Redemption And Reflection Of Memory

Kazuo Ishiguro has written seven novels until he won Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017.“Trauma” and “memory” are the most common concerns in his novels.This thesis is based on A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro,focusing on the keywords: trauma and memory.It combined with the theories of Sigmund Freud,Kathy Caruth and Jan Assman,analyzing the traumatic memory of all the characters,so as to explore the author’s attitude to these dilemmas and related writing in his early woks more comprehensively,and finally explains the significance of collective traumatic memory writing in his works.This thesis consists of the introduction,body chapters and the conclusion.The introduction contains the overview of the writer,the work and the paper.By analyzing the interviews and works,it introduces Kazuo Ishiguro’s interests and purposes of his creations,and thus derives his special attention on trauma and memory,and then explains the research summary,value and overall framework of this paper.The first chapter explains the origin and development of the concept of “trauma” and the difference between“trauma” and “PTSD”,and then introduces Freud and Caruth’s viewpoints about repetition compulsion and hysteresis in trauma theory as well as the meaning and form of collective memory,and finally summarizes the types and characteristics of Kazuo Ishiguro’s traumatic writing.The second chapter analyzes the different attitudes of Ogata,wife of Fujiwara and Keiko on traumatic memory in this novel,and points out the limits.Combined with trauma theory,the third chapter focuses on the memory characteristics——retrospective,repressive,virtual and so on——of main character Etsuko who has double identities of victim and perpetrator,and analyzing the self-reflection and redemption in the dialogues between Etsuko and Sachiko.The fourth chapter illustrates the significance of the traumatic memory writing,which combines with the memory theory in ethical fields,and then puts forward my reflection on A Pale View of Hills.The conclusion summarizes previous discussions,and explains the significance of the traumatic memory writing to the individual’s redemption and collective reflection,and finally points out that Kazuo Ishiguro’s concerns to individual experiences contribute to the improvement and fullness of collective memory.