石黑一雄《被掩埋的巨人》的后现代现实主义特征

torical Responsibility,and the Problem of Freedom in Kazuo Ishiguro’sThe Buried Giant,”Ivan Stacy analyzes the tension between narrative and historicalresponsibility,suggesting that excessive freedom of expression unavoidably gives riseto conflicts.He argues that the novel embraces two extreme ideas:firstly,history canbe regarded as a narrative construction,and secondly,history can be considered as anobjective truth that can be restored.The Buried Giant,as he declares,tries to find amiddle way between the two opposing views,indicating that“ethnic narrative shouldbe constructed on the basis of the recognition of others’experiences of the past”(1).

2.2 Studies at Home

Though the domestic researches for The Buried Giant start late,its researchperspectives are diverse.Similarly,domestic scholars and critics are interested in itsthematic studies,including memory,history,trauma,identity and ethnics.Additionally,they also concentrate on its narrative strategy studies,such as unreliable narrative,parody,symbolism and allegorical narrative.

As soon as the novel came out,its memory theme triggered heated discussions inthe literary world.In“Through the Forgetting Fog:Memory Writing in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant,”Zheng Baiqing analyzes how the traumatic memoryoperates at the individual and national levels in the novel from three aspects,including the recovery of memory,the repair of trauma and the reconstruction ofhistory.She suggests that the novel tries to examine issues relating to humanconditions in the cloak of fantasy,involving memory,forgetting,trauma and history(41).Similarly,Wu Lingying and Guo Long explore its memory writing at theindividual and collective levels in their essay“On Kazuo Ishiguro’s Memory Writingin The Buried Giant.”At the individual level,they discuss the paradoxicalcharacteristics of the novel manifested in the contradictory attitudes of Axl andBeatrice whether to restore their memories.At the collective level,they examine thecollective memory between the Britons and the Saxons,arguing that the novel worksas a metaphor for the potential risk of collective memory being manipulated andmisappropriated by political discourse in the postmodern context(151).In“Emotionand the Reconfiguration of Memory:On the Representation of Memory in The BuriedGiant,”Zhang Xiuli examines the complicated relationship between emotion andmemory in the novel,and mainly explores how traumatic emotions trigger,influenceand limit the reconfiguration of memory from both the individual and collectivedimensions.

CHATER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................15

3.1 The Origin of Postmodern Realism..............................15

3.2 The Main Concepts of Postmodern Realism..................................17

CHAPTER IV REPRESENTATIONS OF REALITY THROUGH HISTORY..........21

4.1 Historical References of Post-Roman Britain.....................21

4.1.1 Ethnic Wars between the Britons and the Saxons.................................22

4.1.2 Dissemination and Development of Christianity..................................24

CHAPTER V NARRATIVE STRATEGIES INTEGRATING REALISM ANDPOSTMODERNISM..............................40

5.1 Narrative Strategies of Realism.......................40

5.1.1 Minute Description of Characters and Scenes.....................................40

5.1.2 A Complete Plot with a Tragic Ending................................44

CHAPTER V NARRATIVE STRATEGIES INTEGRATINGREALISM AND POSTMODERNISM

5.1 Narrative Strategies of Realism

In the matter of narrative strategy,postmodern realist fiction does not simplyimitate the writing conventions of realist fiction,nor absolutely repudiate the writingdevices of postmodernist fiction,but skillfully synthesizes the writing techniques ofboth of them,such as detailed depiction,complete plot and characterization fromrealist fiction,and collage,parody and intertextuality from postmodernist fiction.Based on this distinctive feature of postmodern realist fiction,this chapter examinesthe ingeniou