What We Can Know

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What We Can Know
What We Can Know.jpg
Author Ian McEwan
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Jonathan Cape (UK)
Publication date
2025
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages400
ISBN 9781787335738

What We Can Know is the 18th novel by author Ian McEwan published in 2025 by Jonathan Cape, [1] set almost a century in the future in a UK partially submerged by rising seas. [2] The book is centered on Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the fictional University of the South Downs investigating a lost poem, read aloud in 2014. [3] McEwan has described the book as a work of science fiction “without the science." [4]

Reception

In an anonymous review appearing pre-publication in Kirkus Reviews , the book was classified as dystopian fiction and described as a "philosophically charged tour de force". [5] Keith Power of the Guardian saw the book as a commentary on the liberalist movement in the post-Brexit world, noting that McIwan dons the hat of a "liberal critic of liberalism" and "compels us to consider the moral consequences of global catastrophe." [6]

References

  1. ↑ McEwan, Ian (2025-09-18). "What We Can Know" . Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  2. ↑ Creamer, Ella (2025-02-07). "Ian McEwan novel What We Can Know to be published this year". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  3. ↑ "Ian McEwan's next novel, 'What We Can Know,' is science fiction 'without the science'". ABC News. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  4. ↑ "Ian McEwan's next novel, 'What We Can Know,' is science fiction 'without the science'". The Independent. 2025-02-07. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  5. ↑ "What we can know". kirkusreview.com. 2025-05-24. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  6. ↑ "What We Can Know by Ian McEwan review – the limits of liberalism". The Guardian. 2025-09-18. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
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