Alexander von Ramm
English A1
Mr. Kirk
IB1
Commentary on Ian McEwan's Enduring Love „Appendix 1“
After the 24th chapter Ian McEwan added two appendices. Imitating the style and structure of a scientific paper the first appendix explains the science behind Parry's condition. This “hoax” scientific paper was accepted by a number of critics including an eminent psychiatrist. This commentary is supposed to show the reasons for the acceptance of this paper. Furthermore I am going to explain why the author had to add to add this appendix after his farytale ending in chapter 24.
In order to imitate the style of a scientific paper Ian McEwan uses a highly scientific language. Therefore his he uses a lot of technical terms like “nosological entity” and “associated pathologies of love”. He totally changes his use of language into a scientific way. He avoids originality and personality which leads to a highly objective voice. He totally eradicates names out of his paper. Jed Parry's name is changed into “P” like Joe's name is changed into “R”. Furthermore his paper rarely includes speculations which is specific for a scientific paper. In addition to that he supports every statement with at least one reference. Every single rhetorical objective is used in order to imitate the scientific style of papers like this. His choice of the rhetorical objectives in this manner is quite wise because all of them are typical for the scientific use of language.