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Ian McEwan

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Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan CBE, (born June 21, 1948), is a British novelist (sometimes nicknamed "Ian Macabre" because of the nature of his early work).[1]

Biography

McEwan was born in Aldershot in England and spent much of his childhood in the East Asia, Germany and North Africa where his father, an officer in the army, was posted. He was educated at the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia, where he was the first graduate of Malcolm Bradbury's pioneering creative writing course.

He has been married twice. His second wife, Annalena McAfee, is the editor of The Guardian's Review section. In 1999, his first wife, Penny Allen, absconded with McEwan's 13-year-old son after a court in Brittany, France, ruled that the boy should be returned to his father, who has sole custody over him and his 15-year-old brother.[2]

In March and April of 2004, just months after the British government had invited him to dinner with First Lady of the United States Laura Bush, McEwan was denied entry into the United States by the United States Department of Homeland Security for not having the proper visa.[3] Only after several days and publicity in the British press was McEwan admitted because, as he said a customs official had told him, "We still don't want to let you in, but this is attracting a lot of unfavourable publicity."[4] The US government later sent a letter of apology.[5]

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg, in 1999. He was awarded a CBE in 2000.[6]

Ian McEwan is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.

Works

His first published work was the collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites (1975), which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976. The Cement Garden (1978) and Black Dogs (1992) were his early novels. His 1997 novel, Enduring Love, about a person with de Clerambault's syndrome, is regarded by many as a masterpiece, though Atonement has received equally high acclaim (Time Magazine named it the best fiction novel of 2002). In 1998, he was awarded the Booker Prize for his novella, Amsterdam.

His latest novel, Saturday, follows an especially eventful day in the life of a neurosurgeon. Mr Henry Perowne, the main character, lives in a house on a square in central London where McEwan himself lives after relocating from Oxford. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 2005. The Complete Review called the book "an artfully wrought character study."

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction collections

Children's fiction

Plays

Screenplays

Oratorio

References

Further reading

  • Malcolm, David (2002), Understanding Ian McEwan, University of South Carolina. ISBN 1-57003-436-2.
  • Reynolds, Margaret & Noakes, Jonathan (2002), Ian McEwan: The Essential Guide, Vintage. ISBN 0-09-943755-4.
  • Slay Jr., Jack (1996), Ian McEwan (Twayne's English Authors Series)), Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-4578-5.
  • Childs, Peter (2005), The Fiction of Ian McEwan (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism), Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-1909-7.
  • Ryan, Kiernan (1994), Ian McEwan (Writers and Their Work), Northcote House. ISBN 0-7463-0742-X.
  • Byrnes, C. (2002), The Work of Ian McEwan: A Psychodynamic Approach, Pauper Press. ISBN 0-946650-75-6.
  • Byrnes, Christina (1995), Sex and Sexuality in Ian McEwan's Work, Paupers' Press.
  • D'Eliva, Gaetano & Williams, Christopher (1986), La Nuova Letteratura Inglese Ian McEwan, Schena Editore.
  • Pedot, Richard (1999), Perversions Textuelles dans la Fiction d'Ian McEwan, Editions l'Harmattan.
  • Williams, Christopher (1993), Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden and the Tradition of the Child/Adolescent as 'I-Narrator, Biblioteca della Ricerca, Schena Editore. Template:PDFlink

References

  1. ^ "Atonement - Evolution of Ian Macabre.", Questia. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  2. ^ "Novelist's ex-wife 'gagged'", BBC News, 7 September 1999. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  3. ^ "Novelist McEwan barred from US", Guardian Unlimited, 1 April 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  4. ^ "Acclaimed novelist denied entry to U.S., San Francisco Chronicle, 3 April 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  5. ^ "US apologises for barring author", BBC News, 22 April 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  6. ^ Ian McEwan, Contemporary Writers. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
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