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5 - Cold War Fictions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2019

Dominic Head
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
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Summary

This chapter offers a detailed reading of McEwan’s 2012 novel Sweet Tooth as a highly self-conscious and allusive literary spy thriller of the Cold War era, one which invites a renewed attention to the Cold War themes, ideas and literary strategies which have been important in his work since the late 1970s in which the novel is set. These flourished especially in the two novels written around the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Innocent and Black Dogs which also receive extended treatment here. In McEwan’s reworking of the Cold War spy thriller as postmodern literary fiction we find, it is argued, a recurrent fascination with misunderstandings and readjustments in emotional and political relations between the sexes as an analogy for Cold War politics and vice versa. Added to this McEwan increasingly packs his fictions with informed literary debate that constitute a profound exploration of literary genres and of the complex relationship between author and reader.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Cold War Fictions
  • Edited by Dominic Head, University of Nottingham
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Ian McEwan
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108648516.006
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  • Cold War Fictions
  • Edited by Dominic Head, University of Nottingham
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Ian McEwan
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108648516.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Cold War Fictions
  • Edited by Dominic Head, University of Nottingham
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Ian McEwan
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108648516.006
Available formats
×