A Historiographic-metafictional Reading Of Atonement

Ian McEwan (1948-) is one of the most prominent contemporary Britishwriters. Since his debut in the literary circle, he has been renowned for his virtuosityand bold writing style. As his most influential work up to now, Atonement isuniversally accepted as the perfect combination of his writing skills and his insightinto human nature.In Atonement, McEwan employs the multiple points of view and the structureof “Chinese-box” when he reworks on the history, which makes the novel labeled as“historiography metafiction”.With the theories of historiography metafiction formulated by Linda Hutcheon,this thesis analyzes the postmodern historiography and metafictional narrativestrategies adopted by McEwan, pointing out that the author both installs and throwdoubts on history. Therefore, the author’ intention of revisiting history is not to benostalgic, but to reflect on human nature with critical attitude.The thesis consists of three main parts. The body part is divided into threechapters. Chapter One expounds that Atonement challenges the traditional officialversion of history. The macro “History” has been replaced by petit “histories”, whichsubverts the nature of historiography as auxiliary to those in power. Chapter Twodiscusses that Atonement questions the credibility of historiography. The possibility ofrepresenting the objective history is denied through the adoption of metafictionalnarrative techniques and the structure of “mise en abyme”. Chapter three explicatesMcEwan’s attempt to question the concepts of liberal humanism. The concept of unityand certainty begins to give way to plurality and provisionality. Finally, it concludesthat both history and fiction are human constructs. In the process of construction,people are required to reflect on their moral dilemmas and individual choices.