An Analysis Of The Narrative Effects Through The Dynamics Of Unreliability In A Pale View Of Hills

The Japanese-born English novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is considered as one of the most celebrated contemporary novelists in the English-speaking world.He is the winner of Nobel Prize in literature in 2017,and almost all of his works have received professional literary awards and great public response.His debut novel A Pale View of Hills also receives good critical notices after its first publication in 1982.The story develops as the character narrator Etsuko recollects her past days in post-war Nagasaki.Her vague narration switches between the past Japan and the present England,with the memory and reality intertwined.Although A Pale View of Hills receives less attention from scholars and readers compared with Kazuo Ishiguro’s later works,it is undoubted that many elements in the book have become Kazuo Ishiguro’s prominent features in his novels,such as the first-person point of view,the obscure memory and the unreliable narration.Based on a close reading of the text,this thesis intends to employ the unreliable narration theory of James Phelan to present the dynamics of the narrator Etsuko’s unreliability on the three axes and the corresponding change in the distance between the narrator and readers.The reason for Etsuko’s unreliable narration and the writer’s intention behind his narrative strategy will be the focus in this thesis.This thesis is composed of five parts.Chapter One is an introduction to the thesis,which includes a brief review of Kazuo Ishiguro and A Pale View of Hills,relevantliterature review and theoretical framework.Chapter Two explores the estranging effects achieved through the narrator Etsuko’s unreliability to reliability.This chapter mainly focuses on the axis of facts and events to see how the narrator obtains the eventual reliability in respect of reporting the facts,but the readers will tend to form a negative opinion of Etsuko instead,and thus the distance between the narrator and readers increases.Chapter Three examines the bonding effects reached through the narrator Etsuko’s partial reliability.In this chapter,on the axis of ethics and evaluation,Etsuko gradually gains relief from the great guilt about her daughter Keiko’s death,but she has been failing to evaluate the sufferings from the decision of leaving Japan.At this time,the readers start to realize the struggles in Etsuko’s mind,which reduces the distance between the narrator and readers.Chapter Four is the analysis of thorough understanding attained through the narrator Etusko’s unreliability.As the studies go on,it is found out that Etsuko remains totally unreliable on the axis of knowledge and perception.The reasons behind it will push readers to get close to the narrator’s unspeakable trauma and fully understand the severe pain in the depth of the narrator’s heart.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the whole thesis.By endeavoring to present the dynamics of unreliability and the different narrative effects,this thesis aims to prove that one’s unspeakable trauma is worth much more attention and convey the author Kazuo Ishiguro’s humanistic concerns about the traumatized people.