Ian McEwan's thought-provoking novel, 'What We Can Know,' grapples with the evasive nature of the past
In the year 2119, England serves as the backdrop for a captivating new novel by renowned author Ian McEwan. Titled "What We Can Know," the book takes readers on a journey through a post-apocalyptic world, where much of the planet has been either immolated or submerged underwater by a nuclear cataclysm called "The Inundation."
At the heart of the story lies Thomas Metcalfe, an associate humanities professor and a researcher, who finds himself entangled in the pursuit of a lost poem. The poem, "A Corona for Vivien," was written by the deceased literary eminence, Francis Blundy, for his wife Vivien's birthday dinner in October 2014.
Vivien Blundy, a brilliant literary scholar and teacher, had abandoned her academic ambitions, finding a sense of liberation. However, contrary to Metcalfe's assumptions, Vivien was resentful of Francis, thwarted in her career, and simmering with resentment.
The poem has taken on mythic proportions in certain academic circles, but its significance lies in its rarity. Only fragments of it exist, making it a revenant in the world of literature. Thomas Metcalfe believes that this long-lost document, allegedly written on a vellum scroll and buried by Vivien somewhere on Blundy's property, holds the key to understanding the world market of literature.
However, Metcalfe's pursuit of revelation in a single lost poem is revealed to be magical thinking, a relentless grasping for a chimera. The built environment has eroded, but the digital world of the past is intact, allowing Metcalfe to piece together the events of the epochal dinner party down to granular details using the many hundreds of emails and texts from Blundy, his wife, and their circle.
Yet, as Metcalfe discovers, the poem is not the repository of dreams he had surmised. It is, in fact, a passive-aggressive act, a reflection of the complex dynamics between Vivien and Francis.
McEwan's novel argues that facts may not necessarily reveal anything, and it is the biographer's folly to ascribe deeper meaning to them. The novel is a strong argument for how little raw data, or even the most sublime art, can tell us about humans and their contrary natures.
"What We Can Know" is published by Knopf and has 320 pages. The novel costs $30. The book is set in a post-truth era where shared history as a societal precept has left the building. There has also been a mass migration, "The Derangement," in which millions have been driven from England into Africa.
In addition to "What We Can Know," McEwan's latest offering, other notable novels this season include "Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown" by author Steven A. Riess, and "Weingarten" by Bianca Wege. These books, like McEwan's, offer insightful explorations of the human condition, challenging readers to question their assumptions and delve deeper into the complexities of the world around them.
