Life and Fiction: Imagination and Literary Creation in Atonement

Abstract

This essay aims at analysingthe novel Atonement, by Ian McEwann, considering literary creation and imagination as one of the main issues of the novel. The narrator putsat stake important issueswhen writing a novel nowadays. He also intermingled literary techniques such as the stream of consciousness and changing narrator point of view, highlighting the inner self of the main characters of the novel. The novel itself is a set of literary allusions, mixing up real fact such as the early years of the 20thcentury, the Second World War, and the end of 20thcentury. Through these facts he shows us psychological developments and changes provided by experience, frustration and imagination. Furthermore, the novel suggests which issuesare more relevant today and what role the reader plays in the construction of the meaning of a work of art.

Keywords

• imagination
• literary creation
• inner self floatation
• stream of consciousness