The British Novel

LONDON
We’re reading Ian McEwan’s Atonement in my novel class right now.  It’s the perfect novel to read near the end of our course.  Not only did we visit the Imperial War Museum last week, which gave helpful context about World War II (including a fascinating exhibit on the children of the war), but also the novel plays with the whole idea of narrative construction—the fiction of fiction--quite a post-modern concept.  The students and I dug deep into the foreshadowing and symbolism of the long first scene with the breaking of Uncle Clem’s vase (significantly from World War I), the steamy seduction scene in the library, and Briony’s misperception and betrayal.  Yesterday we talked about the second part of the novel, which depicts the harrowing retreat from Dunkirk and the beginning of Hitler’s bombing of Britain during the Blitz.   History is coming alive as we read and we’re all noticing more evidence of both 20^th century wars still around us in London from bombed out churches to war memorials.  London’s cityscape of old and contemporary buildings is due in large part to the random destruction of the Blitz.

I feel so fortunate to have had this rare opportunity of teaching literature about the place and culture my students and I inhabit.  This group of students is particularly keen on reading and discussion.  For once I actually look forward to and enjoy reading their essays.  In a short term we’ve only had time to read four novels but what gems they are: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility with its secret engagements and lessons of honor and deportment; Charles Dickens’ dense Great Expectations, another examination of class and the value of honesty—Pip and the other characters almost leap out of the page onto our city streets; and a digression into genre fiction with Agatha Christie’s thrilling And Then There Were None.  We also had the chance to go see her mystery play, “The Mousetrap,” which has been running for just about 60 years straight in the West End.

Beth