A Study On The Functions Of Letters In Ian McEwan’s Novels

Ian Mc Ewan(1948--)is known as the contemporary British “National writer”.With his sharp insight into the real life,he shows the complex and profound inner picture of modern people.In recent years,the academic circle has made multi-dimensional analysis of the themes in his works,such as the growth of teenagers,cultural anxiety,family ethics,war trauma and erotic love,from the perspectives of ethical dilemma,intertextuality and post-modern narrative techniques,but has not paid attention to the letters in his novels.In fact,letters are not only an important element in Mc Ewan’s novels,but also an indispensable part of the exploration of Mc Ewan’s writing thoughts and transmutation.Compared with the traditional epistolary novels,the biggest difference of Mc Ewan’s letters lies in the obvious color of postmodernism.As a post-modern writer,Mc Ewan still creatively uses this ancient media art in his novels to construct a colorful art world and outline the realistic prospect of human society when letters fade out of the literary field.Following the trend of the times and the development of writer’s creation,his letters outline a progressive path of “inheritance,dissolution and transcendence”.By reconstructing the relationship between media and literature,Mc Ewan’s works silently constitute a vivid metaphor for the modern media ecology.In the end,letters are not restricted to their traditional functions yet shed their unique post-modern light,becoming an important part of Mc Ewan’s writing practice.This thesis has four chapters besides the introduction and conclusion.The first chapter traces the development of letters in literature and explores the literary blood relationship behind Mc Ewan’s creation.The second chapter,from a diachronic perspective,focuses on the functions of letters in the novel to construct the character’s subjectivity,create the effect of unreliable narrative,and become the symbolic form of the work itself through Mc Ewan’s creative application,sorting out the evolution path of letters in the novel.The third chapter discusses the historical,personal and literary factors behind Mc Ewan’s enthusiasm for the innovation of letters,and demonstrates Mc Ewan’s post-modern reconstruction of letters.In chapter four,letters are restored as media and re-placed in the environment of media ecology to investigate Mc Ewan’s contribution to the reconstruction of the relationship between media and literature,and to clarify the profound impact of letters as a traditional medium on the development of modern literature.