Remembrance and Erasure : Postmodern Duplicity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant

Sammanfattning

A postmodern analysis of The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro is attempted in this essay, with particular focus on intertextuality, historical fictionality, and the concept of grand narratives. The essay explores instances where these postmodern devices are applied in the novel and how this poses questions regarding norms, historical accuracy, and dedications to uncompromising belief systems. An introduction to the novel and to postmodernism is made in order to establish the suitability of a postmodern reading of Ishiguro’s work. The concluding analysis suggests that the questioning of historical accuracy and of loyalty to established narratives is a postmodern occupation but that the novel intentionally withholds any conclusive answers. Instead, it highlights tendencies to favour affirmative narratives over ambivalence, at the expense of honesty.