Identity Paradox:The Narrative Art Of A Pale View Of Hills And An Artist Of The Floating World

Japanese-born Kazuo Ishiguro(1954-)is one of the most distinguished contemporary writers in Britain.He is referred as “The Three Best Immigrant Writers in British Literature” along with V.S.Naipaul,Salman Rushdie.His later works,The Remains of the Day(1993),Never Let Me Go(2005),etc.,help him win the worldwide fame.However,his early novels,A Pale View of Hill(1982)(hereinafter simplified as PVH)and An Artist of the Floating World(1986)(hereinafter simplified as AFW),described as Ishiguro's “Japanese duet”,don't receive much attention.The two novels have remarkable resemblances in both narrative skills and theme.The thesis makes an attempt to find out Ishiguro's unique narrative features in PVH and AWF with Genette's narrative theory which covers three narrative elements: narrative tense,narrative voice and narrative discourse.The analysis will help explore how the characters,such as Etsuko,Ono,Mrs.Fujiwara,deal with identity paradox.Their experience of keeping from falling and getting out of difficulties and despair has practical significance to modern readers.This thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter one includes a brief introduction to Kazuo Ishiguro and his works,literature review,theoretical framework,research significance and the structure of thesis.Chapter two to four respectively analyze the three narrative elements: narrative tense,narrative voice and narrative discourse in PVH and AWF.Narrative tense relating to order,duration and frequency is to explore how the characters react to their identity paradox,escaping or facing.Narrative voice studies the multiple narrative levels and voices to reveal the whole changing process of characters' inner world.Narrative discourse discusses the different expressions employed by characters to find out Ishiguro's narrative features.Chapter five concludes the identity paradox that Kazuo Ishiguro himself and the characters in his first two novels are facing.In conclusion,Ishiguro points out a rational and positive way for modern readers in plight.