From Page to Screen: Constructing Ambiguity and Subjectivity in Ian McEwan’s Atonement and Joe Wright’s Film Adaptation

Ambiguity is one of the fundamental characteristics of contemporary fiction, underlining the subjective function of the written text, its malleability and capacity of deceiving the reader. The aim of this article is to analyse McEwan’s narrative in Atonement, the novel, and the way in which the ambiguous element is further transferred and reconfigured in the film, whilst addressing the multifaceted implications of a duplicitous narrator. Both the narrative and the film adaptation mirror the function of the written word in the process of altering reality, thus addressing the deconstructed element of the text in 21^st century literature.

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