A Reading of Ian McEwan’s <i>Saturday</i>: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety

Luo Yuan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety

Luo Yuan

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 2)

Received: 24 February 2021 Accepted: 5 March 2021 Published: 17 March 2021

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Abstract

Ian McEwan’s representative novel Saturday, set on 15 February 2003, the day of the largest protest march against the imminent war on Iraq in London, presents one day in the life of Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, holding up to a troubled time in the post-9/11 age of anxiety. From Henry’s consciousness the rich narrative weaves the story of his contented and paradoxically happy life together with his anxiety about the terrorism implied in his over-interpretation of the burning airplane in the early morning, his encounter with Baxter in a minor car accident and later Baxter’s intruding into his house to endanger his family. Henry Perowne, the privileged neurosurgeon, complacent, and arrogant in his framing life with selected empathy and care for his loved ones, finally awakens to approach his ethical self with responsibility for the Other through extending his empathy and care to the Other represented by Baxter. What Ian McEwan explores in Saturday is an ethical attempt for privileged Westerners to reflect about the deep causes of international terrorism and to sort out the conflicts between self and the Other in an ethical way through extending empathy to more diverse others with the prospect of experiencing profound happiness in the post-9/11 age of anxiety.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11
Page(s)	46-54
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Saturday, Anxiety, Empathy, Ethical Self, Other

References

[1]	McEwan, Ian. Conversations with Ian McEwan. Ed. Ryan Roberts. Mississippi: UP of Mississippi, 2010: ix, 123.
[2]	Mellors, John. “Five Good Novels”, The Listener, 28 September 1978: 410.
[3]	Walkowitz, Rebecca L. “Ian McEwan.” A Companion to the British and Irish Novel, 1945-2000. Ed. Brian W. Shaffer. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005: 504.
[4]	McEwan, Ian. “Only Love and Then Oblivion. Love was All They Had to Set Against Their Murderers”, The Guardian, 12 September 2001.
[5]	Kohut, Heinz, How does analysis cure? Kohut, Heinz. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1984: 82.
[6]	Coplan, Amy and Peter Goldie. Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford P, 2011: ix.
[7]	Head, Dominic. Ian McEwan. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2008: 192.
[8]	Möller, Swantje. Coming to Terms with Crisis: Disorientation and Reorientation in the Novels of Ian McEwan. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2011: 146.
[9]	McEwan, Ian. Saturday. London: Jonathan Cape, 2005.
[10]	Green, Susan. “Consciousness and Ian McEwan's Saturday: What Henry Knows.” English Studies, 91. 1 (February 2010): 58-73. (64, 66)
[11]	Peperzak, Adriaan. To the Other: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. West Lafayette: Purdue UP, 1993: 26.
[12]	Hillard, Molly Clark Hillard. - "When Desert Armies Stand Ready to Fight": Re-Reading McEwan's Saturday and Arnold's "Dover Beach" - Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas 6: 1.
[13]	Emmanuel Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, trans. Richard A. Cohen, Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1985: 87.
[14]	Brown, Richard. “Politics. the Domestics and the Uncanny Effects of the Everyday in Ian McEwan’s Saturday. ” Critical Survey. 2008: 80-93.
[15]	Hadley, Elaine. “On a Darkling Plain: The Fantasy of Liberal Agency,” Forum on Liberalism, Victorian Studies, Autumn 2005, 92-102.
[16]	Martiny, Erik. “A Darker Longing": Shades of Nihilism in Contemporary Terrorist Fiction” Anglistik und Englischunterricht. 2009, Vol 73: 159-172.
[17]	Wells, Lynn. “Moral Dilemma” in The Cambridge Companion Ian McEwan. edit. Dominic Head. Cambridge: University Printing House. 2019: 29-44.

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Luo Yuan. (2021). A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(2), 46-54. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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Luo Yuan. A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(2), 46-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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Luo Yuan. A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(2):46-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11,
  author = {Luo Yuan},
  title = {A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {46-54},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210902.11},
  abstract = {Ian McEwan’s representative novel Saturday, set on 15 February 2003, the day of the largest protest march against the imminent war on Iraq in London, presents one day in the life of Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, holding up to a troubled time in the post-9/11 age of anxiety. From Henry’s consciousness the rich narrative weaves the story of his contented and paradoxically happy life together with his anxiety about the terrorism implied in his over-interpretation of the burning airplane in the early morning, his encounter with Baxter in a minor car accident and later Baxter’s intruding into his house to endanger his family. Henry Perowne, the privileged neurosurgeon, complacent, and arrogant in his framing life with selected empathy and care for his loved ones, finally awakens to approach his ethical self with responsibility for the Other through extending his empathy and care to the Other represented by Baxter. What Ian McEwan explores in Saturday is an ethical attempt for privileged Westerners to reflect about the deep causes of international terrorism and to sort out the conflicts between self and the Other in an ethical way through extending empathy to more diverse others with the prospect of experiencing profound happiness in the post-9/11 age of anxiety.},
 year = {2021}
}

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VL  - 9
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Author Information

Luo Yuan

Department of English, Foreign Languages School, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou City, China

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Luo Yuan. (2021). A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(2), 46-54. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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ACS Style

Luo Yuan. A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(2), 46-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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AMA Style

Luo Yuan. A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(2):46-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11,
  author = {Luo Yuan},
  title = {A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {46-54},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210902.11},
  abstract = {Ian McEwan’s representative novel Saturday, set on 15 February 2003, the day of the largest protest march against the imminent war on Iraq in London, presents one day in the life of Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, holding up to a troubled time in the post-9/11 age of anxiety. From Henry’s consciousness the rich narrative weaves the story of his contented and paradoxically happy life together with his anxiety about the terrorism implied in his over-interpretation of the burning airplane in the early morning, his encounter with Baxter in a minor car accident and later Baxter’s intruding into his house to endanger his family. Henry Perowne, the privileged neurosurgeon, complacent, and arrogant in his framing life with selected empathy and care for his loved ones, finally awakens to approach his ethical self with responsibility for the Other through extending his empathy and care to the Other represented by Baxter. What Ian McEwan explores in Saturday is an ethical attempt for privileged Westerners to reflect about the deep causes of international terrorism and to sort out the conflicts between self and the Other in an ethical way through extending empathy to more diverse others with the prospect of experiencing profound happiness in the post-9/11 age of anxiety.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Approaching the Ethical Self by Extending Empathy and Care to the Other in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety
AU  - Luo Yuan
Y1  - 2021/03/17
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 46
EP  - 54
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.11
AB  - Ian McEwan’s representative novel Saturday, set on 15 February 2003, the day of the largest protest march against the imminent war on Iraq in London, presents one day in the life of Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, holding up to a troubled time in the post-9/11 age of anxiety. From Henry’s consciousness the rich narrative weaves the story of his contented and paradoxically happy life together with his anxiety about the terrorism implied in his over-interpretation of the burning airplane in the early morning, his encounter with Baxter in a minor car accident and later Baxter’s intruding into his house to endanger his family. Henry Perowne, the privileged neurosurgeon, complacent, and arrogant in his framing life with selected empathy and care for his loved ones, finally awakens to approach his ethical self with responsibility for the Other through extending his empathy and care to the Other represented by Baxter. What Ian McEwan explores in Saturday is an ethical attempt for privileged Westerners to reflect about the deep causes of international terrorism and to sort out the conflicts between self and the Other in an ethical way through extending empathy to more diverse others with the prospect of experiencing profound happiness in the post-9/11 age of anxiety.
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  -

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