What We Can Know

McEwan’s novel frequently references a historical event called the Immortal Dinner to develop the central event of Thomas’s research, the narrative’s fictional Second Immortal Dinner. Since the latter event is described as an impactful turning point in the novel’s speculative history, it is useful to understand the impact that the Immortal Dinner had on the literature of its time.

The Immortal Dinner took place on December 28, 1817, at the London house of British painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. The purpose of the dinner was twofold. First, Haydon wanted to celebrate the partial completion of his painting Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, into which he had painted three of his friends, the Romantic poets William Wordsworth, author of “Tintern Abbey” (1798) and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (1807); and John Keats, author of “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1820) and “To Autumn” (1820); and the essayist Charles Lamb, who were all among the guests at Haydon’s house that evening. Second, the dinner would also provide Haydon with an opportunity to introduce the young Keats to the renowned Wordsworth. At the end of the night, Haydon recorded the events of the dinner in his journal.