The grotesque in contemporary British fiction by Robert Duggan
Author:Robert Duggan [Duggan, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, Theory
ISBN: 9781526112040
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2016-05-16T04:00:00+00:00
The author in time: early versus late McEwan
Composer Clive Linleyâs decision in Amsterdam (McEwan, 1998b) not to help the woman he suspects may be in danger is a strong attack on the artist who removes himself from social responsibility, and whose behaviour is entirely conditioned by his own artistic or vocational needs and not anyone elseâs. This questioning of the artistâs role brings us back to Ryanâs comments regarding a distinction between an âearlyâ and a âlateâ McEwan quoted at the beginning of this chapter. As I have sought to demonstrate through an examination of the grotesque and issues related to it, McEwanâs work exhibits elements that span his entire oeuvre, such as evolution and obsession. However, McEwanâs treatment of time and development in his fiction, particularly in The Child in Time, suggests self-conscious reflection on his own development as a writer. In the novel Stephen asks himself, âWasnât that Nietzscheâs idea of true maturity, to attain the seriousness of a child at play?â (1988, 105â6) and later on, while helping his daughter build a sandcastle, he reflects that âif he could do everything with the intensity and abandonment with which he had once helped Kate build her castle, he would be a happy man of extraordinary powersâ (106â7).
While the seriousness of a child at play may have been Nietzscheâs definition of maturity, it also fits exactly Freudâs outline of the artistâs work in his essay âCreative Writers and Day-Dreamingâ (1985, first published in German 1908). Freud claims that: âThe creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of phantasy which he takes very seriously â that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion â while separating it sharply from realityâ (132). Freudâs essay also provides a background to Stephenâs reflections on his daughterâs sandcastle building:
As an adult he can look back on the intense seriousness with which he once carried on his games in childhood; and, by equating his ostensibly serious occupations of today with his childhood games, he can throw off the burden imposed on him by life and win the high yield of pleasure afforded by humour. (Freud, 1985, 3)
The Child in Time, through the character of Stephen, depicts an attempt to close the gap between the intense seriousness of childhood and the adultâs burdens. Charles Darke, in his infantile condition and in his role as MP, has split these selves apart. Stephenâs book Lemonade is for Charles his own adult self addressing his childhood self (McEwan, 1988, 201), and he sees the bookâs genesis in the same terms, as he tells Stephen:
This book is not for children, itâs for a child, and that child is you. Lemonade is a message from you to a previous self which will never cease to exist. And the message is bitter⦠Youâve spoken directly to children. Whether you wanted to or not, youâve communicated with them across the abyss that separates the child from the adult and youâve given them a first, ghostly intimation of their mortality.
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