Atonement - Ian Mc Ewan
Ian Mc Ewan – Atonement
Late phase of post modernism. From the fifties onwards, there is a rise of post modernism. In coincides with many aspects of western society (emancipation, Vietnam war…)
Ground breaking philosophical essay – Jacques Derrida : introduced deep instruction and really attacked the very foundations of western humanism and cultures.
In 1966, he wrote a theoretical paper – there is always an origin, a place of departure, an essence, a core reality, central of western culture. A radical revolt, questioning the notion of a scent.
What we have in our discourse is not simply that language reflects a particular truth; the sign doesn’t refer to a fixed kind of object. Language is composed of a variety of signs which continually refer to other signs.
To differ -> substitution of signs.
The infinite differing of meaning = difference.
If the truth is questioned, the concept of humanism is also questioned; it reflects the values of a particular historical point.
This is called “discursively constructive” = sth that is created, but does not pre-exist.
Shift from universal to particular values: everything is constructed and is not pre-existing.
There is ethical concern is Atonement. It’s a post modernist novel.
We move from fiction to metafiction always systematically. Metafiction is dealing with how fiction is produced. Something textual – it’s not an essence, constructed and divided.
The distinction between fiction and metafiction is blurred. The fictionality of the world is questioned.
Intertextuality becomes also important – allusions to other authors. The language citations are used and show how constructed and how artificial English literature is. It is called in the post-modernist era (Linda Hutcheon), a parody = referring to the past with a difference.
History is seen as very fluid and prominent – moving away from revolutionizing tendencies. They want to reemphasize the importance of historical detail.
Late phase of post modernism. From the fifties onwards, there is a rise of post modernism. In coincides with many aspects of western society (emancipation, Vietnam war…)
Ground breaking philosophical essay – Jacques Derrida : introduced deep instruction and really attacked the very foundations of western humanism and cultures.
In 1966, he wrote a theoretical paper – there is always an origin, a place of departure, an essence, a core reality, central of western culture. A radical revolt, questioning the notion of a scent.
What we have in our discourse is not simply that language reflects a particular truth; the sign doesn’t refer to a fixed kind of object. Language is composed of a variety of signs which continually refer to other signs.
To differ -> substitution of signs.
The infinite differing of meaning = difference.
If the truth is questioned, the concept of humanism is also questioned; it reflects the values of a particular historical point.
This is called “discursively constructive” = sth that is created, but does not pre-exist.
Shift from universal to particular values: everything is constructed and is not pre-existing.
There is ethical concern is Atonement. It’s a post modernist novel.
We move from fiction to metafiction always systematically. Metafiction is dealing with how fiction is produced. Something textual – it’s not an essence, constructed and divided.
The distinction between fiction and metafiction is blurred. The fictionality of the world is questioned.
Intertextuality becomes also important – allusions to other authors. The language citations are used and show how constructed and how artificial English literature is. It is called in the post-modernist era (Linda Hutcheon), a parody = referring to the past with a difference.
History is seen as very fluid and prominent – moving away from revolutionizing tendencies. They want to reemphasize the importance of historical detail.