On Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m., only two days after the new first-years filed into Mead Chapel for Convocation, the pews filled once again with students, faculty, staff and community members to welcome a special guest: critically acclaimed fiction writer Ian McEwan. The English author gave a reading of his latest work at the behest of his friend and D. E. Axinn Professor of English & Creative Writing Jay Parini.
McEwan’s reading was part of what Parini called a “long tradition” of famous writers coming to the College, a tradition that has included the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Updike, John Irving and Joyce Carol Oates. McEwan, who lives in London, is a prolific novelist whose work has garnered him numerous awards including the 1998 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his book, Amsterdam. Many of his books have also been adapted for film, with the 2007 film version of Atonement receiving seven Golden Globe Award nominations.
Parini, who has known McEwan since the 70s, said he has been trying to get McEwan to pay the College a visit for years, and in a flurry of good fortune, the author was able to come up for a reading while on the East Coast for a personal trip.
Though the event was planned very quickly, McEwan addressed a full audience, reading a selection from his latest book, Solar. Students and staff alike chuckled at the antics of the novel’s main character, Michael Beard — a somewhat hapless Nobel prize winner who lives in the shadow of his own former greatness — and those who stayed for the Q&A after the reading were treated to McEwan’s candid reflections on everything from e-books to climate change.
“I think what’s great is when the College comes together around a figure like this, it stimulates conversation and it becomes a shared experience,” said Parini. “I think these kinds of occasions are a very important part of a student’s memory bank.”
Leaving a lasting impression on the students in the audience is, Parini says, a primary goal with any speaker invited to campus.
“To get a writer of this quality here is terrific for us,” said Parini. “Whenever you can put a first-rate artist before students, you hope to inspire them, and that’s enough. That’s all we’re trying to do. I think putting an example of good writing before students is important to the writing program.”
Evan Masseau ’11 was one of many students for whom McEwan’s reading served Parini’s purpose.
“It’s no surprise I enjoyed the passage so much,” said Masseau. “His speaking, like his writing, was full of quick, dry wit. It certainly got me more interested in his writing and motivated me to improve my own for the sake of those who have to read it.”
Brittany Gendron ’12 was another student who left the reading more than impressed.
“[McEwan] has written so many incredibly beautiful books and the prose just seems to flow out of him like a river from a mountain, and I can only hope to aspire to write something that lovely someday, even when he’s talking about difficult things,” said Gendron.
McEwan’s writing moved Gendron to more than improving her own — she was one of several audience members who lined up to ask McEwan a question during the Q&A. She wanted to know if he could think of any must-read books for aspiring writers, and in a rare moment of unity, the award-winning author thought back to his days as a hopeful student much like those filling the room and listed four authors — Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Vladimir Nabokov — without whom his writing would not be the same.
Identifying with his audience made McEwan’s reading, especially for Gendron, all the more meaningful.
“He was much more down-to-earth than I expected,” said Gendron. “It’s very refreshing to see someone coming down from an ivory tower where a lot of other prominent writers seem to stay.”
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