London in Contemporary British Fiction

The thesis deals with the novels of leading contemporary prose writers Ian McEwan and Martin Amis who set their works in the capital of the United Kingdom. The work first introduces London as both a multicultural centre and a scene of important historical events. Then it focuses on the concept of urban space in Ian McEwan's novels Saturday and Atonement in comparison with the author's earlier works that take place in London. The next chapter compares the portrayal of London in the work of Ian McEwan with Martin Amis's novel London Fields and tries to define the poetics and differences of the depiction of the environment in the context of the examined literary works. Balshaw and Kennedy's Urban Space and Representation serves as the theoretical basis of the study of space and environment. The theoretical part is applied at the core of the thesis to the work of Ian McEwan, alternatively to Martin Amis's novel London Fields