Self-deception,Self-Denial And Self-reconstruction:Memories As Simulacra In An Artist Of The Floating World

This thesis focuses on the memory manipulation of Masuji Ono,the protagonist of Kazuo Ishiguro's second novel An Artist of the Floating World by utilizing Gilles Deleuze's philosophy of simulacrum.The project combines the concept of simulacrum with memory,justifies memory' position of simulacrum,and on this basis illuminates Ono's memory becoming realized through his unreliable first person narrative.The Introduction presents firstly the general information about Kazuo Ishiguro and his second novel An Artist of the Floating World,secondly the literature review of the existing criticism from both abroad and at home,and lastly the theoretical framework and basic structure of the present study.Chapter Two,“Memory Simulacrum and Memory Manipulation”,elaborates firstly the justification of the memory's position of being deemed as simulacrum and how memory makes sense from the perspective of being simulacrum,in which two points are incorporated: one is memory's deceptive nature and another is the affirmation of memory itself,wherein the virtual and actual significance are manifested;Secondly the protagonists' memory manipulation in Kazuo Ishiguro's proses including the analysis of the reason why memory is a kind of manipulation,the motivation of protagonists' memory manipulation,and the best and most convenient way of such memory manipulation: the unreliable first person narrative which mainly refers to two points: first is the argumentation of why the protagonists' narrative is unreliable and second is the logical relationship between unreliable narrative and memory manipulation.Chapter Three,“Becoming of Multiplicity and Difference: Ways of Masuji Ono's Memory Manipulation”,expounds specifically the three main forms of Masuji Ono's unreliable first person narrative,the way of his memory manipulation.The first manipulation form is “Evading the Disgraced Reality: Memory Becoming of Self-Deception”,which is analyzed from two aspects of Ono's memory becoming of self-deception: the first is Ono's deceiving himself that he still possesses the “prestigious” social position by indulging himself in his memory of the past;the second is Ono's self-deceptive self-justification for his culpable behaviors of serving for the militaristic fascist regime before the end of the war.The second manipulation form is “Facing the Oblique Past: Memory Becoming of Self-Denial”,which is illuminated from three aspects.The first is Ono's self-doubt upon his career's justice and correctness.The second is the indirect self-denial through affirming Yukio Naguchi's committing suicide and negating Shintaro's behavior of lying about himself.The third is Ono's direct self-denial to his cause of serving for the militaristic regime as a propagandist posters painter.The third manipulation form is “Reconciling with the Imperfect Self: Memory Becoming of Self-Reconstruction”,which includes Ono's persuading and consoling himself,and admitting that the faith he believed and devoted loyalty to is a totally mistake.The reason why he makes mistake is his narrow perspective and being lack of enough insight as an ordinary person.In addition,the postwar rebuilding programme of the external world also projects Ono's internal self-reconstruction in his mind.Furthermore,Ono's attitude towards both the external public opinion and the Americanization of postwar Japanese society has converted from initial evasion and deep doubt to final acceptance and sincere gladness.Masuji Ono's multiple and differential memory becoming reveals memory simulacrum's characteristics of “difference” and “rhizome” and in the meanwhile provides Ono with abundant “lines of flight” to the “deterritorialization” of his “territory” of mind.Chapter Four,“Becoming of Revolution and Subversion: Results of Masuji Ono's Memory Manipulation”,elucidates Ono's memory becoming of revolution and subversion,namely the results of Ono's “deterritorialization” which is realized through the three specific ways of becoming of multiplicity and difference.Ono's memory becoming of revolution and subversion is demonstrated mainly from two aspects: rebellion against the external world and change to the internal world.Ono's rebellion against the external world include five aspects: the first aspect is Ono's rebellion against his being cast out and forgotten by the others because of the drastic decline of his social status after the war;the second aspect is his rebellion against the enormous pressure brought to him by the public opinion's hatred towards him because of his militaristic identity serving for the fascist regime before the end of the unjust war.These two rebellions are realized through memory becoming of self-deception.Ono's third rebellion is his repulsion against the postwar Americanization of Japan's society;and Ono's forth rebellion is his pursuit process of his ambition,namely his rejecting to follow his authoritarian father's footsteps into a career as a bureaucrat and becoming an artist,his leaving Mater Takeda's firm and becoming Mori-san's pupil,and his leaving Mori-san's villa and joining the fascist organization named Okada-Shingen Society through the recommendation of Chishu Matsuda,a local political firebrand;the last aspect is Ono's plainspoken tone and civil tongue employed in his first person narrative.Ono's rebellions against the external world are actually the results of his “desire production”.Ono's change to his internal world refers to two levels: Memory becoming of self-denial changes Ono's stubbornly vindicating for his past militaristic mistakes and subverts his obsession to the so-called highly prestigious social position.Memory becoming of self-reconstruction subverts Ono's rejection to accept the failure of his cause,and repulsion against the postwar Americanization of Japan's society.My conclusion highlights the mechanism of Ono's “desire production” of memory manipulation as a whole,namely Ono's two times “deterritorialization” and “reterritorialization” through memory's becoming of multiplicity and difference and becoming of revolution and subversion.Meanwhile,my conclusion points out that Kazuo Ishiguro appreciates Ono's self-revolution to his internal world.