The Ethics Of Memory In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novels

The influence of memory on people is profound and huge.Through memory,we can link the past and connect the collective.If we lost control of memory,our choices will be severely affected.And this will threaten the identity in collective.Kazuo Ishiguro has long been writing around the memory motif in his novels.The protagonists in his novels adjust his own cognition according to memory,exposing the complexity of the relationship between individuals or individual and the collective,and revealing different responses toward memory dilemmas.For this reason,The ethics of Kazuo Ishiguro’s memory writing is highlighted.Proceed from the content of Kazuo Ishiguro’s six novels,this research focuses on the author-reader communication process in text generation.Based on the close reading of the text,this research studies the ethics of individual memory,the ethics of collective memory,the ethics of memories narration and the aesthetic effect formed by ethical conflicts,supporting by the ethics of memory,ethical literary criticism,collective memory,cultural memory,narrative ethics and related theories,in order to explain the ethics of memory in his works more systematically and comprehensively.Under the guidance of this framework,this research explores the ethics of individual memory in the first chapter,taking the interactive relationship between collective memory and individual memory as a clue to demonstrate the feature of self-deception in their individual memories and the ethical choice of self-punishment.Foll owing the gradual unfolding process of collective memory,the second chapter explores buried collective memory,focuses on the ethics of collective memory,discusses the conflicts between memories belonging to different collectives at the synchronic level,and their hindered intergenerational transmission to reveal the constructive of collective memory.In the third chapter,this paper intend to discuss the huge tension and distinctive reading experience generating from the memories narration:only by reviewing his novels at a proper distance can his emotional power be maximized.This research believes that in Kazuo Ishiguro’s memory writing,he not only made his own explanation of various terms of memory,but also constantly explored the boundaries of memory and presented different possibilities of memory.Kazuo Ishiguro treats the establishment of the reasonable ethics of memory as an significant approach for characters to reconcile with the reality in his novels,which manifests his deep thinking about the current ethical environment of memory and provides readers with tools to reflect on themselves and observe the world.Memory is an important method for individuals to construct identities,pursue the sense of belonging and live with world harmoniously.In the process of reading his novels,readers may trigger their own memories of similar experiences,thus realizing the constructiveness of memory,the complexity of forgetting and strongly feeling the importance of establishing a balance in the ethics of memory.