Ian McEwan

Lynn Wells

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781403987822
• eBook ISBN: 9781350309043
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Modern Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

This introduction to the work of Ian McEwan places his fiction in historical and theoretical context. It explores his biography, literary techniques and the issues of ethics and representation. Including a timeline of key dates and an interview with the author it also offers an overview of the critical reception McEwan's work has provoked.

PART I

Introduction

TIMELINE

1960	Harold Macmillan “Winds of Change” speech, Cape Town, South Africa
	John F. Kennedy elected as US President
	Aged six, Kazuo Ishiguro arrives in Britain
1961	Adolf Eichmann on trial in Israel for role in Holocaust
	Bay of Pigs: attempted invasion of Cuba
	Berlin Wall constructed
	Yuri Gagarin first person in Space
	Silicon chip patented
	Private Eye magazine begins publication
	Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
	Jonathan Coe born
1962	Cuban Missile Crisis
	Marilyn Monroe dies
	Independence for Uganda; followed this decade by Kenya (1963), Northern Rhodesia (1964), Southern Rhodesia (1965), Barbados (1966)
1963	John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
	Martin Luther King Jr delivers “I Have a Dream” speech
	Profumo Affair
1964	Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment
	Commercial pirate radio challenges BBC monopoly
1965	State funeral of Winston Churchill
	US sends troops to Vietnam
	A. L. Kennedy born in Dundee, Scotland
1966	Ian Brady and Myra Hindley sentenced to life imprisonment for Moors Murders
	England beats West Germany 4–2 at Wembley to win
	Football World Cup
	Star Trek series debut on NBC television
	Jean Rhys, The Wide Sargasso Sea
1967	Six-Day War in the Middle East
	World’s first heart transplant
	Abortion Act legalizes termination of pregnancy in UK
	Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album released by The Beatles
	Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman
1968	Anti-Vietnam War protestors attempt to storm American
	Embassy in Grosvenor Square
	Martin Luther King Jr assassinated
	Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
	Student protests and riots in France
	Lord Chamberlain’s role as censor of plays in the UK is abolished
	Lindsay Anderson, If ...
1969	Civil rights march in Northern Ireland attacked by Protestants
	Apollo 11 lands on the Moon with Neil Armstrong’s famous first steps
	Rock concert at Woodstock
	Yasser Arafat becomes leader of PLO
	Booker Prize first awarded; winner P. H. Newby, Something to Answer for
	Open University founded in the UK
	John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman
1970	Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacks five planes Students activists and bystanders shot in anti-Vietnam War protest at Kent State University, Ohio, four killed, nine wounded UK voting age reduced from 21 years to 18 years
1971	Decimal currency introduced in the UK Internment without trial of terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland begins India and Pakistan in conflict after Bangladesh declares independence
1972	Miners’ strike Bloody Sunday in Londonderry, 14 protestors killed outright or fatally wounded by British troops Aldershot barracks bomb initiates IRA campaign with seven dead Britain enters Common Market Massacre of Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics Watergate scandal Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange Samuel Beckett, Not I
1973	US troops leave Vietnam Arab-Israeli 15-day Yom Kippur War PM Edward Heath introduces three-day working week Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers
1974	Miners’ strike IRA bombings in Guildford (five dead) and Birmingham (21 dead)
1975	Microsoft founded Sex Discrimination Act Zadie Smith born in North London Malcolm Bradbury, The History Man Ian McEwan, First Love, Last Rites, which wins the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976
1976	Weak economy forces UK government loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Ian McEwan, First Love, Last Rites
1977	Star Wars released UK unemployment tops 1,600,000 Nintendo begins to sell computer games Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK” tour
1978	Soviet troops occupy Afghanistan First test-tube baby born in Oldham, England Ian McEwan, In Between the Sheets and The Cement Garden
1979	Iranian Revolution establishes Islamic theocracy Margaret Thatcher becomes PM after Conservative election victory USSR invades Afghanistan Lord Mountbatten assassinated by the IRA
1980	Iran–Iraq War starts Iranian Embassy siege in London CND rally at Greenham Common airbase, England IRA hunger strike at Belfast Maze Prison over political status for prisoners Julian Barnes, Metroland
1981	Prince Charles and Lady Diana marry in St Paul’s Cathedral with 750 million worldwide television audience Widespread urban riots in UK including in Brixton, Holloway, Toxteth, Handsworth, Moss Side AIDS identified First IBM personal computer Alasdair Gray, Lanark Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children, which wins Booker Prize for Fiction Ian McEwan, The Comfort of Strangers
1982	Mark Thatcher, PM’s son, disappears for three days in Sahara during the Paris-Dakar rally Falklands War with Argentina, costing the UK over £1.6 billion Body of Roberto Calvi, chairman of Vatican-connected Banco Ambrosiano, found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge, London
1983	Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, arrested in Bolivia Beirut: US Embassy and barracks bombing, killing hundreds of members of multinational peacekeeping force, mostly US marines US troops invade Grenada Microsoft Word first released Salman Rushdie, Shame, which wins Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (France)
1984	Miners’ strike HIV identified as cause of AIDS IRA bomb at Conservative Party Conference in Brighton kills four British Telecom privatization shares sale Thirty-eight deaths during clashes at Liverpool v. Juventus football match at Heysel Stadium, Brussels Martin Amis, Money: A Suicide Note Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot James Kelman, Busconductor Hines Graham Swift, Waterland
1985	Famine in Ethiopia and Live Aid concert Damage to ozone layer discovered Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet Premier and introduces glasnost (openness with the West) and perestroika (economic restructuring) PC Blakelock murdered during riots on Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, London My Beautiful Laundrette film released (dir. Stephen Frears, screenplay Hanif Kureishi) Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
1986	Abolition of Greater London Council and other metropolitan county councils in England Violence between police and protestors at Wapping, East London after Rupert Murdoch sacks 5000 print workers Challenger shuttle explodes Chernobyl nuclear accident US bombs Libya Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor
1987	Capsizing of RORO ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, off Zee-brugge kills 193 people London Stock Exchange and market collapse on “Black Monday” Remembrance Sunday: eleven killed by Provisional IRA bomb in Enniskillen Ian McEwan, The Child in Time, which wins Whitbread Novel Award in 1987 and the Prix Fémina Etranger in 1993 Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
1988	US shoots down Iranian passenger flight Pan Am flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie, 270 people killed Soviet troop withdrawals from Afghanistan begin Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
1989	Fatwa issued against Rushdie by Iranian leadership (Khomeini) Fall of Berlin Wall Exxon Valdez oil disaster Student protestors massacred in Tiananmen Square, Bejing Hillsborough Stadium disaster in which 96 football fans die Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, which wins Booker Prize for Fiction Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry
1990	London poll tax riots Fall of Thatcher; John Major becomes Conservative PM Nelson Mandela freed from jail Jeanette Winterson adapts Oranges for BBC television film A. S. Byatt, Possession Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, which wins Whitbread First Novel Prize A. L. Kennedy, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains
1991	Soviet Union collapses First Iraq War with 12-day Operation Desert Storm Apartheid ended in South Africa PM Major negotiates opt-out for Britain from European Monetary Union and rejects Social Chapter of Maastricht Treaty Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) helps create the World Wide Web Hanif Kureishi: screenplays for Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and London Kills Me Pat Barker, Regeneration
1992	“Black Wednesday” stock market crisis when UK forced to exit European Exchange Rate Mechanism Adam Thorpe, Ulverton
1993	Black teenager Stephen Lawrence murdered in Well Hall Road, London With Downing Street Declaration, PM John Major and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds commit Britain and Ireland to joint Northern Ireland resolution Film of Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting Ian McEwan, Black Dogs
1994	Tony Blair elected leader of Labour Party following death of John Smith Channel Tunnel opens Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa Provisional IRA and loyalist paramilitary cease-fire Homosexual age of consent for men in the UK lowered to 18 Mike Newell (dir.), Four Weddings and a Funeral Jonathan Coe, What a Carve Up! James Kelman, How late it was, how late, which wins Booker Prize for Fiction Irvine Welsh, The Acid House
1995	Oklahoma City bombing Srebrenica massacre during Bosnian War Pat Barker, The Ghost Road Nicholas Hytner (dir.), The Madness of King George Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album
1996	Cases of Bovine Spongeiform Encephalitis (Mad Cow Disease) in the UK Divorce of Charles and Diana Breaching cease-fire, Provisional IRA bombs London’s Canary Wharf and Central Manchester Film of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle), starring Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle Graham Swift, Last Orders, which wins Booker Prize
1997	Tony Blair becomes Labour PM after landslide victory Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash Hong Kong returned to China by UK Jim Crace, Quarantine Jonathan Coe, The House ofSleep, which wins Prix Médicis Etranger (France) Ian McEwan, Enduring Love Iain Sinclair and Marc Atkins, Lights Out for the Territory
1998	Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland and Northern I...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• General Editors’ Preface
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: Major Works
• Part III: Criticism and Contexts
• Other Texts By McEwan
• Bibliography
• Index