Abstract
In an attempt to atone for her false testimony accusing her sister´s lover of sexual assault, 13-year-old Briony Tallis has to live with guilt and repentance As a successful novelist, she later re-creates past events to allow the young lovers ? who are both killed in the war ? "to survive and flourish". The late revelation of embedding – Briony‘s memoirs within McEwan‘s fiction – provides the frame for our analysis which focuses on memory as its process of creation. Memory as a relationship in time and the ideal possibility of attaining its antithesis – forgetfulness - offers oblivion in answer to the protagonist‘s desire for redemption.
Highlights
Nobel-prize-winning author Toni Morrison argues that “memory – the deliberate act of remembering, as connected to a writer’s work, ‘is a form of willed creation’.” she adds, the process of artistic creation refers back to the recollection of incidents or places, but to the plethora of feelings and impressions that surround a past event or scene
1999”, the reader is surprised by the disclosure that the preceding chapters are fictional memoirs written by its protagonist, BrionyTallis, who has become a successful novelist
Having misidentified her sister’s lover, Robbie Turner, as the man who has sexually assaulted her cousin Lola, 13-year-old Briony has to live with the guilt of her false testimony
Summary
Nobel-prize-winning author Toni Morrison argues that “memory – the deliberate act of remembering –, as connected to a writer’s work, ‘is a form of willed creation’.” she adds, the process of artistic creation refers back to the recollection of incidents or places, but to the plethora of feelings and impressions that surround a past event or scene. Moved by McEwan’s gripping text, the reader is invaded by a feeling of relief at the happy-ending of Robbie’s and Cecilia’s love story, and at Briony’s hope of being forgiven, at the close of Part Three: She was surprised at how serene she felt, and just a little sad.
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