Pursuit And Reconstruction Of Memory

Kazuo Ishiguro(1954-),a Japanese-born British writer,is an unavoidable name in modern British literature.This fact is further proved after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in October,2017,which makes him stand side-by-side with those greatest names in literary history.Ishiguro's works are both welcomed by common readers and acknowledged by professional literary awards.Four out of his seven books are included in the Booker Prize short list and The Remains of the Day won him the Prize in 1989.Born in Japan but raised up in Britain,Ishiguro's identity as a writer "of the floating world" has much in common with the protagonists in his works.Elements like memory,identity,and trauma often appear in Ishiguro's works,and even become motifs of his creation.Pursuit of individual memory,reconstruction of self identity and healing of individual trauma have almost become a routine for his characters and readers.And after ten years' silence,in 2015,his latest work,The Buried Giant,continues with this routine.A Briton couple,Axl and Beatrice,starts a journey to visit their son.Faced with Querig's breath,the couple has to pierce the mist and find out what really happened in their past life and between Briton and Saxon.Though following the routine mentioned above,The Buried Giant can still be viewed as a breakthrough in Ishiguro's creation career for its multiple narrative points,its setting in Arthurian Britain and its direct discussion of collective trauma/memory.Based on the text,the thesis analyzes the work from a traumatic perspective and a detailed discussion develops respectively from individual and collective spheres.First of all,the thesis takes a close look at the individual sphere.For the characters concerned,each of them has their own memories and traumas.However,whether they could remember the past and get healed remains a question.Axl and Beatrice has to face the cruel fact about their son and the family conflict that happened years ago with the development of their quest in the mist;Sir Gawain suffers from aging and the misunderstanding brought by his failure of killing Querig;Saxon warrior Wistan bears a secret mission,and when facing those who want to stop him,at least physical trauma is inescapable;similar with the Briton couple,young Saxon Edwin wants to find his mother back,but what awaits him may not be good news.Secondly,beneath the apparently peaceful status quo is the dark and even bloody history between Saxon and Briton,so a collective perspective is needed to examine the complex bilateral relationship between the two nations and the consequences brought by such a relationship.Thirdly,the mutual influence of individual and collective sphere is paid attention to.On the one hand,Querig's breath deprives ordinary people of their individual memories,so they are forced to accept and share the collective memory.On the other hand,individuals' journey shakes the foundation of the dominating discourse:Axl and Beatrice's journey in the mist leads them closer to what really happened in history;and the duel between Gawain and Wistan determines the life and death of Querig.Finally,the thesis takes a broader view and traces Ishiguro's creation career.Ishiguro's concern over collective trauma/memory is not an accident,and from his earlier works,it can be concluded that although Ishiguro used to stress the individual sphere,he did not neglect the collective part.In essence,for one thing,The Buried Giant follows some of Ishiguro's creation routine;for another,The Buried Giant can be viewed as a transition or breakthrough in his career for its concern over the collective part and discussion about the interaction of private and collective spheres.