On The Consciousness Of Nostalgia In Kazuo Ishiguro's Novels

Japanese-born British writer Kazuo Ishiguro is a distinguished novelist in the contemporary British literary arena.Although Kazuo Ishiguro can hardly be regarded as a prolific writer,each of his works is well recognized by readers and critics,and he is also the winner of some major prizes such as the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.Throughout the seven novels by Kazuo Ishiguro,it can be found that in spite of the different themes,they have a high internal consistency,which is shown in the fact that all of his works centre on the attitude toward the past.This paper starts with the writer's attitude to nostalgia,focuses on close reading and related theories like narratology and sociology,and explores the different focuses of nostalgia and the idealistic spirit reflected in Kazuo Ishiguro's works of different periods.This paper includes three parts,which are introduction,main body and conclusion.In the introduction part,the author first combs the relevant theories of nostalgia and highlights the nostalgia theory in terms of modernism.Secondly,the author summarizes the details and origin of Kazuo Ishiguro's nostalgia from two aspects.In the end,the author makes a comprehensive review of the researches on Kazuo Ishiguro's literary creation at home and abroad.The main body of this paper consists of three chapters.In the first chapter,the nostalgia in Kazuo Ishiguro's early works is explored while taking The Remains of the Day as the object of study.Since all of Kazuo Ishiguro's early works were created in the 1980 s,they were profoundly influenced by the nostalgia in Britain at that time.In Kazuo Ishiguro's works of this period,the protagonists often wallow in the past,attempting to search for their own value by recreating the old myths.In The Remains of the Day,the protagonist Stevens tries to affirm the significance of one's self-existence as an individual through restoring the imperial mythology.However,due to the unreliability of reminiscence,the writer deconstructed the mythology that Stevens wants to repair through nostalgia.The paper points out that Kazuo Ishiguro expressed his reflection and vigilance on the restorative nostalgia in his works during this period.Based on the When We Were Orphan,the second chapter discusses Kazuo Ishiguro's nostalgia shown in the medium term of his creation.Kazuo Ishiguro's works in the middle period focused on expressing nostalgia for childhood,which is closely related to his early immigrant experience.In When We Were Orphan,the protagonist also has a dual cultural background.And his nostalgia for his childhood demonstrates his pursuit of his identity.With the protagonist's pursuit of past time,Kazuo Ishiguro put forward the practical functions of nostalgia.That is,nostalgia is not an escape from reality but a positive emotion that should be used to advance the present and the future.In short,in his works in this period,Kazuo Ishiguro emphasized the initiative of nostalgia,holding that nostalgia for the good memories of the past will help us to improve the current world.The third chapter mainly analyzes The Buried Giant,the latest novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.This novel,which was published ten years later,took innovations while carrying on.The innovation lied in the writing technique,which explored the value and significance of the past for people from forgetting.Despite the different perspective,the writer focused on people's attitude towards the past.Therefore,this work can be regarded as the inheritance and development of nostalgia.In the conclusion part,the author makes a summary of the nostalgia shown in Kazuo Ishiguro's works.In his works,Kazuo Ishiguro expressed his criticism of the negative aspects of nostalgia.Meanwhile,he also emphasized that nostalgia was a creative and positive force.The writer named such kind of positive nostalgia as the emotional equivalent of idealism.That is because both of them express their longing for a wonderful world that does not exist at the moment.Consequently,idealism is not only the starting point of Kazuo Ishiguro's nostalgia but also its ultimate goal.The author believes that it is the nostalgia based on idealism which distinguishes Kazuo Ishiguro from other writers.Studying the nostalgia shown in Kazuo Ishiguro's works will help us grasp the in-depth thoughts and connotations of his works.