The Innocent: Ian McEwan

Product Information

My first impression on starting this book was, "oh, goody, a semi historical novel with lots of detail on building the tunnel under Berlin to tap the Russian communication cables. " And so it begins, but then morphs into a much darker tale about guilt and innocence. (I should have known, having read other McEwan books.) The Innocent (1990) by Ian McEwan is a novel that explores the themes of love, betrayal, and espionage. Set in post-World War II Berlin, the story follows the life of Leonard Marnham, a young British technician who is sent to Berlin to work on a secret project. Leonard falls in love with Maria, a German woman, and their relationship becomes the focal point of the novel. The Innocent is significant because it provides a unique perspective on the Cold War era and the impact it had on individuals caught in the middle of political tensions. McEwan’s writing style is captivating, and he skillfully weaves together a complex plot that keeps readers engaged until the very end. The novel is a must-read for anyone interested in historical fiction, espionage, and romance. Historical Context The Innocent is a startlingly prescient novel from Booker prize-winning Sunday Times bestselling author Ian McEwan. Gli inglesi sono rappresentati da Leonard, un venticinquenne che è timido e impacciato come un adolescente. A Berlino, però, conosce una donna, trova l’amore, vive la sua educazione sentimentale, diventa uomo. Ian McEwan's descriptions of people are so pictorial that one can immediately imagine them. This is Bob Glass:

E lui, Leonard, il protagonista inglese è interpretato dall’attore e futuro regista americano Campbell Scott. A trim, handsome man, careful, exacting, and (for a writer) curiously un-neurotic, McEwan lives in a sparklingly clean Georgian-style row house in a quiet, well-tended neighborhood in Oxford. His wife, Annalena McAfee, is a prominent newspaper editor. This novel, set in 1955 Berlin when the Cold War had not yet intensified to the stage where the USA and USSR were continuously at each other's throat, could be called a suspense thriller. In fact, that is the mould it has been set in. But McEwan has cleverly stretched the boundaries of the genre to make it literary fiction of no little merit: a tale of star-crossed lovers that would do Shakespeare proud. (One quote in the blurb compares it to a Jacobean play, and I would say that it is not far off the mark.) Near the end, Leonard longs to tell his story, confess his guilt, and explain the step-by-step progression that led to dismembering Otto. Maria does do this and in not telling Leonard of her confession, she is loyal to Glass, not Leonard. Is it this betrayal that keeps them apart? As he becomes absorbed into his dull and repetitive nature job, Marnham becomes obsessed with thoughts of Maria, eventually putting together a plan to meet her. As he puts that plan into effect, he unexpectedly encounters Maria herself in a meeting that results in his being seduced into a relationship that opens him up both emotionally and sexually. Over the next few weeks, Marnham finds that his job is becoming less and less important to him even when he receives a secret assignment from a British superior.The movie stars Campbell Scott as Leonard, the young Brit, who is sent to Germany during the Cold War, on an innocuous assignment that turns out to be the cover for something deeper and more dangerous. He meets Bob, his American minder ( Anthony Hopkins). Soon they're in one of those nightclubs that looks like a Marlene Dietrich franchise. Pneumatic tubes connect the tables, so that patrons can send notes to one another. A message pops into Leonard's hands from Maria ( Isabella Rossellini), a sultry-faced woman at another table. The Innocent is a study of the psychological, social, and political forces that converge to drive naive Leonard into duplicity without exactly corrupting his basic innocence. Because Leonard has always lived with his parents in Tottenham, he is overwhelmed by the freedom of living alone in Berlin. For the first time, he is an adult with a true identity: “He was part of a team, a sharer in a secret. He was a member of the clandestine elite…who gave the city its real purpose.” Leonard’s awkwardness, however, ensures that he will not make the most of this experience. Indeed, despite being a technician, he is ill equipped for the modern world: “He would have to use the phone, an instrument he was not easy with, despite his work. His parents did not have one, nor did any of his friends, and he rarely had to make calls at work.” He is a passive person who allows things to happen to him. Maria initiates their friendship by sending him a note in the nightclub: “The message was hardly a surprise. Now it was before him, it was more a matter of recognition for him, of accepting the inevitable. It had always been certain to start like this.” Leonard does not hesitate to tell Maria that he is a twenty-five-year-old virgin; after the brutality of Otto, such innocence is a relief for Maria. More than sex, love, or maturity, his relationship with Maria means freedom: “He felt he was throwing away his life. The abandonment was delicious.”

Leonard helps kill a man, but it is in his near rape of Maria that his state of mind is truly malevolent. Is state of mind, more than actions, a barometer of guilt? And, as George Steiner says, at the rows of students sniggering automatically at every mention of the Sunday supplements.There’s a scene in The Child in Timewhere the mother is weeping. We don’t know quite why—all we get is the vague sense that there’s something wrong. I wish I knew what this 1990 novel was trying to be, because as well written as the prose is, The Innocent feels all over the place. It’s a post-WWII Berlin spy novel, but it’s mostly about politics – not so much between the Russians and the west, but between Germany, the Americans, and the British. It’s also a coming-of-age story, in a way; though the protagonist is 30, he’s still a bit naïve. Finally, there are small turns in the plot that seem unlikely and then seriously improbable, and filled with unnecessarily detailed gore. Yet I have to concede that McEwan is an engaging, easy-to-read author. My father’s drinking was sometimes a problem. And a great deal went unspoken. He was not particularly acute or articulate about the emotions. But he was very affectionate towards me. When I passed exams he was very proud—I was the first one in the family to get any tertiary education.