Memory and forgetfulness in Ian Mcewan‘s atonement

Abstract

In an attempt to atone for her false testimony accusing her sister´s lover of sexual assault, 13-year-old Briony Tallis has to live with guilt and repentance As a successful novelist, she later re-creates past events to allow the young lovers ? who are both killed in the war ? "to survive and flourish". The late revelation of embedding – Briony‘s memoirs within McEwan‘s fiction – provides the frame for our analysis which focuses on memory as its process of creation. Memory as a relationship in time and the ideal possibility of attaining its antithesis – forgetfulness - offers oblivion in answer to the protagonist‘s desire for redemption.