Ian McEwan and The Child in Time
In a nutshell
Ian McEwan is an author from the 21st century popular for writing about peculiar topics. His most famous books are Atonement, The Children Act, and Sweet Tooth.
The Author's Life
Born in 1948, Ian McEwan attended the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia. In 1975, he published his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites. Then in 1978 a second collection, In Between the Sheets, the same year he published the novel The Cement Garden. In the next years, McEwan produced other two works, The Comfort of Strangers (1981) and The Child in Time (1987), in this last one, McEwan rendered feelings and humanity that were not present in his past works. McEwan's developed a variety of topics in his next works such as social and political awareness, childhood, 'new age' spirituality, and climate change.
Main Topics
Ian McEwan's early writing deals with themes such as human perversity, psychological penetration, violence, and the macabre. However, one of his most emblematic topics was his view of Thatcher's England.
THATCHER'S ENGLAND
McEwan develops this theme in his novel The Child in Time (1987), the setting of the novel is England in a dystopian future. In this vision, England is destroyed by poverty, squalor, and control; so, Stephen acts as an outsider to this reality, as if time was frozen at the moment of Kate's disappearance. In addition, childhood and its idealization are a predominant topic, Kate is stuck in time: she remains like a child in Stephen's mind. This novel reflects McEwan's perception of Margaret Thatcher's uncompromised leadership and the changes occurring in Britain due to her negligence, for example, the increasing presence of beggars, the collapse of public transport, and the destruction of the past in the name of freedom. However, the element of the child conveys that loss is not necessarily permanent, and the birth of Stephen's child, in the end, represents this hope.
The Child in Time
The Child in Time is a novel written by Ian McEwan in 1987. The story is narrated in the third person from Stephen Lewis' point of view, which means that the reader does not have a deep understanding of the events that are not directly related to Stephen.
THE PLOT
The story deals with children's book writer, Stephen Lewis, who is married to Julie, a musician, and they have a three-year-old child, Kate. One day, Stephen takes Kate with him to a supermarket, he lifts her from the trolley and starts unloading the groceries, however, when he turns to check on her, she has disappeared. There was no sign of Kate and no ransom note is received. After this event, Stephen and Julie break up, so he starts drinking and gets into a British government committee that is preparing an issue on childcare.
Stephen's best friend, Charles, who is a politician, retires from political life due to a nervous breakdown. He rejects adulthood and moves to the countryside to recreate a fantasy childhood. The novel concludes with Charles' suicide, and Stephen and Julie getting back together with a new baby.
The following text is an extract from The Child in Time:
Stephen remained as always, though barely consciously, on the watch for children, for a five-year-old girl. It was more than a habit, for a habit could be broken. This was deep disposition, the outline experience had stenciled on character. It was not principally a search, though it had once been an obsessive hunt, and for a long time too.
| (McEwan I.) |
This passage belongs to the opening pages of the novel. The protagonist, Stephen, is walking down the streets of London. McEwan uses the setting to introduce the character and the feeling of loss for the abduction of his daughter, Kate.
