nutshell
Nutshell (originally Nutshell ) is the 16th novel by Ian McEwan , which was published in English in 2016 and in German in the translation by Bernhard Robben the same year .
content
On the surface, the story told is easy to recognize as a variant of Shakespeare's drama Hamlet , which is also indicated by the naming of the two adult main characters: Trudy (in Hamlet Gertrude) is the mother-to-be and Claude (in Hamlet Claudius) is her lover. The narrator of the novel is the unborn son of Trudy and John, who experiences, tells and reflects on what is happening in his mother's womb. Its specific location only allows the embryo to know and understand what its mother has conveyed to it in a variety of ways. He gains important knowledge of the outside world from the fact that in the third trimester of pregnancy his mother sleeps poorly in this hot London summer and therefore listens to the radio. Not only does the news reach his ears, but also lectures and lectures on topics such as environmental problems, religion and the current global migration movements.
Trudy's personal life is complicated. She lives in a large town house that is John's property. She expelled him from the house on the grounds that she needed a lot of rest in the last few weeks of her pregnancy. In truth, she has a sexually active love affair with her brother-in-law Claude, John's brother, who spends most of the time with her. John is a less successful poet and runs a publishing house that is also not very successful. Both plan to kill John, sell the house for millions of pounds, and then live together. The baby is to be "housed", information that worries the son.
John tries to fight for his wife. He enlists the help of a young poet who is supposed to fake an affair between him and her in order to make his wife jealous. Trudy and Claude then get drunk and decide to carry out the murder quickly. Although there are many suspicions that point to their perpetrators, they have enough time to pack their things and to flee. In the last second, however, the embryo manages to tear the amniotic sac with its fingernails and thus initiate its birth. Claude refuses to call an ambulance and has to play obstetrician himself. The story ends with the arrival of four police officers.
expenditure
- Nutshell . London: Cape 2016.
- Nutshell . Translated by Bernhard Robben. Munich: Diogenes 2016.