Liberalism in the New Millennium: Ian McEwan's Saturday

Abstract

Summary This article focuses on Ian McEwan's recent novel, Saturday (2005), in which he explores a number of the dilemmas facing the contemporary liberal, such as how to accept one's involvement in the world without compromising one's individual autonomy; how to balance personal freedom and personal responsibility; and how to manage one's private life in the context of urgent global issues. Saturday returns to the fundamental liberal concern of the individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but it does so in the altered circumstances of a globalised world in which those very values of life, liberty and happiness are seen to be under threat from a number of new hostile forces, ranging from radical Islamic terrorism to casual violence on city streets. Written in the shadow of 9/11, and set on Saturday 15 February 2003 – the day of international protest against the proposed invasion of Iraq – the novel takes the form of a day-in-the-life narrative, following surgeon Henry Perowne around London as he considers the peculiarly modern burden of life in the new millennium. Saturday has been described as one of the most serious contributions to post-9/11 literature, most notably for the skill and careful ambiguity with which the evidence and arguments are distributed throughout the text.