A Musician's Reading

In studying McEwan's writings, I shall be considering his work specifically from a musician's perspective and as someone who has worked in the church for thirty years. This book is both a complement and a departure to existing writings. The major texts on McEwan by Dominic Head, David Malcolm, Kiernan Ryan, Jack Slay Jr., and Lynn Wells have covered many fields of literary study and serve as important points of reference in this book. However, this monograph will focus specifically on the musical and church references in the novels and libretti of McEwan and therefore bridges literary and musical studies. I shall be contextualising McEwan's work with other British writers including references to Kingsley Amis, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin, George Orwell, and especially Alan Bennett. The research of Robert Hewison, Daniel J. Levitin, Adam Phillips, Oliver Sacks, Roger Scruton, Anthony Storr, and Barry Turner allows for further contextualisation of McEwan's distinct approach. Interviews with Ian McEwan and his collaborator on two musical works, the composer Michael Berkeley, are included in the Appendix. The book is divided into four chapters, each of which is an individual study; The Question of Religion: An Atheist's Portrayal of the Church of England; The Value of Sublimity: Solitude, Voyeurism, and the Transcendental; From Gilbert and Sullivan to Mozart: Influences and Perceptions of Music in Society; ‘Don't Make Fun of the Fair’: The Composer in Twentieth-Century Britain.

Ian McEwan is now in his mid-seventies and is one of Britain's most successful living writers. His novels have sold millions of copies around the world since he first published a set of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, in 1975. Eleven of his novels have been turned into screenplays for films with recent adaptations that include performances by Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci (The Children Act, 2017), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Child in Time, 2017), and Saorise Ronan and Billy Howle (On Chesil Beach, 2017). For many, McEwan became a household name as a result of the 2007 film of his novel Atonement starring James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Vanessa Redgrave. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won the Oscar for the Best Original Score, which was composed by Dario Marianelli.