Ian McEwan „What We Can Know“

Ian McEwan is a celebrated British author, whose novels have won numerous awards. In 1998 he received the Booker Prize for „Amsterdam“ and many other international prizes followed. Some of his novels have been made into films like „Atonement“ (staring Keira Kneightley) and „The Childrens‘ Act“ with Emma Thompson, which has already been reviewed on this webpage.

„What We Can Know“ is placed in the future in the year 2119. Due to a disastrous nuclear accident and rising sea levels most parts of Great Britain have been submerged by the sea – only the higher peaks are still habitable.

In the first part of the novel Thomas Metcalfe, a university professor of literature, is trying to rediscover a lost work of art „A Corona for Vivien“ by the famous poet Francis Blundy, which was written for his wife’s 50th birthday. The only copy that was presented to her in 2014 was lost, and Thomas has been doing a lot of research in the archives to find the poem.

Thomas is fascinated by the past and the Blundy’s way of living at a time when Great Britain offered wide open country spaces where everybody could roam freely.

By chance, he finds the clue to a site where Vivien, the poet’s wife, has buried some of her private papers and he is certain that he is on the brink to discover the lost masterpiece „A Corona for Vivien“. With his colleague Rose he embarks on a dangerous expedition and together they find Vivien’s box and her journal in which the truth about the famous poet and his poem is revealed.

The second part of the book consists of Vivien’s journal and makes the reader realise the wide gap between fact and fiction.

„What We Can Know“ is a work of contrast and disillusionment. Although the living conditions in 2014 cannot be compared with those of 2119, the human condition has not changed much – it is still interwoven with illusions, make-believe and the desparate urgency not to take any reponsibility for our actions past and present.

Ian MvEwan has written a highly interesting book with a serious message – we are all responsible for our lives and our relationships regardless of the exterior circumstances.

A highly recommendable read!

Prof. Münzer-Jordan