Location

Stewart Center 318

Session Number

Session 18: TERRORISM, FICTION, AND THE EVERYDAY: HISTORY, GENDER, POLITICS

Start Date

9-9-2011 3:15 PM

End Date

9-9-2011 4:45 PM

Abstract

This essay considers the relation between personal privilege (class, race, nationality, sex) and political ambivalence toward the Iraq war as it manifests in the protagonist of Ian McEwan’s Saturday. Henry Perowne “feels culpable somehow, but helpless too” in his shifting opinions of the coming invasion. Throughout the text we are shown Henry’s multiple perspectives regarding Iraq. Such ambivalence is, in itself, a form of complicity in war. Henry neither tangibly opposes the actions of the government (as the protesters do), nor does he consider sacrificing any of his creature comforts in support of the war (as the soldiers do). I argue that this sort of complicity is even more dangerous than articulating a clear political opinion, as it takes no account of the consequences of a particular course of action. The war in Iraq will likely never be made personal to Perowne. This distance, born of privilege, grants Perowne the power to equivocate on his feelings depending upon the interlocutor with whom he is engaged. Such equivocation reveals an inability to command an opinion about the situation in Iraq, or to find peace in the personal and political consequences of an opinion. To further problematize Perowne’s ambivalence, I look at how other characters (Tony Blair, Jay Strauss, and Daisy Perowne) are juxtaposed to Henry. To this aim, I engage both criticism concerning Saturday and political science research regarding British attitudes toward the imminent invasion of Iraq in 2002-03.

Comments

Biography: Jax Lee Gardner graduated in April 2011 with a Master’s Degree in English from Western Michigan University. Looking forward to a career in academic administration and public policy, she is interested in the intersections of literature and real-world politics. She has applied this focus to issues of post-feminism, queer theory, and the contemporary LGBT movement. Specifically, she has examined the cultural underrepresentation of black lesbians and radical queer parents. In addition, Jax is interested in scholarly responses to the “war on terror.” At current, she is reading novels responding to 9/11, and is compelled by the juxtaposition of privilege and political ambivalence.

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Sep 9th, 3:15 PM Sep 9th, 4:45 PM

The Privilege of Ambivalence: Saturday’s Henry Perowne on the ‘War on Terror’

Stewart Center 318

This essay considers the relation between personal privilege (class, race, nationality, sex) and political ambivalence toward the Iraq war as it manifests in the protagonist of Ian McEwan’s Saturday. Henry Perowne “feels culpable somehow, but helpless too” in his shifting opinions of the coming invasion. Throughout the text we are shown Henry’s multiple perspectives regarding Iraq. Such ambivalence is, in itself, a form of complicity in war. Henry neither tangibly opposes the actions of the government (as the protesters do), nor does he consider sacrificing any of his creature comforts in support of the war (as the soldiers do). I argue that this sort of complicity is even more dangerous than articulating a clear political opinion, as it takes no account of the consequences of a particular course of action. The war in Iraq will likely never be made personal to Perowne. This distance, born of privilege, grants Perowne the power to equivocate on his feelings depending upon the interlocutor with whom he is engaged. Such equivocation reveals an inability to command an opinion about the situation in Iraq, or to find peace in the personal and political consequences of an opinion. To further problematize Perowne’s ambivalence, I look at how other characters (Tony Blair, Jay Strauss, and Daisy Perowne) are juxtaposed to Henry. To this aim, I engage both criticism concerning Saturday and political science research regarding British attitudes toward the imminent invasion of Iraq in 2002-03.