Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Artistic symbols as support of a biased imagination

Nicolau, Felix LU (2015) In Ars Aeterna 7(1). p.10-16
Abstract
Ian McEwan has indulged in macabre plots whose point of interest resided in the power of imaginary over the allegedly rational reality. In novels like Atonement, Enduring Love, On Chesil Beach and Amsterdam he pointed out how approaching the world scientifically can be as misleading as doing it on the religious or literary ways. The target of my paper is to spot those common places of fanaticism and narrowed perspectives which have constituted the origin of many tragedies. The main line of demonstration follows epistemological researches: namely the catastrophic nature of an incomplete knowledge. The biased understanding of a phenomenon is a great temptation, as Karl Popper put it, because it relies on comfort and quick results that can... (More)
Ian McEwan has indulged in macabre plots whose point of interest resided in the power of imaginary over the allegedly rational reality. In novels like Atonement, Enduring Love, On Chesil Beach and Amsterdam he pointed out how approaching the world scientifically can be as misleading as doing it on the religious or literary ways. The target of my paper is to spot those common places of fanaticism and narrowed perspectives which have constituted the origin of many tragedies. The main line of demonstration follows epistemological researches: namely the catastrophic nature of an incomplete knowledge. The biased understanding of a phenomenon is a great temptation, as Karl Popper put it, because it relies on comfort and quick results that can lead to advantageous actions in a matter-of-fact order of things, but not otherwise. From the cultural studies point of view, Ian McEwan’s works can be understood as an ironical mixture of private with public and boredom with imagination. More often than not, what engenders a tragedy is the sheer boredom, the desire to live something significant. Such a conjured tragedy may be identified with a sluice facilitating the passage from postmodernism to post-post-modernism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
imagination, Postmodernism, science and literature, biased understanding
in
Ars Aeterna
volume
7
issue
1
article number
2
pages
10 - 16
publisher
De Gruyter
ISSN
1337-9291
DOI
10.1515/aa-2015-0002
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
500aabea-d547-42fe-b487-882005fcf931
date added to LUP
2019-05-06 19:52:10
date last changed
2019-05-09 14:44:57
@article{500aabea-d547-42fe-b487-882005fcf931,
  abstract     = {{Ian McEwan has indulged in macabre plots whose point of interest resided in the power of imaginary over the allegedly rational reality. In novels like Atonement, Enduring Love, On Chesil Beach and Amsterdam he pointed out how approaching the world scientifically can be as misleading as doing it on the religious or literary ways. The target of my paper is to spot those common places of fanaticism and narrowed perspectives which have constituted the origin of many tragedies. The main line of demonstration follows epistemological researches: namely the catastrophic nature of an incomplete knowledge. The biased understanding of a phenomenon is a great temptation, as Karl Popper put it, because it relies on comfort and quick results that can lead to advantageous actions in a matter-of-fact order of things, but not otherwise. From the cultural studies point of view, Ian McEwan’s works can be understood as an ironical mixture of private with public and boredom with imagination. More often than not, what engenders a tragedy is the sheer boredom, the desire to live something significant. Such a conjured tragedy may be identified with a sluice facilitating the passage from postmodernism to post-post-modernism.}},
  author       = {{Nicolau, Felix}},
  issn         = {{1337-9291}},
  keywords     = {{imagination; Postmodernism; science and literature; biased understanding}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{10--16}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Ars Aeterna}},
  title        = {{Artistic symbols as support of a biased imagination}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/aa-2015-0002}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/aa-2015-0002}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}