What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

The episode is a literary critique on reviewer Tom LeClair discussing Ian McEwan's 2025 novel, What We Can Know. The reviewer breaks down the book's dual-narrative structure, which shifts from a futuristic, post-climate disaster academic treasure hunt to a mid-century domestic memoir centered around an imagined poet and his wife. LeClair analyzes how the novel grapples with ecological collapse, the limitations of traditional realism, and the ways literature distracts from systemic global crises. Ultimately, the review evaluates the author's stylistic choices and questions whether the story successfully critiques storytelling itself or merely surrenders to conventional narrative tropes.

"Open a book. Discover a world."

This episode includes AI-generated content.