Ian McEwan: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|EnglishBritish novelist and screenwriter (born 1948)}}

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sepsize=,100%|CH|CBE|FRSA|FRSL}}

| name = Ian Russell McEwan

| image = Salon du livre de Paris 2011 - Ian McEwan - 003.jpg

| caption = McEwan in 2011

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Ian Russell McEwan

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|6|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Aldershot]], [[Hampshire]], England

| alma_mater = [[University of Sussex]]<br />[[University of East Anglia]]

| occupation = Novelist, screenwriter

| period = 1975–present

| genre =

| subject =

| movement =

| notableworks =

| spouse = {{Nowrap|Penny Allen (1982–1995)<br/>Annalena McAfee (1997–present)}}

| partner =

| children = 2

| relatives =

| website = {{URL|ianmcewan.com}}

| signature =

'''Ian Russell McEwan''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sepsize=,100%|CH|CBE|FRSA|FRSL}} (born 21 June 1948) is ana EnglishBritish [[novelist]] and [[screenwriter]]. In 2008, ''[[The Times]]'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the "100 most powerful people in [[Culture of the United Kingdom|British culture]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=The 100 most powerful people in British culture |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3672604/The-100-most-powerful-people-in-British-culture-1-20.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3672604/The-100-most-powerful-people-in-British-culture-1-20.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=9 November 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

McEwan began his career writing sparse, [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] [[short stories]]. His first two novels, ''[[The Cement Garden]]'' (1978) and ''[[The Comfort of Strangers]]'' (1981), earned him the nickname "Ian Macabre". These were followed by three novels of some success in the 1980s and early 1990s. His novel ''[[Enduring Love]]'' was adapted into [[Enduring Love (film)|a film of the same name]]. He won the [[Booker Prize]] with ''[[Amsterdam (novel)|Amsterdam]]'' (1998). His next novel, ''[[Atonement (novel)|Atonement]]'', garnered acclaim and was adapted into an [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-winning [[Atonement (2007 film)|film]] featuring [[Keira Knightley]] and [[James McAvoy]]. His later novels have included ''[[The Children Act (novel)|The Children Act]]'', ''[[Nutshell (novel)|Nutshell]]'', and ''[[Machines Like Me]]''. He was awarded the 1999 [[Shakespeare Prize]], and the 2011 [[Jerusalem Prize]].

==Early life and education ==

McEwan spent much of his childhood in [[East Asia]] (including [[Singapore]]), [[Germany]], and [[northNorth Africa]] (including [[Libya]]), where his father was posted. His family returned to England when he was 12 years old. He was educated at [[Woolverstone Hall School]] in [[Suffolk]]; the [[University of Sussex]], where he received a degree in English literature in 1970; and the [[University of East Anglia]], where he undertook a master's degree in literature (with the option to submit creative writing instead of a critical dissertation).<ref>Jaillant, Lise. [https://www.academia.edu/25126328/Myth_Maker_Malcolm_Bradbury_and_the_Creation_of_Creative_Writing_at_UEA "Myth Maker: Malcolm Bradbury and the Creation of Creative Writing at UEA". New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing (2016)]</ref>

=== Early career1975–1987: shortShort stories and '"Ian Macabre'" phase, 1975–1987 ===

=== Mid-career1988–2007: mainstreamMainstream success and Booker Prize win, 1988–2007 ===

In 2006, McEwan was accused of plagiarism; specifically that a passage in ''Atonement'' (2001) closely echoed a passage from a memoir, ''No Time for Romance'', published in 1977 by [[Lucilla Andrews]]. McEwan acknowledged using the book as a source for his work.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/books/28aton.html |work=The New York Times |first=Alan |last=Cowell |title=Eyebrows Are Raised Over Passages in a Best Seller by Ian McEwan |date=28 November 2006}}</ref> McEwan had included a brief note at the end of ''Atonement'', referring to Andrews's autobiography, among several other works. The incident recalled critical controversy over his debut novel ''[[The Cement Garden]]'', key elements of the plot of which closely mirrored some of those of ''[[Our Mother's House]]'', a 1963 novel by British author [[Julian Gloag]], which had also been made into a film. McEwan denied charges of plagiarism, claiming he was unaware of the earlier work.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/books/28aton.html |work=The New York Times |title=Eyebrows Are Raised Over Passages in a Best Seller by Ian McEwan |author=Alan Cowell |date=28 November 2006 |access-date=7 July 2010}}</ref> Writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in November 2006, a month after Andrews' death, McEwan professed innocence of plagiarism while acknowledging his debt to the author of ''No Time for Romance''.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |title=An inspiration, yes. Did I copy from another author? No |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1957845,00.html |author=Ian McEwan |access-date=27 November 2006 |date=27 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=McEwan hits back at call for atonement |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2473382,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202070316/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2473382,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2008 |access-date=27 November 2006 |date=27 November 2006 |first=Ben |last=Hoyle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=McEwan accused of copying writer's memoirs |work=PR inside |url=http://www.pr-inside.com/mcewan-accused-of-copying-writer-s-memoirs-r27254.htm |access-date=27 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070326135840/http://www.pr-inside.com/mcewan-accused-of-copying-writer-s-memoirs-r27254.htm |archive-date=26 March 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Several authors defended him, including [[John Updike]], [[Martin Amis]], [[Margaret Atwood]], [[Thomas Keneally]], [[Kazuo Ishiguro]], [[Zadie Smith]], and [[Thomas Pynchon]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/06/nwriter06.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904071711/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/06/nwriter06.xml |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2007 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Recluse speaks out to defend McEwan |first=Nigel |last=Reynolds |date=6 December 2006 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1965130,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Pynchon backs McEwan in 'copying' row |date=6 December 2006 |access-date=25 April 2010 |first=Dan |last=Bell}}</ref>

=== Later career2008–present: politicalPolitical works and continued success, 2008–presentacclaim ===

McEwan's first novel of the 2010s, ''[[Solar (novel)|Solar]]'', was published by Jonathan Cape and Doubleday in March 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/solar.html |title=Solar |publisher=Ian Mcewan's Website |access-date=26 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825073237/http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/solar.html |archive-date=25 August 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In June 2008 at the Hay Festival, McEwan gave a surprise reading of this work-in-progress. The novel includes "a scientist who hopes to save the planet" from the threat of [[climate change]],<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/02/hayfestival2008.hayfestival |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=McEwan sees funny side of climate change in novel reading |date=2 June 2008 |access-date=2 April 2010 |first=Judith |last=Soal}}</ref> from the threat of climate change, with inspiration for the novel coming from a Cape Farewell expedition McEwan made in 2005 in which "artists and scientists ... spent several weeks aboard a ship near the north pole discussing environmental concerns". McEwan notedobserved: "The novel's protagonist Michael Beard has been awarded a Nobel prize for his pioneering work on physics, and has discovered that winning the coveted prize has interfered with his work"."<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> He said that the work was not a comedy: "I hate comic novels; it's like being wrestled to the ground and being tickled, being forced to laugh",<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> instead, that it had extended comic stretches.

''Solar'' was followed by McEwan's twelfth novel, ''[[Sweet Tooth (novel)|Sweet Tooth]]'', a [[meta-fictional]] [[historical novel]] set in the 1970s,<ref name="Farndale">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/8359326/Ian-McEwan-interview.html# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309205844/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/8359326/Ian-McEwan-interview.html |archive-date=2011-03-09 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |first=Nigel |last=Farndale |title=Ian McEwan interview |date=7 March 2011}}</ref> and was published in late August 2012.<ref>[http://ianmcewan.com/bib/books/sweettooth.html "Sweet Tooth"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503084444/http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/sweettooth.html |date=3 May 2012}}, at IanMcEwan.com.</ref> In an interview with ''[[The Scotsman]]'' newspaper to coincide with publication, McEwan revealed that the impetus for writing ''Sweet Tooth'' had been "[...] a way in which I can write a disguised autobiography".<ref>{{Cite web|title=In the line of fire SFA hands Davis Scottish Cup final role|url=https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/line-fire-sfa-hands-davis-scottish-cup-final-role-2474675|access-date=2021-05-19|website=www.scotsman.com|date=6 May 2005 |language=en}}</ref> He revealed in an interview with ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', in November 2012, that the film rights to ''Sweet Tooth'' had been bought by [[Working Title Films]] – the company that had adapted ''Atonement'' as a film.<ref>{{cite news |last=Chai |first=Barbara |title=Working Title Secures Film Rights to Ian McEwan's New Novel, 'Sweet Tooth'|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/10/27/working-title-options-ian-mcewans-new-novel-sweet-tooth/ |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=27 October 2012}}</ref> ''Sweet Tooth'' was followed two years later by ''[[The Children Act (novel)|The Children Act]]'', which concerned [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] judges, UK family law, and the right to die.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stock |first=Jon |title=Ian McEwan: John le Carré deserves Booker |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10033653/Ian-McEwan-John-le-Carre-deserves-Booker.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10033653/Ian-McEwan-John-le-Carre-deserves-Booker.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=3 May 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Two years after ''The Children Act'', McEwan's 2016 novel ''[[Nutshell (novel)|Nutshell]]'', a short novel closer in style and tone to his earlier works, was published. McEwan's next work, a short novella, was titled ''My Purple Scented Novel'' – part of which was published previously as a short story by the same title in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' in 2016.<ref>{{cite webmagazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/28/my-purple-scented-novel-fiction-by-ian-mcewan |title=My Purple Scented Novel |first=Ian |last=McEwan |magazine=The New Yorker |date=21 March 2016 |access-date=28 March 2018 |via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref> This short work was published to mark McEwan's 70th birthday in June 2018.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1116485/my-purple-scented-novel/ |title=My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan |websitepublisher=www.penguin.co.uk |access-date=28 March 2018}}</ref> McEwan followed ''Nutshell'' in April 2019 with the alternate history/science fiction novel ''Machines Like Me''. It concerns [[artificial intelligence]] and an alternate history in which Great Britain loses the [[Falklands War]] and the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], led by [[Tony Benn]], eventually wins the [[1987 UK general election]]. In September 2019, McEwan announced a quick surprise follow-up novella inspired by Brexit, ''[[The Cockroach (novella)|The Cockroach]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cain|first=Sian|date=2019-09-12|title=Ian McEwan announces surprise Brexit satire, The Cockroach|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/12/ian-mcewan-announces-surprise-brexit-satire-the-cockroach|access-date=2021-05-19|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> McEwan published his novel ''Lessons'' in 2022 to much critical acclaim. Andrew Billen of ''The Times'' calls it McEwan's "500-page masterpiece",<ref>{{Cite news |last=Billen |first=Andrew |date=2023-06-12 |title=Ian McEwan: 'My last novel? I feel as if I've said as much as I know' |newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ian-mcewan-interview-lessons-last-novel-9vj9ktzqr |access-date=2023-06-12 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref> and ''The New Statesman'' claims the novel "may well be remembered as one of the finest humanist novels of its age".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas-Corr |first=Johanna |date=2022-08-31 |title=Ian McEwan and the mess of living |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2022/08/ian-mcewan-lessons-perfect-mess |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2013, McEwan sharply criticised [[Stephen Hawking]] for boycotting a conference in Israel as well as the boycott campaign in general, stating that there are many countries "whose governments we might loathe or disapprove of" but "Israel–Palestine has become sort of tribal and a touchstone for a certain portion of the intellectual classes. I say this in the context of thinking it is profoundly wrong of the Israeli government not to be pursuing more actively and positively and creatively a solution with the Palestinians. That's why I think one wants to go to these places to make the point. Turning away will not produce any result."<ref>Booth and Harriet Sherwood, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/10/noam-chomsky-stephen-hawking-israel-boycott "Noam Chomsky helped lobby Stephen Hawking to stage Israel boycott"], ''The Guardian'', 10 May 2013.</ref> That same year, as part of a wide-ranging interview with ''[[Channel 4 News]]'', McEwan discussed the furorfurore that surrounded his remarks on [[Islamism]] in 2008, stating: "I remember getting a lot of stick five or six years ago saying something disobliging about jihadists. There were voices, particularly on the left, that thought anyone who criticised Islamism was really criticising Islam and therefore racist. Well, those voices have gone quiet because the local atrocities committed by Islamists whether in Pakistan or Mali is so self-evidently vile"."<ref name="channel4.com">[http://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-war-marchers-vindicated-a-a-decade-on-ian-mcewan "Iraq war marchers 'vindicated' a decade on - Ian McEwan"], 4 News, 11 February 2013.</ref> In the same interview, McEwan remarked that he felt that [[Iraq War protests|protestorsprotesters]] of the 2003 [[Iraq War]] were "vindicated" by what happened subsequently; argued that the chief legacy of the Iraq War was that "[...] sometimes there are things we could do [before that war] which we no longer can" in foreign affairs; stated that at one point prior to the 2003 invasion he had hoped to be able to seek an audience with [[Tony Blair]] to persuade him not to go ahead with the war; and as someone who voted for the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] in the [[2010 UK general election,]] that the current [[Cameron–Clegg coalition|the then current coalition government]] of the United Kingdom]] should end, stating "Let's either have a Tory government or let [[Ed Miliband]] try something different", to try and turn around a country of "great inequity". McEwan is traditionally a Labour Party supporter and said he had his "fingers crossed" that Miliband would become Primeprime Ministerminister.<ref name="channel4.com" />

Following [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union]] resulting in a win for the Leave or [[United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union|'Brexit']] campaign in June 2016, McEwan wrote a critical opinion article for ''The Guardian'' titled "Britain is changed utterly. Unless this summer is just a bad dream", published on 9 July 2016.<ref name="theguardian.com">Ian McEwan, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/09/country-political-crisis-tories-prime-minister "Britain is changed utterly. Unless this summer is just a bad dream"], ''The Guardian'', 9 July 2016.</ref> In the article, McEwan wrote of the consequences of the 'Brexit' vote: "Everything is changed utterly. Or about to be, as soon as your new leader is chosen. The country you live in, the parliamentary democracy that ruled it, for good or bad, has been trumped by a plebiscite of dubious purpose and unacknowledged status. From our agriculture to our science and our universities, from our law to our international relations to our commerce and trade and politics, and who and what we are in the world – all is up for a curious, unequal renegotiation with our European neighbours".<ref name="theguardian.com" /> McEwan's piece appeared to conclude with a sense of bewilderment and unease at how events were panning out, anticipating the ascension of [[Theresa May]] to the [[2016 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election|leadership]] of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] and her appointment as Primeprime Ministerminister, and noting how the previously unthinkable in British politics had actually happened.<ref name="theguardian.com" /> McEwan's article was published on 9 July, and May effectively won the [[2016 Conservative Party leadership contestelection]] on 11 July, which precipitated her appointment as Primeprime Ministerminister two days later. In May 2017, speaking at a London conference on Brexit, apparently referring to what he believed to be the older demographic of leave voters, McEwan stated that '"one and a half million oldsters freshly in their graves'" would result in a putative second referendum returning a 'remain'Remain outcome.<ref>Dan Roberts, [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/12/15m-oldsters-in-their-graves-could-swing-second-eu-vote-says-ian-mcewan "Death of '1.5m oldsters' could swing second Brexit vote, says Ian McEwan"], ''The Guardian'', 12 May 2017</ref>

McEwan lives in London, and has been married twice. His first marriage was to Penny Allen, an astrologer and alternative practitioner, with whom he had two sons. The marriage ended in 1995. Two years later in 1997, McEwan married Annalena McAfee, a journalist and writer who was formerly the editor of The ''Guardian{{'}}s Review'' section.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Kelly |first=Lisa |title=Annalena McAfee: 'I see myself as a recovering journalist' |work=The Guardian |date=10 April 2011 |access-date=12 May 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/apr/10/annalena-mcafee-spoiler-ian-mcewan-interview}}</ref> McEwan lives in London.

In 2002, McEwan discovered that he had a brother who had been given up for adoption during the Second World War; the story became public in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cowell |first=Alan |title=Ian McEwan's life takes twist with discovery of a brother |work=International Herald Tribune |date=17 January 2007 |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/17/news/brother.php |access-date=23 March 2007}}</ref> The brother, a bricklayer named David Sharp, was born six years earlier than McEwan, when their mother was married to a different man. Sharp has the same mother and father as McEwan but was born from an affair that occurred before they married. After her first husband was killed in combat, McEwan's mother married her lover, and Ian was born a few years later.<ref>{{cite news |title=Novelist McEwan discovers brother |work=BBC News |date=11 January 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6269887.stm |access-date=22 March 2007}}</ref> The brothers are in regular contact and McEwan has written a foreword to Sharp's memoir.

McEwan was a long-time friend of the writer and polemicist [[Christopher Hitchens]], the writer and polemicist,.<ref name="Farndale"/> Martin Amis, James Fenton, and Julian Barnes, among others.

*''[[Lessons (novel)|Lessons]]'' (2022)