe in society. I do not and never would demur from that. But Gunter Grass never extolled speaking out in an unbalanced way and without some research to back up what Ian has said.
It would have been more helpful if he had qualified his comments by saying that he'd made observations in the presence of some very biased friends. Because that's all he did. He was shown something ("destruction") and chose to believe what was said about it. His reaction to it isn't exactly enlightened.
This is the same kind of tactic used by various anti forestry campaigners in Japan and overseas generally (in markets for Tasmanian forest products) who regularly show photos of "old growth trees" that have been "burnt" and misrepresent their location and their age (of course they're all old growth!). One group in particular was exposed for lying like this recently and they found themselves in a position where they had to apologise for lying and misleading the audience. I find that kind of tactic pretty disturbing.
The green groups make a great deal out of the terms pristine forests and old growth. I have been with well known campaigners in the Tasmanian forest and they haven't realised that what they are claiming to be old growth forest is actually regrowth after a wildfire in 1937. Their lack of knowledge on the subject is astounding.
What is happening is that they have captured the moral higher ground at the expense of facts, a propaganda war if ever there was one. And to be seen to defend the forestry industry in any way shape or form (including putting forward facts) is to be a rapist, a pillager, a completely unworthy person with indefensible views.
Is Ian aware that this campaign's persistence in claiming that these forests should not be touched by humans insults the Tasmanian Aboriginal community? They were effective land managers (using similar techniques to what is done now) long before anti forest campaigners decided that forests should be "wildernesses" which they usually define as having no people in them or "untouched by humans".
Other lies peddled around are that fires from forestry operations are burning down the Tasmanian world heritage area. However statistics from independent fire experts in Tasmania clearly indicate that if anything the fires into forestry operations from the world heritage area into forestry operations and not the other way around!
What I want to see considered by Ian is some facts. I would like Ian to come back to Tasmania in person and hear the other side of the debate. Only then should his views be respected. It's fine by me if that stage he still feels the the same way. But to show such disrespect to intellectual and scholarly principles of an objective examination of the facts puts him in a position where his credibility has been sorely undermined.
As I stated at the beginning, it's because I respect McEwan's work and capabilities so much that I've bothered to write in this way.
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
- On Chesil Beach - Comments -- Tee, 19:02:40 09/26/07 Wed
I finished OCB last night, and it has left such an impression. The "surprise" ending was so shocking, so unexpected -- the last two pages were so beautiful. I respect McEwan for taking what I saw was a real chance with this book - surely some would find this story unbelievable, particularly in light of the pages devoted to their adoration for one another, but I found that I actually related to it - to the misgivings, the close proximity of love and hate, the misunderstandings. The only real criticisms I have are as follows: 1) I was so invested in whether these two would actually have sex, that I found myself bored with some of the abrupt background narrative that forestalled the ineveitable; and 2)Given their very different family/socioeconomic backgrounds, I found it curious that they chose to be together, much more that Flo's family supported her choice of a rather unsophisticated, undirected fellow.
I'd love to hear feedback.
Tee
[ Post a Reply to this Message ][Edit]
Replies:
Re: Enduring Love research paper -- BJ Murphy, 14:44:49 03/21/09 Sat
Re: Why ? -- Saleem, 05:47:56 07/28/08 Mon