An Examination On The Abnormal Initiation Theme Of Ian McEwan’s Novels

Ian McEwan who is one of the most outstanding and influential writers ofcontemporary English literature is regarded as "National Writer". Initiation is not onlyan important theme of McEwan’s novels, but also an important perspective to studyhis novels. Actually, this is closely related to McEwan’s personal experiences and hissocial environment. However, there is a sporadic research on the theme abroad. Evenif there is a few domestic research results, they ignore the multi-cultural implicationsof the theme in his novels. Therefore, this paper plans to analyze his novels from theperspective of "Abnormal Initiation", trying to do interdisciplinary and cross-culturalresearch through text reading. And then, observing the diverse thinking and literarypresentation of the theme in the postmodern context, digging deeper into the socialand cultural implications of the theme in order to have a new understanding ofMcEwan and his works. The full text is divided into six chapters. The first chaptersummarizes the academic studies of McEwan home and abroad, and then points outthe purposes and methods of this research.The second chapter starts from the sourceof Western Bildungsroman, combined with the prototype of the initiation theme, so asto define the "abnormal initiation theme" of McEwan’s novels. Then, the third chapteranalyzes the literary representation of the "abnormal initiation theme" through textreading, including the limited narrative point of views, the lack of type characters andthe plot mode of "Paradise Lost". The fourth chapter makes research into the socialand cultural implications of the "abnormal initiation theme". It is from three factorsaffecting the initiation of the text presented by the "social, family and individual",which can understand the literary thinking of McEwan towards the text. The fifthchapter intends to interpret the main creative motivation of the "abnormal initiationtheme" from McEwan’s childhood, social environment and his literary edification.The sixth chapter is the conclusion of this paper.