Key Takeaways
- Ian McEwan's 'What We Can Know' presents a future of "nuanced optimism" following global catastrophes.
- McEwan's novel writing is driven by pleasure and intellectual exploration, not solely by struggle.
- The realist novel remains essential for understanding human experience, despite changes in reading habits.
- McEwan advocates for broad creative freedom in fiction, rejecting restrictive views on writing.
Deep Dive
- Ian McEwan's latest novel, 'What We Can Know,' is a speculative fiction set a century in the future.
- The premise is described as 'nuanced optimism,' with humanity surviving a future of disasters including nuclear exchanges in 2036.
- Inspirations for the novel included John Fuller's poem 'A Corona' and the Long Now Foundation's preservation efforts.
- This work marks a shift towards more overtly political and large-scale issues compared to McEwan's earlier, darker themes.
- McEwan began his career writing dark, unusual short stories.
- His second novel, 'The Comfort of Strangers,' led him to a dark period, prompting a break from fiction and a move into screenwriting.
- He returned to novels three years later with 'The Child in Time,' which explored political themes.
- 'The Innocent,' set in Berlin in 1955, contained a final page written in June 1989 that presciently anticipated the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
- McEwan asserts that writing, after 50 years of practice, does not necessarily become easier but offers greater fluidity.
- He describes writing, at its best, as a profound source of pleasure and absorption, a stark contrast to typical portrayals of pain.
- Dismissing 'writer's block' as 'creative hesitation,' McEwan emphasizes the privilege of a lifetime of intellectual discovery and freedom from conventional work.
- His research for novels includes intense studies, such as observing brain surgery, which informed his materialistic philosophical views.
- David Remnick questions if the realist novel can hold attention and describe contemporary digital life.
- McEwan argues the well-written realist novel remains "our best instrument of understanding who we are" and human connection.
- He acknowledges a reported 40% drop in adults reading for pleasure over a decade, but maintains the novel's vital role.
- McEwan incorporates personal experiences, like his mother's Alzheimer's, into his fiction, paralleling individual and societal memory loss.
- He expresses concern over the downgrading of history in schools, viewing it as contributing to dangerous political times.
- McEwan discusses a concept of 'societal Alzheimer's,' where society forgets constraints on power in political and social discourse, especially as the WWII generation passes.
- McEwan states that restricting authors, such as male authors writing from female perspectives, is absurd and likens such talk to "Stalinism."
- He emphasizes the need for the novel to retain creative freedom, free from cultural or political pushback.
- McEwan humorously notes that dying is a "bad career move" for novelists, as their work can be forgotten for years before potential rediscovery.
- He cites John Updike and Saul Bellow as acclaimed authors whose works may not be widely read by current generations.