Surprised by Sin: Medical Metaphors and Secular Eschatology in Ian McEwan's Saturday. Issue 1 (16th June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Malla, Samik
• Is Part Of: Explicator. Volume 80:Issue 1/2(2022)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 32
• Publication Date: 2022-06-16
• Subjects: Saturday -- rationalism -- materialism -- Ian McEwan -- literary metaphysics; English literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; American literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 820.5
• DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2022.2048781
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-4940

Abstract

Abstract: Critics have tended to read Saturday through the lens of ­rationalism, or its failings thereof. This article suggests, perhaps counter-intuitively, that it may be read as an allegory of theological yearning in a world bereft of magic. It is not to cast aspersions on McEwan's commitment to reason, but to make a case that deep-rooted religious impulses adapt to the dictums of secular materiality and that, instead of abandoning metaphysics, Saturday secularizes it.