Ian McEwan, In Between the Sheets

Jessica Gildersleeve (University of Southern Queensland)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1978

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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Three years after his first collection of short stories caused a stir across literary circles, and in the same year as his first novel,

The Cement Garden

(1978) appeared, Ian McEwan published a second volume even more experimental and disturbing than its predecessor. While

First Love, Last Rites

(1975) had shocked many with its grimy evocation of twentieth-century attitudes and social structures,

In Between the Sheets

(1978) pushed further the limits of realism into the frightening realm of the fantastic, earning its author the nickname “Ian Macabre”. The seven stories that form

In Between the Sheets

cross temporal and spatial boundaries not attempted in

First Love, Last Rites

, moving for the first time into a post-nuclear age future in “Two Fragments: Saturday and Sunday, March…

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2221 words

Citation: Gildersleeve, Jessica. "In Between the Sheets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4514, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Ian McEwan, In Between the Sheets

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