Joe’s story, Jed’s letter, and the scholarly article, while the sjuzhet order is Joe’s
story, scholarly article, Jed’s letter.
(3) McEwan works with three different genres or modes of telling: a retro-
spective narrative, an article for a social science journal, and a letter that will
never reach its addressee.
I now turn to look more closely at each telling.
JOE ROSE’S TELLING
Joe makes his living as a science writer, and McEwan makes it clear that (a)
Joe is good at what he does in part because he understands a lot about the
powers and limits of narrative, and (b) Joe is initially applying his craft to
his own story of a balloon accident that killed a man, John Logan, and that
brought Jed Parry into his life. Joe’s first sentence is, “The beginning is simple
to mark” (1), and the first three chapters are peppered with other comments
that reflect his self-conscious construction: for example, “before I let [the gust
of wind] reach us, let me freeze the frame” (12), and, at the beginning of chap-
ter 2, “Best to slow down” (19). Perhaps most dramatically, McEwan has Joe
narrate chapter 9 from Clarissa’s “point of view. Or at least from that point as
I later construed it” (85). But McEwan also uses the end of chapter 9 to mark
a significant change in Joe’s narration.
Chapter 9 recounts the scene between Clarissa and Joe two nights after the
Sunday of the balloon accident when she returns from a frustrating day at the
university where she teaches Romantic poetry. During this day, Jed has shown
up outside their apartment building, called Joe on the phone, and otherwise
established his harassing presence in Joe’s life. With so much less exposure
to Jed, Clarissa suspects that Joe is overreacting. For most of the chapter, Joe
makes good on his effort to see things from Clarissa’s perspective. Here is his
account of Clarissa’s arrival at their flat:
When she steps into the hall, [Joe] is waiting for her by the door of his study.
He has a wild look about him that she has not seen in some time. She associ-
ates this look with overambitious schemes, excited and usually stupid plans
that very occasionally afflict the calm, organized man she loves. He’s coming
toward her, talking before she’s even through the door. Without a kiss or any
form of greeting, he’s off on a tale of harassment and idiocy behind which
there appears to be some kind of accusation [. . .] (86–87)FUNCTIONS OF NARRATIVE SEgMENTS • 241