Published in 2010,
Solar, Ian McEwan’s eleventh novel, is a satire exploring contemporary debates about climate change. The environmental crisis is a subject with which the author has engaged consistently since the late 1990s (Griggs) and to which he “would like to return” as he noted in 2019 (“Ian”). McEwan’s knowledge and his long engagement with science is evident in
Solar, a work which exhibits “impressive attentiveness to technological detail and scientific language” (Horton).
As in novels like Saturday (2005), Sweet Tooth (2012), and The Children Act (2014), works that required meticulous study as they focus on protagonists with highly specialized occupations (neurosurgeon, MI5 agent, and High Court judge respectively), Solar is the product of extensive research
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Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "Solar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=29661, accessed 21 November 2024.]