There's Only This: Atheism and the Search for Meaning in Ian McEwan's Fiction

Author

Olivia Hope Davis, University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Daniel Stout

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

In this thesis, I offer readings of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, Saturday, and The Children Act to study the relationship between meaning and faith. This is an important question because some New Atheists have pointed to McEwan's work as proof that meaning is possible in the absence of God. In this thesis I suggest that while McEwan makes a strong case for the possibility of meaning through aesthetic experiences, he also complicates meaning by suggesting that it is only achievable in the context of belief in the irreducibility of ideas like love, beauty, and wonder.

Recommended Citation

Davis, Olivia Hope, "There's Only This: Atheism and the Search for Meaning in Ian McEwan's Fiction" (2017). Honors Theses. 740.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/740

Accessibility Status

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