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Amsterdam

Acclaimed writer Ian McEwan’s archive acquired

May 15, 2014 - Alicia Dietrich

The Harry Ransom Center has acquired the archive of writer Ian McEwan (b. 1948), one of the most distinguished novelists of his generation.  The archive documents McEwan’s career and includes early material from his childhood and adolescence, as well as his earliest abandoned stories dating from the late-1960s and early 1970s. The archive includes drafts of all of McEwan’s later published works including his critically acclaimed novels Amsterdam and Atonement up through On Chesil Beach and Solar.

McEwan composed his novels partly in longhand, typically in uniform green, spiral-bound notebooks, and party on the computer. After an initial draft, he would transfer the entire text to a computer, printing out multiple drafts, which he would revise further by hand. McEwan’s Booker Prize-winning novel Amsterdam is represented in the archive in its earliest form as a handwritten notebook, followed by two further revised drafts. McEwan often notes details of composition in these drafts, including their completion or revision dates.

“The writer tends to forget rapidly the routes he or she discarded along the way,” McEwan said, commenting on his manuscripts. “Sometimes the path towards a finished novel takes surprising twists. It’s rarely an even development. For example, my novel Atonement started out as a science fiction story set two or three centuries into the future.”

McEwan’s archive will reside at the Ransom Center alongside the archives of many of his peers and contemporaries, including his longtime friend Julian Barnes, as well as J. M. Coetzee, Doris Lessing, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Tom Stoppard. The McEwan materials will be accessible once processed and cataloged.

McEwan will visit Austin and speak at the university on Sept. 10.

Please click on thumbnails below to view larger images.

Photo of Ian McEwan as a young boy with his parents in Singapore, ca. 1954.
Photo of Ian McEwan as a young boy with his parents in Singapore, ca. 1954.
Ian McEwan's grade school report card, ca. 1958.
Ian McEwan’s grade school report card, ca. 1958.
Photo of Ian McEwan as a young boy in 1956 in Libya, North Africa.
Photo of Ian McEwan as a young boy in 1956 in Libya, North Africa.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-8-year-old son William, dated March 4, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-8-year-old son William, dated March 4, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-8-year-old son William, dated March 4, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-8-year-old son William, dated March 4, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-5-year-old son Gregory, dated March 5, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-5-year-old son Gregory, dated March 5, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-5-year-old son Gregory, dated March 5, 1991.
Letter from Ian McEwan to his then-5-year-old son Gregory, dated March 5, 1991.
Typescript of Ian McEwan's short story "A Very Very Very Very Very Old Lady," dated Aug. 21, 1975. McEWan wrote the story for his then-5-year-old stepdaughter Polly for her to illustrate.
Typescript of Ian McEwan’s short story “A Very Very Very Very Very Old Lady,” dated Aug. 21, 1975. McEWan wrote the story for his then-5-year-old stepdaughter Polly for her to illustrate.
Typescript of Ian McEwan's short story "A Very Very Very Very Very Old Lady," dated Aug. 21, 1975. McEWan wrote the story for his then-5-year-old stepdaughter Polly for her to illustrate.
Typescript of Ian McEwan’s short story “A Very Very Very Very Very Old Lady,” dated Aug. 21, 1975. McEWan wrote the story for his then-5-year-old stepdaughter Polly for her to illustrate.
Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes on a hike in Knoydart, Scotland, in 2012, wearing "midgehoods" for protection. Photo by Annalena McAfee.
Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes on a hike in Knoydart, Scotland, in 2012, wearing “midgehoods” for protection. Photo by Annalena McAfee.
Ian McEwan's first draft of "On Chesil Beach."
Ian McEwan’s first draft of “On Chesil Beach.”
Pages from Ian McEwan's notebook related to "On Chesil Beach."
Pages from Ian McEwan’s notebook related to “On Chesil Beach.”

Filed Under: Authors, Books + Manuscripts Tagged With: acquisition, Acquisitions, Amsterdam, archives, Atonement, Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan, J. M. Coetzee, Jayne Anne Phillips, Julian Barnes, Man Booker Prize, Manuscripts, On Chesil Beach, Solar, Tom Stoppard

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