In July 2018 Ian McEwan published the short story “Düssel…”. In an interview (McAloon) McEwan has commented that the writing of this 2000-word piece was useful preparation for the writing of the novel

(2019): the story’s theme rehearses the key concerns of the novel regarding machine consciousness and the essence of what makes us human.

Published in the New York Review of Books, this first-person narrative focuses on the circumstances leading to the unnamed protagonist’s discovery that Jenny, the woman he loves, is “formed in Düsseldorf”. His account is a five-decades-old memory of a time when the question “are you real?” was allowed before “artificial people were granted full protection under various human rights conventions”.

Published in the

532 words

Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "“Düssel…”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 October 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39015, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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