Collective Amnesia in Ian McEwan’s Lessons: A (New) World Order, Historical Memory and Phantom Pains of Greatness

ENG: Collective memory is actualised when a social group or a nation endeavours to reconstruct significant historical events giving them a certain interpretation. Historical exploration of the sources of a new world order and its fragility involves imperialist narratives being the causes of some geopolitical conflicts. All the great empires inevitably lose their power and status, but some former empires still feel the phantom pains of their former greatness, which may have unforeseen historical consequences. Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Lessons (2022), covers a long period of time to deliver a powerful meditation on history and humanity through one man’s life across generations and historical (un)doings. The article focuses on the literary representation of some historical contexts and attempts at resisting collective amnesia, in order to illustrate how a blatant disregard for the painful lessons of history invites the occurrence of new cruelties of imperialist ideology.