Ian McEwan’s new novel weaves climate change in literary mystery

What we can know
Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape (UK); Knopf (United States))

Ian McEwan’s latest novel, What we can knowis an extraordinary work that challenges careful categorization.

The story is widely told by a man by the name of Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of South Downs, in the United Kingdom, in the year 2119. The seas have increased spectacularly, and only the highlands of the United Kingdom remain above water. To make Tom go, let’s say, the Cotswold islands, he must hire a boat and a captain. Marlborough is now a port, and a trip to the north that what was the Lake District is out of the question, thanks to the pirates.

The world is transformed; Life is frugal. There are far fewer people, although they are crowded on remaining land remains. The debauchery of the “disturbance”, because the long period before the rose of the seas is now called, has disappeared.

However, this future world is just a component of the book. Tom is a historian, and what is particularly interested, as happens, is something very specific: a dinner given in 2014, long before climate change hit hard in the United Kingdom. He is interested in all the people who attended this evening, and the alleged great poem that the host, a poet called Francis Blundy, read to his guests that evening.

Therefore, the second part of this novel is a deep dive in this middle and literary class dinner – the kind of event that you can imagine that McEwan attend in real life. It may seem very stretched, but it had an increasing meaning for me as the book continued.

Tom’s reasons to dig more and more deeply in this dinner are multiple. In history, the poem read that night was considered an excellent work that has reprimanded against climate change, and would have been deleted by Big Oil. However, no one outside the party has ever heard it and no paper copies have never been broadcast. The poem on climate change or something else? It is a literary mystery.

In addition, Tom has learned that for his students to be interested in the art of the past, they must first accept artists from the past as real people. The only way to achieve it, he tells us, is to provide details on the dead. Thus, the life of Blundy, his wife Vivien and their adjustment deeply matters to them.

There is also a personal aspect of Tom’s growing obsession for Blundys. After years of study, he believes that he has built a portrait in his mind of everything that happened this fateful night, and he feels that he now knows Vivien, in particular, very well. He can even be in love with her.

Then Tom finds an index that could lead him to the poem.

This novel will not be for everyone, but then, what novel is it? I ended up loving him absolutely. It is sensitively well written, as you can imagine of McEwan, and it is indeed a very intelligent and stimulating book, with many surprises that are contained therein. I did not manage to locate, or at least get together, all the clues arranged for me, so I was amazed by each twist.

I’ve found What we can knowthe representation of our rather scintillating and magical drowned future: it had a little Hirondelles and amazonsCrossed with Hobbiton,. I also found that the detailed and serious portrait of Vivien and the men of his life were captivating.

The novel stayed with me for several days after having finished it. This makes you think of climate change and denial, love and deception, how precise stories can be, that we can never know the heart of another person … Among many other things! I recommend it completely.

Emily also recommends …

Briefly very beautiful
Roz Dineen (Bloomsbury (United Kingdom); The Overlook Press (US))

This novel, published for the first time last year, portrayed a very different image from the United Kingdom after a severe climate change. Dineen imagines a warm future, rather than drowned. But, as What we can know, The novel also deals with powerful themes of intimacy, memory and loss.

Emily H. Wilson is a former editor -in -chief of New scientist and the author of Sumerians Trilogy, located in ancient Mesopotamia. The latest novel in the series, Ninshubaris released now. You can find it on emilyhwilson.com, or follow it on X @emlyhwilson and Instagram @ Emilyhwilson1

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