Ian McEwan

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Ian McEwan (Ian Russell McEwan) , 1948–, English novelist, b. Aldershot, grad. Univ. of Sussex (B.A., 1970), Univ. of East Anglia (M.A., 1971). His early short-story collections, First Love, Last Rites (1975) and Between the Sheets (1978), and novels, The Cement Garden (1978) and The Comfort of Strangers (1981), gained recognition for their experimentation with form and their violence, tone of macabre menace, and obsessive sexuality. In later novels McEwan moved away from more perverse themes while continuing to write elegant prose, to display keen psychological insight into his characters, and to explore ways that extreme situations impact ordinary people. The Child in Time (1987, Whitbread Prize), the first of his mature novels, tells of the terrible repercussions a baby's kidnapping has on her parents. McEwan was awarded the Booker Prize for his satirical novel Amsterdam (1998) and was acclaimed for Atonement (2001), a disquieting tale of childish misinterpretation and moral responsibility, and Saturday (2005), the story of an event-filled day in the life of a neurosurgeon in post-9/11 Britain. His other novels include The Innocent (1990), Black Dogs (1992), Enduring Love (1997), On Chesil Beach (2007), and Solar (2010). McEwan also has written radio, television, and film scripts, an opera libretto, and children's books.

Bibliography: See studies by K. Ryan (1994), C. Byrnes (1995), J. Slay, Jr. (1996), C. Byrnes (2002), D. Malcolm (2002), and P. Childs, ed. (2005).

McEwan, Ian (Russell) (1948– ), novelist and short story writer, born in Aldershot, educated at the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia. He displayed his gift for the macabre in his first short story collections, First Love, Last Rites (1975, Somerset Maugham Award) and In Between the Sheets (1977). His first novel, The Cement Garden (1978), a Gothic story about an orphaned family of children, was followed by The Comfort of Strangers, a tale of sexual menace, set in Venice (1981, adapted for the cinema by Pinter). The Child in Time (1987) concerns the emotional consequences for a couple whose baby daughter is abducted. The Innocent (1990) is based on the true story of the Berlin Tunnel. Black Dogs (1992) is a powerful parable of evil about an English couple on honeymoon in France. Enduring Love (1997) traces the effect of a fatal helium balloon accident on the surviving witnesses: its questions about the nature of human love and genetic patterning show McEwan's growing interest in the scientific discoveries and climate of the late 20th cent. Recent novels include Amsterdam (1998 Booker Prize) and Atonement (2001). He has also written scripts for film (The Ploughman's Lunch, 1983), for television (The Imitation Game, 1981), and the libretto for Michael Berkeley's anti-nuclear oratorio, Or Shall We Die? (1982).

McEwan, Ian Russell (1948– ) English novelist and short-story writer. A student of Malcolm Bradbury's creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, McEwan won the Somerset Maugham Award with his debut collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites (1975). A second collection, In Between the Sheets (1977), confirmed McEwan's interest in the themes of sexual obsession, perversion and violence. His first novel was The Cement Garden (1978). Harold Pinter adapted McEwan's second novel, The Comfort of Strangers (1981), for the cinema. McEwan's Whitbread Prize-winning novel The Child in Time (1987) concerned the abduction of a girl and the subsequent emotional effect on her parents. He won the Booker Prize for Amsterdam (1998). Other novels include The Innocent (1990), Black Dogs (1992), Enduring Love (1997), and Atonement (2002).