| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系所 === 107 === The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro’s seventh novel, depicts a couple Axl and Beatrice, who having lost their memory, embark on a magical journey in search of their son. Different from his previous novels, which always focus on a single narrator’s memory to review the past, this novel provides the perspectives of different characters to put together the whole plot of the story. The most important feature is the embellishment of mythological elements; the mist and the giant, which occupy a very significant position in this novel. This novel depicts a fantastical journey taken by the couple in search of a lost memory; however, it is actually an account of the chaotic state of early British history. That is to say, this novel is a combination of historical memory and mythical memory, just as the presentation of historical experience is almost presented by the form of mythological stories or historical legends for posterity. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that myth is part of history, and history includes myth in it. That is to say, in the fabrication of historical memory and mythical memory, people should define their national identity according to their chosen standards. Therefore, this thesis attempts to argue that the fabrication of historical memory and mythological memory defines the national identity. Chapter one examines the fuzzy area between historical memory and mythical memory. Chapter two explores the connection between historical memory and mythical memory. Through the analysis of the position between the mist and the giant to discuss the cause of the fictional memory can be passed down and believed by future generations. From Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo we learn to read the mist is a traditional taboo, which interprets how memory can be fabricated under the taboos (hovering mist), and the impact and reversal of fabricating memory after the taboo is violated (the vanishing mist). Chapter three discusses the choice between remembering and forgetting in historical fabrication. I will analyze throughout the perspectives of different protagonists to indicate the dilemma of the decision between remembering and forgetting. I will adopt Jan Assmann’s Communicative and Cultural Memory to explore the different presentations of recollection and the problem of the inheritance of memory. In Conclusion, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant reminds us that when historical experience is passed down to different generations through different forms, the so-called human history absorbed by people is oftentimes composed of the fragment historical memory and the modified mythical memory. That is to say, the establishment of national identity may come from the fabrication of others.
|
|---|
