Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach

Anastasia Logotheti (Deree-The American College of Greece)

Ed. by Peter Childs, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2007

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Ian McEwan’s tenth novel,

On Chesil Beach

(2007), narrates the events of a disastrous wedding night, thus making its subject matter, in the words of Christopher Hitchens, “sex and the loss of innocence” (134). Through an all-knowing third-person voice which derives from the tradition of nineteenth-century realist fiction, we learn that Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting both dread and desire to varying degrees the requisite sexual encounter: while the groom is “mesmerized by the prospect […] that the most sensitive portion of himself would reside […] within a naturally formed cavity inside this cheerful, pretty, formidably intelligent woman”, the bride anticipates that moment with “visceral dread” and “helpless disgust” (6-7). Suspense is generated by our need to…

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2750 words

Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "On Chesil Beach". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23020, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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