Reorienting The Self:Art And Morality In Ian McEwan's Atonement

As one of the most renowned contemporary British novelists,Ian McEwan is a novelist who incorporates moral concern into his oeuvre.From the early works focusing on taboo issues to the later ones with wider social scope,McEwan has written moral concern into his oeuvre.Meanwhile,McEwan has engaged in the polish of narrative techniques;he has been applauded for his technique accomplishment.Atonement,with a successful combination of the two prominent features,has been hailed as McEwan's masterpiece.Through creating a story about a writer using novel writing to seek atonement,McEwan is exploring the relationship between fiction and morality.This thesis,on the basis of previous studies,offers an ethical reading of McEwan's Atonement from the perspective of self-other relationship.With Murdoch's moral philosophy,particularly her account of the self,egoism and novel f-raming the entire reading,this thesis offers an investigation of the character(s),plots,narrative techniques as well as narrative styles and forms in Atonement.In the realm of morality and art,Murdoch stresses on the defeat of egoism and the truthful perception of the other and the world.In this respect,art can be exemplary for morality.Chapter One probes young Briony's egoistic personality and makes an analysis of the problems or dangers caused by egoism.Young Briony displays a tendency toward narrativization and an aversion to contingency.Moreover,this chapter gives special attention to Briony's identity as an artist-figure and finds that young Briony merely regards art as a form of fantasy-consolation.She fails to recognize that art,by embracing contingency within the form,can also be truth-seeking and truth-revealing.Chapter Two adopts Murdoch's concepts of unselfing and moral attention to evaluate Briony's fictional quest for atonement.Young Briony's misdeed is largely caused by her egoistic personality,so her atonement is supposed to be premised on the defeat of egoism,which calls for moral attention to the other.What's more,attention to the other,in turn,is an effective way of suppressing and silencing the self.As an older novelist,Briony demonstrates her efiforts at the defeat of egoism and redirects attention to the other through both the story and narrating levels of her narrative.Chapter Three focuses on the highest narrative level of this novel:Atonement as McEwan's fictional narrative,and it goes deep into the relationship between fiction and morality.Drawing on Murdoch's account of otherness of other people and moral vision,this chapter explores McEwan's moral thoughts hidden behind the adoption of different narrative forms and the representation of war.It finds that through the fusion of the competing narrative styles and forms as well as the depiction of war with verisimilitude,McEwan reflects on the intimate connection between novel form and moral vision,believing that novel and novelists are supposed to assume the responsibility of exploring human nature and revealing truth.On this view,Briony's fictional atonement bears far-reaching ethical significance.The thesis holds the view that through Atonement,McEwan expresses and reinforces his conviction of novel as a form of moral discourse and moral investigation.As a medium that allows for access to others' consciousness,novel is a privileged form that helps the self build a moral bond with the other.As a vehicle for moral imagination,novel helps the self imaginatively identify with the other.