Towards an uncertain future: Brexit satirised in Ian McEwan’s The Cockroach

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2022

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Turgut, Zeynep Rana
Turgut, Zeynep Rana
Tekin, Kuğu

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Department of English Language and Literature
(1997)
Founded in 1997, the Department of English Language and Literature is one of the first Departments of Atılım University. Through the graduate and doctorate degree programs in addition to the undergraduate program, the Department raises students and academicians. At the Department of English Language and Literature, we aim to graduate students who have studied and learned the English language and literature at an advanced level and developed the skill to produce ideas; as well as the ability to do analyses and academic research on literature. In addition to granting our students with the opportunity to develop their backgrounds in general culture, the education that we offer contributes to their interest and knowledge in contemporary and current issues. Accredited for 5 years from February 24th 2019 by FEDEK, our undergraduate program grants our students the opportunity to join Double-Major or Minor programs in Translation and Interpretation, and International Relations. Another option for the students of our Department is the Erasmus Exchange Program.

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Ian McEwan’s 2019 novella, The Cockroach, which is considered a product of “brexlit,” is a bitter satire of British politicians’ Brexit project. According to the author, the rising waves of ultranationalism, seasoned with British politicians’ unreasonable populist discourse, drifted Britain out of the European Union. In the novella, McEwan’s chosen medium in criticising Britain’s status quo ante Brexit is satire. Due to its corrective nature, satire tends to repair and/or reform prevailing ills. However, in The Cockroach, McEwan does not intent to correct the troubles brought to Britain by Brexit, which he sees as the manifestation of stark irrationality. Indeed, political humour accompanies McEwan’s exclusive satirical style, for the author was aware of the fact that the British Conservative Party’s political slogan – “Get Brexit done” – had already fulfilled its mission by the time he was writing The Cockroach. Thus, this article follows the fictional route drawn by McEwan in The Cockroach in presenting how the bilateral association of populism and jingoism can darken the future vision of a country whose parliamentary democracy has a history of almost two centuries.

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RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi

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31

Start Page

1474

End Page

1483

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