The most up-to-date survey of the leading British novelist of his generation, offering the fullest account to date of McEwan's sources, especially concerning his interest in popular science.

Dominic Head is Professor of Modern English Literature in the School of English Studies at the University of Nottingham

1. Introduction
2. Shock-Lit: The Short Stories and The Cement Garden
3. Dreams of captivity: The Comfort of Strangers
4. Towards the 'Implicate Order': The Child in Time
5. Unravelling the binaries: The Innocent and Black Dogs
6. 'A Mess of Our Own Unmaking': Enduring Love
7. Amsterdam: McEwan's 'Spoiler'
8. 'The Wild and Inward Journey of Writing': Atonement
9. 'Accidents of Character and Circumstance': Saturday
10. Conclusion: McEwan and the 'Third Culture'