Storyworlds and Narrative Ethics: An analysis and interpretation of Ian McEwan's Atonement and Saturday
Author
Klausnitzer, Helle Vigh
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2008
Pages
79
Abstract
This thesis offers a comparative analysis of Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2002) and Saturday (2006), examining how time, space, and perspective shape their storyworlds and enable ethical reflection. Drawing on narratological frameworks by Genette, Rimmon-Kenan, and Herman, it maps the novels’ temporal designs: Atonement’s life-spanning, multi-perspectival experimentation versus Saturday’s single-day, largely chronological narration. It also traces their spatial focus, with Atonement shifting across England and France and Saturday concentrating on a detailed London, and their focalization strategies, with Atonement alternating viewpoints and Saturday remaining relatively consistent through Henry Perowne. The study further considers storytelling as theme through metafiction and intertextuality. It argues that, despite different degrees of structural complexity, both novels construct coherent and vivid fictional universes that foreground consciousness and provide a basis for narrative ethics, including discussions of guilt in Atonement and anxiety in Saturday. The approach combines close reading with metatheoretical reflection to show how coherent storyworlds function as a precondition for moral debate in McEwan’s fiction.
Specialet sammenligner Ian McEwans Atonement (2002) og Saturday (2006) og undersøger, hvordan tid, rum og perspektiv former deres fortælleverdener og muliggør etisk refleksion. Med afsæt i narratologiske rammer fra Genette, Rimmon-Kenan og Herman kortlægges romanernes temporale design: Atonements livsforløb med flerstemmig eksperimenteren over for Saturdays en-dags, overvejende kronologiske fortælling. Det følger også deres rumlige fokus, hvor Atonement skifter på tværs af England og Frankrig, mens Saturday koncentrerer sig om et detaljeret London, og deres fokaliseringsstrategier, hvor Atonement veksler mellem synsvinkler, mens Saturday er relativt konsistent gennem Henry Perowne. Analysen inddrager desuden fortælling som tema via metafiktion og intertekstualitet. Den argumenterer for, at trods forskellige grader af strukturel kompleksitet konstruerer begge romaner sammenhængende og levende fiktionelle universer, der fremhæver bevidsthed og danner grundlag for narrativ etik, herunder drøftelser af skyld i Atonement og angst i Saturday. Tilgangen kombinerer nærlæsning med metateoretiske refleksioner for at vise, hvordan sammenhængende fortælleverdener fungerer som forudsætning for moralsk debat i McEwans fiktion.
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