ポストオフィスタワーを巡る2つの英国小説 ―アイリス・マードックのThe Black Prince(1973)とイアン・マキューアンのSaturday(2005)を比較する―

• Main Authors: 中窪 靖, Yasushi NAKAKUBO, 京都文教大学臨床心理学部臨床心理学科, Kyoto Bunkyo University Department of Clinical Psychology Faculty of Clinical Psychology
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Japanese
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: the Tower(the Post Office Tower); landmark; London; Murdoch; Detour; Tower The; Black Prince; Baffin
• Online Access: https://kbu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1071; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1431/00001058/; https://kbu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1071&item_no=1&attribute_id=21&file_no=1

This paper examines Iris Murdochʼs The Black Prince and Ian McEwanʼs Saturday. Murdoch composes her 15th novel as a metaphysical fiction. She portrays her hero by means of the Post Office Tower. Bradley Pearson struggles to compose a ʻrealʼ novel with the title of ʻA Celebration of Love.ʼ On the other, McEwan illustrates Saturday reflecting the aftermath of “September 11 2001 attacks.” His hero suspects that some attack from a terrorist has happened seeing an airplane flying towards Heathrow Airport with its engine firing. As the story opens, Murdochʼs hero is about to make a temporary leave from his house at the foot of the Tower. Unfortunately, something prevents him from leaving home whenever he goes out. McEwanʼs hero is a veteran neurosurgeon. He looks out of the window of his house near the Tower. There are a couple of medical workers leaving their hospital before dawn. He looks like a tower. There is a similarity between these two novels. Each hero lives in London. Each of them keeps the Tower like a double in their neighborhood. The landmark seems to show what heroes think about in their stories. In The Black Prince, the Tower glittering against the sunshine looks inside the window of Bradleyʼs house, while his sister, who has attempted to commit suicide in vain, sleeps peacefully. Our hero thinks his sister is a poor girl, although Priscilla must be a trouble maker. The Tower plays an important role again. Bradley Pearson falls in love with his admirer. Julian Baffin, a daughter of Arnold and Rachel Baffin, dresses in black and asks Bradley to give a lecture of Shakespeareʼs Hamlet. He struggles in vain to build a relationship with his admirer for ʻEros.ʼ There is a restaurant on the 34th floor of the Tower where Bradley invites Julian to dinner. In Saturday, there is a serious happening to our hero. Henry Perowne goes out for a squash with his colleague. Something unknown drives him to meet a bad guy. There is a big march against a military attack on Iraq. He makes a detour and collides with a ...