Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Bakalářská diplomová práce 2020 Tereza Berková i Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Tereza Berková Representation of Love in Selected Novels by Ian McEwan Bachelor's Diploma Thesis 2 Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2020 / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. Author's signature 3 I would like to thank my supervisor, prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc, M. A., for her helpful input, guidance, and a great deal of patience. Furthermore, I would like to thank Daniel Garner and my family for their support and understanding. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 ABOUT IAN MCEWAN 9 ON BEING A CONTEMPORARY WRITER 9 MCEWAN'S BIBLIOGRAPHY AND STYLE 10 REPRESENTATION OF ROMANTIC COUPLES IN THE NOVELS 16 JACK AND JULIE IN THE CEMENT GARDEN 17 ROBBIE AND CECILIA IN ATONEMENT 25 EDWARD AND FLORENCE IN ON CHESIL BEACH 35 CONCLUSION 42 WORKS CITED 44 SUMMARY 46 RESUME 47 5 INTRODUCTION The theme of love has been an inspiration for the works of artists and writers from the time immemorial, and its representation and depiction has been changing depending on the time period and the interpretation as both emotion and act of affection. The contemporary British literature employs the theme of love in both major and minor roles, covering diverse concepts in which love can feature. Paradoxically, the phenomenon of love cannot be so easily defined. Various theories have been proposed to explain and define love, yet the concept of love remains too broad, biased, and reliant on subjective perception. To understand the representations and ambitions of love in literature, an individual approach of the author towards the phenomenon needs to be taken into account. Ian McEwan, a British novelist and storyteller, is one of the most remarkable contemporary authors whose works have received both popular and critical praise.1 McEwan has been recognized as a professional writer for almost half a century and his literary technique and focus has naturally undergone changes and development over time. Although McEwan is not considered a romantic type of writer, the reoccurring theme of love in his writings plays a significant role in the complete picture of his lifetime work, and together with development of his literary style and perception, the representation of love in McEwan's publications has been altering as well.2 The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to focus and closely analyse the phenomenon of romantic love and the dynamics of the love between the protagonists within the selected couples of McEwan's The Cement Garden (1978), Atonement (2001), and On Chesil Beach (2007), providing an in-depth understanding of the fluctuation behind the 1 "McEwan is one of those rare writers whose works have received both popular and critical acclaim. His novels grace the bestseller lists, and he is well regarded by critics, both as a stylist and as a serious thinker about the function and capacities of narrative fiction." (Head 2). 2 "As critics have frequently noticed, love is one of McEwan's major themes. It is central in all his fiction but how he presents it varies slightly from novel to novel." (Malcolm 174). 6 construed romantic relationships of the novels as well as a reflection upon the evolution of love's representation and features in the author's works over time. All of the novels mentioned above have been chosen for the shared trait of narrative concentrating on heteronormative romantic love, depicting the formation and termination of the love between the characters, including both emotional declarations and acts of intimacy. To specify and to set basic boundaries for the concept of romantic love, two components are proposed: forming of the emotional attachment and the sexual appeal of the romantic relationship. Additionally, the novels have been selected for being the representations of diverse scenarios and covering McEwan's narrative style both of his early and later production. The thesis starts with a theoretical overview of author's background in relation to the contemporary literature, furthermore, the theoretical part furnishes details about McEwan's personal life, acknowledging some of the influences that have shaped his writing, especially in relation to gender, using the evaluations of selected literary critics and works of bibliographers, primarily the publications of David Malcolm and Dominic Head. Finally, the theoretical part creates an outline mapping the development of McEwan's narration style as well as his employment of ideas and features connected to the heteronormative romantic relationships of his fiction. The second half of the thesis is concentrated on the analysis as it classifies, illustrates, and clarifies the romantic relationships and the external and internal dynamics impacting the relationships between the romance protagonists, as the first chapter of analysis examines the relationship of Jack and Julie in The Cement Garden, analyses the progression of the sibling relationship into the partnership and the power struggle dynamics between the two, as well as comments on the manifestation of gender patterns, polarity, and attraction between the protagonists of romance. 7 The following chapter deals with similar motifs behind McEwan's fictional romance of Atonement, divulging into the narration structure of the multi-perspective narrative, examining the contrastive features of the masculinity and femininity displayed through the main romantic couple, and further specifying and explaining the nature of the relationship between characters Robbie and Cecilia. The third section of the analysis interprets the notion of love and sexual intimacy of the novella On Chesil Beach as the author dedicates the whole narrative to the tension between a freshly wedded couple. The thesis provides an insight to the dynamics of the young couple as well as points out the theme of polarization and termination of the relationship. The resulting similarities obtained from the analysis will be addressed in the conclusion. 8 ABOUT IAN MCEWAN On Being a Contemporary Writer Writing about contemporary authors can be viewed as problematic due to the everchanging character of their technique and focus. Unlike in the confined literary movements of the past, the contemporary authors often embrace individualism instead of identifying as writers of a particular literal group, and although some authors share similar attitudes and ideas towards specific themes, they can be hardly analysed or categorized with the general properties of the literary movement because there are more authentic and specific features connected to the writers' styles and approaches.3 Ian McEwan's position in relation to literary classification remains relatively fluid, as McEwan integrates both modernist and realist aspects into the main postmodernist trend. Therefore, the examination of the works by Ian McEwan, an author who is often recognized as a significant representative of contemporary British literature, requires consideration beyond the measures of postmodernism, it calls for interpretation of McEwan's work as an authentic communication of author's perspectives in connection to the fields of McEwan's interest, and as a product of influences imposed upon the author. The following outline of author's life and development of his work will be focused on the external influences and the background related to the analysis of male and female characters, explaining the dynamics between the characters of the opposite sex, McEwan's narration style, and the theme of love in the author's writings. 3 "It is not particulary unified in doctrine, and even those who have most significantly contributed ideas to its manifestos sometimes indignantly deny membership - and yet the postmodernist party tends to believe that its time has come. It is certain of its uncertainty, and often claims that it has seen through the sustaining illusions of others, and so has grasped the 'real' nature of the cultural and political institutions which surround us." (Butler 2). 9 McEwan's Bibliography and Style Ian Russel McEwan was born in 1948 in Aldershot, England, into the family of Scotsman David McEwan, a British soldier, and Rose Lilian McEwan. In the interview with Ian Hamilton in 1978, McEwan described his father as a "domineering" type, meanwhile, his mother was supposedly "a very gentle woman, very easily tyrannized" (Hamilton 9). Because of his father's profession, Ian McEwan spent his early childhood at military bases both in the United Kingdom and abroad. In 1956, McEwan experienced first-hand the political tension linked to the Suez Crisis while living in Libya, which led to McEwan's awareness of political significance as he learned "that political events were real and affected people's lives" (Head 3). It was politics and its projection into reality, consequently forming the history, that has become one of the focal points for his writings. Three years later, McEwan was sent back to the United Kingdom to attend state-run boarding school in Suffolk. His education further continued with studies of English and French at the University of Sussex and studies of English Literature at the University of East Anglia, where he picked up the course of creative writing taught by Angus Wilson, a liberal humanistic author, and Malcolm Bradbury, an expert on the modern novel. During his university studies, McEwan "developed literary ambitions, writing plays and adapting a Thomas Mann short story for television" (Malcolm 2) and later started to work on his own short story collection, First Love, Last Rites. His post-graduation year McEwan spent travelling, "following the hippy trail to Afghanistan" (Head 4) and experimenting with psychotropic drugs. The publication of First Love, Last Rites in 1975 started McEwan's career of a professional writer, winning the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976. In 1978, McEwan published the novel The Cement Garden, the first out of total sixteen novels, which arose from his steady work.