Atonement
Atonement cover
Author	Ian McEwan
Country	England
Language	English
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	2001
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	371 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0224062522 (first edition)

Atonement (2001) is a novel by British writer Ian McEwan. It is widely regarded as one of McEwan's best works and was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction, an award he had already won for his previous novel Amsterdam. In addition, Time magazine named it the best fiction novel of the year and included it in its All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels,^[1] and The Observer cites it as one of the 100 best novels written, calling it "a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction."^[2] Atonement is a 2007 British film directed by Joe Wright. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Ian McEwan CBE (born June 21, 1948) is a British novelist. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Jonathan Cape has been since 1987 an imprint of Random House. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... ISBN redirects here. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Ian McEwan CBE (born June 21, 1948) is a British novelist. ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... Amsterdam book cover Amsterdam (1998) is a novel by Ian McEwan, winner of the 1998 Booker Prize. ... “TIME” redirects here. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Atonement is one of the most celebrated and honoured books of recent years; in addition to being shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it was also shortlisted for the 2001 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2001 Whitbread Book Award for Novel. It won the 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2002 WH Smith Literary Award, and the 2004 Santiago Prize for the European Novel.^[3] The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English Language. ... The Whitbread Book Awards are among the United Kingdoms most prestigious literary awards. ... Since 1980, the Los Angeles Times has awarded a set of annual book prizes. ... The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American association of approximately seven hundred book reviewers. ... The WH Smith Literary Award is an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer WH Smith. ...

McEwan utilises several stylistic techniques in the novel including metafiction and psychological realism. Look up metafiction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The psychological novel is a type of novel supposed to have originated with Giovanni Boccaccio in 1344 CE, in La Fiammetta. ...

Atonement contains intertextual references to a number of other literary works including Henry James' The Golden Bowl, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and Shakespeare's The Tempest, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night. Intertextuality is the shaping of texts meanings by other texts. ... For other uses of this name, see Henry James (disambiguation). ... The Golden Bowl is a 1904 novel by Henry James. ... 1870 engraving of Jane Austen, based on a portrait commissioned by her nephew for his 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. ... For films named Northanger Abbey, see Northanger Abbey (1986 film) or Northanger Abbey (2007 TV drama). ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... For other uses, see The Tempest (disambiguation). ... This article is about Shakespeares play. ... Twelfth Night has at least three meanings: Twelfth Night (holiday), celebrated by some Christians Twelfth Night, or What You Will, a comedic play by William Shakespeare Twelfth Night (band), a progressive rock band This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the...

In late 2006 Lucilla Andrews' autobiography No Time for Romance became the focus of a posthumous controversy when it was alleged that McEwan plagiarized from this work while writing his novel Atonement. McEwan professed his innocence.^[4][5][6] Several high profile authors leapt to his defence, including John Updike, Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Thomas Keneally, Zadie Smith, and the reclusive Thomas Pynchon.^[7][8] Lucilla Andrews (21 November 1919, Suez - 3 October 2006, Edinburgh) was a British romantic novelist. ... John Hoyer Updike (born March 18, 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania) is an American novelist, poet, short story writer and literary critic. ... Photo of Martin Amis by Robert Birnbaum Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is an English novelist. ... Margaret Eleanor Atwood, OC (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian writer. ... Thomas Michael Keneally AO (born October 7, 1935) also Tom Keneally, is an Australian novelist. ... Zadie Smith (born October 27, 1975) is an English novelist. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ...

An award-winning film adaptation directed by Joe Wright from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton was released by Working Title Films in September 2007 in the UK and in December 2007 in the US. Atonement is a 2007 British film directed by Joe Wright. ... Joe Wright is a British director best known for 2005s Pride and Prejudice. ... Christopher Hampton (born January 26, 1946) is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. ... Current company logo, introduced in 1999. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... United States may refer to: Places: United States of America SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built. ...

Plot summary

Atonement is a complex novel told from several points of view and divided into four parts.

Part one

The story opens on a hot summer day in 1935. Precocious but naive aspiring writer Briony Tallis, aged 13, has written a play for her brother Leon, with the characters to be played by her cousins, 15-year old Lola and 9-year old twins Jackson and Pierrot. Briony's sister, 23-year old Cecilia Tallis, has returned home from university and is confronting her confused feelings towards Robbie Turner, son of the housekeeper, whose studies were financed by her father, Jack Tallis and who, like Cecilia, studied literature at Cambridge University. While trying to water some flowers, the couple break a valuable vase and pieces fall into the fountain. Cecilia strips to her underwear and jumps into the fountain to retrieve the fragments in front of a startled Robbie. Briony witnesses the ensuing moment of sexual tension from an upstairs bedroom and is confused as to its meaning. Leon Tallis arrives with his friend Paul Marshall, an aspiring businessman who plans to sell chocolate bars to the Army. Leon invites Robbie to dinner, much to Cecilia's annoyance, as she is still confused as to why Robbie disturbs her so much. Robbie, meanwhile, returns to his bungalow to write a letter to Cecilia. After finishing it, he adds a lewd suggestion on to the bottom, using the word "cunt". Although he then writes another version of the letter to give to Cecilia, it is the first that is inadvertently delivered to Cecilia via Briony, who reads it and is convinced, in her fertile imagination, that Robbie is a "sex maniac". Upon reading the note, Cecilia realises her love for Robbie, and they declare their love for each other in a heated encounter in the library. Briony interrupts their lovemaking, which she interprets as a sexual assault upon her sister. During dinner, the twin cousins run away, leaving a letter, and the family party begins searching for them in the extensive grounds of the estate. In the dark, Briony comes across Lola being raped by an unknown attacker. Briony convinces herself that the rapist is Robbie, and Lola acquiesces to this claim. The police arrive to investigate, and when Robbie arrives with the rescued twins, he is arrested solely on the basis of Briony's testimony. Apart from Robbie's mother, only Cecilia believes in his innocence. The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, with one of the most selective sets of entry requirements in the United Kingdom. ... Cunt is an English language vulgarism most commonly used in reference to vulva or vagina and, more generally, the pubis, from the mons veneris to the perineum. ...

Part two

The reader follows Robbie Turner in France during the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940. As a result of Briony's accusation, Robbie spent three years in prison before being released on condition of enlistment in the army. He has been in contact with Cecilia, and she has promised that she'll wait for him. They've met only once since his arrest, a fleeting half hour spent in awkwardness, but they shared a kiss before Cecilia had to leave. At the end of part two, Robbie is still in Dunkirk, his fate unknown. French troops rescued by a British merchant ship at Dunkirk British evacuation on Dunkirk beach The Dunkirk evacuation, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk and codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British, was the large evacuation of Allied soldiers from May 26 to June 4, 1940, during the Battle of... Location within France For the battleship, see Dunkerque Dunkirk (French: Dunkerque; Dutch: Duinkerke; German: Dünkirchen) is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the département of Nord, 10 km from the Belgian border. ...

Part three

Briony is now working as a trainee nurse in London during the weeks leading up to and following the Dunkirk evacuation. She now believes that it was Paul Marshall who raped Lola in 1935 and feels guilty for accusing Robbie. In this section, it becomes apparent that Briony sees her nursing work as a kind of atonement; she effectively sent Robbie to a horrible war, and now she has given up her hope of attending university and is nursing soldiers. In a crucial scene, Briony is called to the bedside of a young French soldier who is fatally wounded and dies in her arms. Briony then attends the wedding of her cousin Lola and Paul Marshall but lacks the courage to speak out against the marriage. She finally tracks down Cecilia and promises that she will try to atone for what she has done. Robbie is with Cecilia at the time, and together they outline the legal procedures Briony will need to follow in order to exonerate Robbie.

Part four

The fourth section, titled "London 1999", is written from the perspective of Briony, now a successful novelist in her 70s. She is dying from vascular dementia. It is revealed that she is the author of the preceding sections of the novel, which are to be published only after the deaths of Lola and Paul Marshall. In the last few pages, we learn that, although they are reunited in Briony's novel, Cecilia and Robbie were never reunited in reality: Robbie died of septicemia on the beaches of Dunkirk (most likely a result of infection from a piece of shrapnel which embeds itself in his stomach and that is mentioned many times during Part Two); and Cecilia was killed in The Blitz. Though the detail concerning Lola's marriage to Paul Marshall is true, and though Briony's narrative is evasive, it seems that she never visited Cecilia, who was mourning Robbie's death, in an effort to make amends for her lie. Sepsis (in Greek Σήψις) is a serious medical condition caused by a severe systemic infection leading to a systemic inflammatory response. ... For other uses, see Blitz. ...

The novel ends with a meditation on the nature of atonement and authorship. The conclusion that Briony appears to reach is that no amount of authorial fantasizing (or, for that matter, wretched work as a nurse) can actually atone for the crime she committed as a child of 13. The ending attempts to consider differing forms of fiction -- both lies in reality and in novels -- and suggests that while the one can be irrevocably destructive, the other can offer a chance at happiness unachievable in life.

Objects and places of significance

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The Trials of Arabella

The Trials of Arabella is a play written by Briony Tallis in 1935 with the intention to teach her brother Leon to be more serious when it came to relationships. The play inevitably never gets performed due to the lack of cooperation of Jackson and Pierrot, and the further complications that follow. The Trials of Arabella is later performed in 1999 during Briony's 77th birthday by various young grandchildren.

The Tallis Estate

The Tallis Estate is located in the Surrey Hills in England, being the family home and also the site of the Tallis family party for Briony's 77th birthday. It is at The Tallis Estate that the key moments of the exposition of the story take place. The first part of the book completely takes place on this estate.

The vase

The vase is an important motif in the book. It originally belonged to Mr Tallis's brother, Clem, who received it as a present for saving the inhabitants of a town near Verdun during the first World War. Although it is very valuable, the Tallis family decides to keep using it, thus honouring its owner's memory. Capital Verdun Government Republic Historical era Middle Ages  - Established Uncertain  - Three Bishoprics     annexed by France   1552  - Treaty of Westphalia     recognises annexation   1648 For other uses see Verdun (disambiguation) Verdun (medieval German: Wirten, official name before 1970 Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city and commune in the Lorraine région, northeast... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

The vase causes the first “real” encounter between Cecilia and Robbie (who seemingly keep ignoring each other since their return from university), when, by the fountain, they fight over the vase and break off some shards, and Cecilia undresses to get them out of the fountain. This incident also leads to (the different versions of) Robbie's apologetic letter. The subject of the vase comes up again when Briony visits Cecilia and Robbie and mentions that the vase has been broken; Cecilia is clearly unsettled by the news.

The significance or "meaning" of the vase, is Cecilia and Robbie's relationship. Since the vase was given to the family by Uncle Clem, it represents family, and how Cecilia and Robbie grew up together as children. During the period of time that they do not speak to each other, a part of the vase was broken, but later mended, which signifies the moment between them in the library. Five years later after Robbie is arrested, Cecilia finds out from Briony that the vase has broken for good, which foreshadows what happens in the end: Cecilia and Robbie have both died.

Dunkirk

The second section of the book contains detailed descriptions of the Dunkirk evacuation, in which Robbie takes part, and gives an impressive account of his war experiences. Location within France For the battleship, see Dunkerque Dunkirk (French: Dunkerque; Dutch: Duinkerke; German: Dünkirchen) is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the département of Nord, 10 km from the Belgian border. ...

In the fourth part, Briony is shown gathering information and obtaining opinions about the war in order to give as realistic a description as possible in her book.

The hospital

Both Cecilia and Briony become nurses and are trained at the same hospital in London. Briony (who could have had a comfortable student life at Cambridge) presumably chooses hard and lowly work to atone for her wrongdoing. In the hospital, Briony comes in contact with the harsh reality of war, and, some experts may argue, the hospital represents Briony finally growing up to the realisation of her mistakes.

Literary criticism

• Finney, Brian (2004) "Briony's Stand Against Oblivion: The Making of Fiction in Ian McEwan's Atonement." Journal of Modern Literature 27(3), p68-82.
• Harold, James (2005) "Narrative Engagement with Atonement and The Blind Assassin." Philosophy and Literature 29(1), p130-145.
• Schemberg, Claudia (2004) "Achieving 'At-one-ment': Storytelling and the Concept of Self in Ian McEwan's The Child in Time, Black Dogs, Enduring Love and Atonement" Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

References

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External links

• Summaries and Analyses
• Atonement on McEwan's official website
• Atonement on InÉdit
• Complete Review review
• Ian McEwan on Mostlyfiction.com
• Salon review
• Ian McEwanon Blogcritics.com
• The most honored novels: Atonement has received numerous honors and is near the top of the list
• On ABC Radio NationalInterview with Ramona Koval
• Photos of the first edition of Atonement