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This essay probes the intertexts of Atonement, in particular the links it shares with E.A. Poe's "The Purloined Letter." By drawing on the psychoanalytical context of Lacan's "Seminar on 'The Purloined Letter,'" the essay shows how the theftof a letter affects the novel's protagonist-narrator's writing, leading to a compulsive attempt to hide her shame.
In Ian McEwan's Atonement, letters function as a key plot device. Reflecting on his awkward behaviour around Cecilia Tallis, Robbie Turner realizes that he is in love with her. He drafts a letter to Cecilia to explain his awkwardness in which he impulsively adds his true feelings: "In my dreams I kiss your cunt, your sweet wet cunt. In my thoughts I make love to you all day long" (86). Robbie writes a courteous message in longhand, but accidentally puts the frank draftin the envelope. He gives his epistle to Briony, Cecilia's teenage sister, to deliver. Briony secretly reads the note and is shocked. The same evening the Tallis family discovers other startling information in a letter: their visiting twin cousins have run away. During the search the twins' adolescent sister, Lola, is raped. Briony is convinced that Robbie's letter proves that he is the rapist. Her statement is decisive in sentencing Robbie to prison, even though he is innocent.
Numerous other letters shape the plot of this novel. During his imprisonment Robbie keeps up his relationship with Cecilia by means of correspondence. Later, the grown-up Briony understands that she misinterpreted Robbie's note. She writes to Cecilia expressing her wish to be reconciled. At the same time Briony receives two letters that help her decide what she should do to atone for her crime. Lastly, during a confrontation Briony promises Robbie to write letters that will clear his name, but she never does. These promised but unwritten letters are as important as the actual letters, for they reveal how Briony understands the act of atonement. Her idea of atonement is grounded in her understanding of what being an author means. Thus the novel compares communication between its characters with communication between authors and readers.
Critics have noticed that Atonement refers to a specific intertext, namely, E.A. Poe's "The Purloined Letter."1 They also perceive its use of motifs familiar from classical...