Memory And Self-Construction In Gurnah’s By The Sea

The African-British writer Abdulrazak Gurnah(1948-)is the winner of the2021 Nobel Prize in Literature.Gurnah has profound insights on the themes of“Departure” and “Memory”,revealing the survival plight and inner world of the diaspora.By the Sea(2001)is Gurnah’s semi-autobiography based on his own diasporic experiences.Compared with the fruitful research results abroad,the domestic studies on By the Sea begin an explosive development after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.Up to now,scholars at home and abroad primarily interpret the narrative strategies,memory writing,and the identity issue in By the Sea.However,they ignore the generational differences between the two protagonists and that the formation of a hybrid identity is not equivalent to self-reconstruction.Therefore,in the light of Maurice Halbwachs’ s theory of collective memory,assisted by the ethics of memory proposed by Avishai Margalit,this thesis explores the dynamic process of Latif’s and Saleh’s self-construction by memory.The research questions are as follows: 1.What is the self-crisis that the two protagonists encounter in the colonial and unstable historical period of Zanzibar? 2.How does collective memory result in the two characters’ self-crisis of the two protagonists? 3.How do the two protagonists exert their self-search by sharing individual memory? 4.How does the recreation of the significance of memory affect the construction of the two protagonists’ complete self? Firstly,this thesis illustrates the impact of rootless memory on the two protagonists’ self-crisis,revealing their isolated,alienated,and broken states of self.Secondly,it reflects the two protagonists’ self-search and reconciliation by sharing their individual memory.Ultimately,recurring the significance of memory not only reconstructs the protagonists’ connection with the past but also constructs a liveable present for the complete self through the balance between the past and the present.Research finds that collective memory affects the two protagonists all the time,and serves as an emotional bond to rebuild their connection to the past and to achieve a balance between the past and the present,ultimately shaping a complete self through reconciliation and redemption.This thesis conduces to promoting the textual practice of memory theory,providing a new perspective for studying Gurnah’s thematic concerns and works.In terms of its practical value,this thesis can update the stereotypes about the diaspora writers and Africa to some extent,and echo the trend of the building of a human community with a shared future.