Published in 2010,

Solar

, Ian McEwan’s eleventh novel, is a satire exploring contemporary debates about climate change. The environmental crisis is a subject with which the author has engaged consistently since the late 1990s (Griggs) and to which he “would like to return” as he noted in 2019 (“Ian”). McEwan’s knowledge and his long engagement with science is evident in

Solar

, a work which exhibits “impressive attentiveness to technological detail and scientific language” (Horton).

As in novels like Saturday (2005), Sweet Tooth (2012), and The Children Act (2014), works that required meticulous study as they focus on protagonists with highly specialized occupations (neurosurgeon, MI5 agent, and High Court judge respectively), Solar is the product of extensive research

5152 words

Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "Solar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=29661, accessed 29 March 2024.]

29661 Solar 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.