Solar (novel)
Solar is a novel by the British writer Ian McEwan from 2010. It tells three sections from the life of the (fictional) physicist Michael Beard. Beard, who was awarded the Nobel Prize at an early age , has grown old and, because of his fame, becomes the head of an institute that researches climate change . The German translation was also published in 2010 and comprises 405 pages.
action
In response to his numerous affairs, Beard is cheated on by his fifth wife, Patrice, first with a craftsman and then with one of his assistants. During a discussion, the assistant stumbled into Beard's house and was fatally injured when he hit the edge of a table. Beard blames the craftsman who goes to jail for this and, with the help of the assistant's research, starts a second career in the field of solar research.
Representation of climate change
Contrary to the title of the book, solar energy plays less of a role than the chaotic and neurotic physicist:
"At McEwan, solar energy is what Hitchcock called a MacGuffin : It just sets the novel's clockwork going , which is light-years more complex than the statement it carries and secretly sabotaged."
Representation of Beards
“Beard and his neuroses have to be read symbolically: The world is to be saved by those who are themselves in the process of abolishing themselves, which incidentally also includes Beard's refusal to bring children into the world. [...] We, who keep branching off the noble path with our weaknesses, somehow recognize ourselves in this unsympathetic Michael Beard, who has become a career enthusiast over the years. He is our guilty conscience. Beard represents everything that prevents society from moving forward. He is the human problem and at the same time part of the solution. "
“However , if you want to read a terrific funny book about a 50-year-old erotomaniac and alcoholic who uses sleight of hand through life," Solar "is an excellent choice. In contrast to his previous book, " On the Beach ", McEwan apparently does not want to set an example with this novel, nor to judge fundamentally about a time or the relationship between the sexes. "Solar" seems like the work of a very cheerful man, who is in a mood for some silliness, who has nothing to prove to himself or the world. The polar bear, threatened by climate change, turns out to be pivotal to the plot in a rather unexpected way. The literary processing of an often-told urban myth is one of the book's highlights. And then there is also an entanglement that is almost reminiscent of Thilo Sarrazin - not written with foam at the mouth, but as an absurd story of fundamental misunderstandings. Unlike some of McEwan's earlier books, "Solar" was apparently not designed as a masterpiece - and that's why it became one. A casual masterpiece, however. "
expenditure
- Solar . Novel, Jonathan Cape, London 2010, ISBN 0-224-09049-6 (original edition).
- Solar . Novel, from the English by Werner Schmitz , Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-257-06765-1 (German first edition).
literature
- Hartmut Kasper : Solar , in: The Science Fiction Year 2011 , edited by Sascha Mamczak , Wolfgang Jeschke and Sebastian Pirling, Heyne, Munich 2011, pp. 1058-1062. ISBN 978-3-453-53379-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ You have to change your climate. Review by Markus Gasser, October 2, 2010.
- ^ Roman: The height of fall of a Nobel Prize winner - Review by Ulrich Rüdenauer, October 7, 2010
- ↑ Novel of the Month: Look, there's a second moon in the sky - Review by Sebastian Hammelehle, October 6, 2010