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Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2008. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

The creative component of my project is a conteporary, confessional novel, Refrain. The narrator, Jake, has spent his youth chasing a life that matched his dreams - first as a would-be rock star and then by fleeing to India in search of exotic adventures with his girlfriend. Now he returns alone to the suburban backwater he'd tried so hard to escape, ready for stability and responsibility. However, his attempts to reinvent himself in this world of chronic unemployment and limited horizons are thrown into confusion by old friends, estranged fmaily members, an unresolved attachment, and by his musical successor - a volatile young woman with her own problems, who draws him back to things he'd rather forget and towards a future he isn't ready to face. Refain is a story of idealism and desire, fading hopes and unexpected opportunities, long-distance love and short-sightedness. The exegetical component of my project investigates the term 'portmodern confession' as an i ntersection of the confessional narrative mode and postmodernism, and its application to two recent texts: The sportswriter by Richard Ford, and The remains of teh day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The idea of witnessing through the lense of cultural trauma is one which has been described by Dominick LaCapra and others as a encompassing and far reaching from the private to the public spheres. In some cases, when trauma is so overwhelming, the response is to remain silent and do nothing to acknowledge acceptance of the causing factors of the cultural trauma. Novelists such as Kazuo Ishiguro employ various methods of discussing cultural trauma in their works. Ishiguro’s novels, Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day harbor narrators whose inner traumas reflect the trauma of the culture at large. The silent spaces in these novels arise in situations where the extreme measures taken by governing entities is also clearly stated, particularly in their discussions of the Holocaust and World War II.

The focus of this essay is Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. My central claim is that a theme of belonging underpins the novel and is recurrent in a number of different ways. In my reading, I utilise Jean Baudrillard’s postmodern critical concepts to produce this interpretation. I argue that the theme of belonging can be interpreted using Baudrillard’s loss of the real and hyperreal concepts. The usefulness of these concepts is primarily based on the element of clones and cloning in the narrative. Baudrillard’s theories deal with signs and images that do not correspond with the realities that they are meant to represent, mirroring the predicament of the Hailsham students in Never Let Me Go. My essay presents three main areas of discussion in relation to the theme of belonging. Firstly, Hailsham and the students are examined using the loss of the real/hyperreal concepts. The second area deals with belongings as a recurrent motif. In my reading, the dual meaning of the word belonging is an important factor in identifying the theme. This particular discussion deals also with ownership. The final area of discussion revolves around the issue of genre, or rather genres. The novel’s mixture of character drama and science-fiction dystopia is discussed in relation to the loss of the real/hyperreal. / Uppsatsens fokus är Kazuo Ishiguros Never Let Me Go. Min huvudtes är att det finns ett tema av tillhörighet som utmärker romanen. I min läsning applicerar jag Jean Baudrillards postmoderna kritiska begrepp i tolkningen av texten. I uppsatsen argumenterar jag att temat av tillhörighet kan tolkas med hjälp Baudrillards begrepp förlust av verkligheten samt hyperverkligheten. Användbarheten av dessa begrepp bygger på förekomsten av kloner och kloning i texten. Baudrillards teorier handlar om tecken och bilder som ej motsvarar verkligheten på ett tydligt sätt, och denna brist på korrespondens mellan verklighet och representation avspeglar Hailsham-elevernas situation i Never Let Me Go. Min uppsats har tre huvuddiskussioner i förhållande till temat tillhörighet. För det första, undersöks Hailsham och eleverna med med hjälp av begreppen förlust av verkligheten/hyperverkligheten. Andra diskussionsområden handlar om tillhörighet/er som återkommande tema. I min läsning, är det faktum att ordet tillhörighet har två definitioner en viktig aspekt när man ska identifiera temat. Denna diskussion handlar också om äganderätt. Den sista diskussionen handlar om romanens genre, eller genrer. Även romanens blandning av karaktärsdrama och science-fictiondystopi diskuteras i förhållande till Baudrillards begrepp förlust av verkligheten/hyperverkligheten.

A presente dissertação busca oferecer uma leitura do romance Os Vestígios do Dia, de Kazuo Ishiguro, partindo do pressuposto de que o entendimento da obra requer um olhar sob quatro ângulos temporais: o presente da narrativa (1956, ano da Crise de Suez); a época em que se localiza cada fato narrado (em geral, o período entreguerras); uma espécie de passado mítico de uma Grande Inglaterra ao qual o narrador se referencia internamente; e o ano da recepção imediata da obra (1989, ano da queda do Muro de Berlim, embora o livro tenha sido publicado meses antes desse acontecimento). Segundo esta leitura, o romance consistiria em uma espécie de obra de fim de século que lançaria um olhar de estranhamento para o século XX a partir da perspectiva de um narrador que se vincula a valores anteriores a isso e de um leitor que avalia tanto esse narrador quanto seus oponentes de 1956 com o privilégio de uma distância temporal que criaria um efeito de ironia dramática. / This dissertation seeks to offer an interpretation of Kazuo Ishiguros novel The Remains of The Day based on the assumption that understanding the work requires viewing it from four temporal angles: the narrative present (1956, the year of the Suez Crisis); the time in which each narrated fact is located (the interwar period, in most cases); a sort of mythical past of a Great Britain to which the narrator refers inwardly; and the year of the immediate reception of the work (1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, though the book is published several months before the USSR falls apart). According to this reading, the novel would consist of a kind of fin-de-siècle work that throws a look of estrangement upon the twentieth century from the perspective of a narrator who is linked to values prior to this time and a reader who looks at both this narrator and his opponents in 1956 with the privilege of a temporal distance that end up creating an effect of dramatic irony.

A presente dissertação busca oferecer uma leitura do romance Os Vestígios do Dia, de Kazuo Ishiguro, partindo do pressuposto de que o entendimento da obra requer um olhar sob quatro ângulos temporais: o presente da narrativa (1956, ano da Crise de Suez); a época em que se localiza cada fato narrado (em geral, o período entreguerras); uma espécie de passado mítico de uma Grande Inglaterra ao qual o narrador se referencia internamente; e o ano da recepção imediata da obra (1989, ano da queda do Muro de Berlim, embora o livro tenha sido publicado meses antes desse acontecimento). Segundo esta leitura, o romance consistiria em uma espécie de obra de fim de século que lançaria um olhar de estranhamento para o século XX a partir da perspectiva de um narrador que se vincula a valores anteriores a isso e de um leitor que avalia tanto esse narrador quanto seus oponentes de 1956 com o privilégio de uma distância temporal que criaria um efeito de ironia dramática. / This dissertation seeks to offer an interpretation of Kazuo Ishiguros novel The Remains of The Day based on the assumption that understanding the work requires viewing it from four temporal angles: the narrative present (1956, the year of the Suez Crisis); the time in which each narrated fact is located (the interwar period, in most cases); a sort of mythical past of a Great Britain to which the narrator refers inwardly; and the year of the immediate reception of the work (1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, though the book is published several months before the USSR falls apart). According to this reading, the novel would consist of a kind of fin-de-siècle work that throws a look of estrangement upon the twentieth century from the perspective of a narrator who is linked to values prior to this time and a reader who looks at both this narrator and his opponents in 1956 with the privilege of a temporal distance that end up creating an effect of dramatic irony.

This thesis analyses the hegemonic processes that are maintained by traditions, institutions and formations by discussing over the process of value construction the characters in Kazuo Ishiguro&rsquo / s two novels are engaged in. A Marxist approach is used along the way and the discussions over the novels were taken as an opportunity of underlining the necessity of a Marxist approach towards art in order to make use of its propaedeutic value and extract the hegemonic substance the artwork inheres. This thesis seeks to use the propaedeutic value of Ishiguro&rsquo / s novels to point out to the hegemony that is prevailing over our actual lives. It argues that the person always has to relate himself to a society, and hence that society and &lsquo / the hegemonic&rsquo / forces operant on that society come to shape his values and judgements at the end. In the end, what this study finds are the traces of the hegemonic processes that are hidden behind the individualized experience of Ishiguro&rsquo / s characters. Neither Stevens, nor Kathy can be underestimated to their individual choices. It is the hegemony, and the tradition and the institutions of that hegemony that construct their existence. Also, it is found out that it is again the hegemony that shapes the existence of Ishiguro&rsquo / s value judgements and his works&rsquo / value schemes that are studied here.

Although various approaches to psychotherapy have been applied to The Remains of the Day in the aforementioned analyses, none have linked it to Role Theory, as defined in the context of Psychodrama. However if the abnormal importance that Stevens attributes to becoming a perfect butler is taken into account, The Remains of the Day is practically saturated with textual evidence of how social role imbalance is the source of Stevens’ dilemmas both in the narrated and the narrating time. Although whether it was Ishiguro’s intention to create this effect is unclear, the setting of the novel in a world that is transitioning from the war eras to modernity moreover fits in all too well with the sociological aspects of Role Theory. In brief, it has been proposed that changes in society that render certain social roles obsolete put pressure on the individuals that hold these roles to either adapt or renew themselves in pace with societal developments. Stevens, being a butler, would have felt such strain acutely, being that the decline of the great British houses over the aforementioned period led to a sharp decline in domestic service professions at the time. (Lee, 1988)Drawing upon both the Psycho-dramatic and the Sociologic aspects of Role Theory, this paper aims first of all to propose that Ishiguro’s main character in The Remains of the Day suffers from an over-developed occupational role, which has eliminated or at the very least marginalized his other social roles. Secondly it will argue that the latter’s’ reflections that are brought about over the course of the plot are a consequence of role strain, which as a palpable yet indirect plot element forces him realize that his occupational role is slowly but steadily becoming a thing of the past. In facing such a fate, he is in turn forced to confront how his extreme commitment to his job has left the rest of his life empty, for which he begins to look back at and reconsider the roles that he could have had but neglected in life. On top of outlining this approach to rationalizing the events of the novel, the paper will theorize upon that in choosing to tell such a story, Ishiguro is promoting a view of the world as a place in constant motion, in which, like the post-modernist perspective, there are no set or universal values that withstand the test of time. Juxtaposed against the satirical undertones of the novel, as well as against the time period in which it is set, this statement will in turn be interpreted as critique against the destructive qualities of conventions in society.

Adopting historical perspectives, this thesis explores domestic, aesthetic, and cultural conflicts in modern Japan surrounding Masuji Ono, the protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro¡¦s An Artist of the Floating World, as he looks back on his past. His memory narrative reveals his transformation from an iconoclastic young artist to a militarist propagandist in pre-war time, and finally to an old man who comes to terms with the loss of his prestige through none too reliable remembrances. Reading Ono¡¦s narrative in cross reference to historical texts, I argue that his transformation is in step with Japan¡¦s shift from a thriving nation to a militarist empire, and ultimately to a defeated nation subject to the Occupation after World War II and subsequent social changes. These changes are induced by democratization and disarmament engineered by the American army, which drastically undermine Japanese values, including the apotheosis of the Emperor, patriarchy, and social hierarchy. Forced to redefine themselves in the midst of the drastic social transformation, the Japanese harbor mixed feelings toward the emperor, regarding him as a guardian of the nation and a traitor. This ambivalence is profoundly felt by Ono, whose fall parallels the emperor¡¦s, since his authority as a father and a painting master is interrogated by the younger generation, most notably his daughter. In particular, his interaction with his grandson, who is brought up with American values, registers the Japanese attitudes toward the American, considering the occupier as both a welcomed authority and an alien monster. By examining three prominent authority figures in the novel¡Xfather, master, and monster¡Xthis thesis uncovers Ishiguro¡¦s agenda for negotiating an interface between history and personal memory.