The Innocent

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La caduta della Germania nazista ed il ruolo delle due Germanie nella conseguente guerra fredda sono un tema che mi intriga assai, ed un romanzo che si ambienta a Berlino negli anni cinquanta, che tratta di una guerra di spie, per di più scritto da un autore che mi interessa conoscere meglio: non potevo non affrontarlo. Yes, I did. In fact, I wrote a lot, most of which I burned before I left boarding school. Somebody I went to school with wrote me a letter from Canada the other day saying she remembers me reading aloud a whole adventure story I was writing, which I also remember writing. It was a story about some disguised male figure getting into this girls’ boarding school. I had this terrible need for male figures. Ironically, Leonard lives in an apartment above one occupied by a rather stuffy character named George Blake, who was a Soviet agent imprisoned in the 1960s, and who escaped from Wormwood Scrubs. The novel neatly intertwines fictional meetings between the two men, and one of Blake's most notorious betrayals is given a new slant by Leonard's foolhardy act. Fairly close, though somewhat idealized. My parents had a difficult relationship without ever conceding the fact, and it was hard to write about when they were both still alive. I was born in 1948 on the edge of Aldershot, a rather ugly Victorian garrison town. My father at that time was a sergeant major. He was a Glaswegian who had lied about his age and joined up in 1933 to escape the unemployment along the Clyde.

In 1976 his first collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites (1975), won the Somerset Maugham Award. A second volume of stories, In Between the Sheets, appeared in 1978. These stories - claustrophobic tales of childhood, deviant sexuality and disjointed family life - were remarkable for their formal experimentation and controlled narrative voice. Roger Boylan of the Boston Review argued in 2006 that Leonard's relationship with his American boss and affair with Maria "are tense and dynamic relationships, masterfully unveiled, and the atmospherics are first-rate. The Berlin of McEwan’s novel is scented with the real thing, the diesel fumes and beery scents and the Wurstwagens and the bracing Berliner Luft, the air of Berlin.” [8] In a 2014 article for The Irish Times, Eileen Battersby praised the novel as "an interesting study of distrust" and one of McEwan's three best books. [9] Tina Jordan and Susan Ellingwood of The New York Times listed The Innocent in 2018 as one of McEwan's six noteworthy works. [10] Film adaptation [ edit ]

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a b c d Malcolm, David (2002). Understanding Ian McEwan. Univ of South Carolina Press. p.110. ISBN 978-1-57003-436-7. [Wood's views are] typical of the novel's reception.

There’s a sense from the very beginning of your work of what you want to do. It’s not every novelist that would write a first novel about a successful novelist. Additionally, “The Innocent” stands out for its use of multiple perspectives and unreliable narrators. The novel switches between the perspectives of Leonard, Maria, and Bob, each with their own motivations and secrets. This creates a sense of tension and uncertainty throughout the novel, as the reader is never quite sure who to trust.

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The Innocent, written by Ian McEwan, is a gripping novel that tells the story of a young British man named Leonard Marnham. Set in Berlin during the 1950s, the novel follows Leonard as he works on a secret project for the British government. However, things take a dark turn when he becomes involved with a mysterious woman named Maria. As their relationship deepens, Leonard finds himself caught up in a dangerous web of espionage and betrayal. With its complex characters and intricate plot, The Innocent is a must-read for fans of spy thrillers and literary fiction alike. Main Characters McEwan has written one book that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike, The Daydreamer(1994); several screenplays, including The Ploughman’s Lunch(1985); and several scripts for television. When he’s not writing, he likes to hike. Well done novel! Loved the time period for ethnic base generalized or specific reality. Blunt, no apology dialogue included. This trait is nearly invisible now unless it is racially cored. There were Blakes everywhere then- not only on that continent either. Still are. More of them now.