INTERTEXTUALITY IN IAN MCEWAN’S ATONEMENT AS A PRINCIPLE OF NARRATIVE ORGANIZATION

The article examines the role of intertextuality in shaping the narrative organization of Ian McEwan's Atonement.While the novel is often discussed in terms of postmodern self-reflexivity and ethical uncertainty, the study argues that intertextual references in Atonement perform a structural function.They bind together its fragmented perspectives, temporal layers, and moral concerns.Taking into account the theories of intertextuality proposed by Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, and Gérard Genette, the article approaches intertextuality not merely as a network of literary allusions but as a principle of internal organization that guides interpretation and sustains narrative unity.The analysis focuses on key literary traditions embedded in the novel, which include eighteenth-century moral fiction and modernist narrative experimentation.References to Jane Austen, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding shape characters' attitudes toward morality and imagination.At the same time, modernist intertexts, particularly those associated with Virginia Woolf, influence narrative rhythm, focalization, and the representation of interior experience.These literary intertextual dialogues are reinforced through recurring motifs such as letters and material objects, most notably the Meissen vase, which functions as a symbolic and structural link across different parts of the novel.