Remembrance and Erasure: Postmodern Duplicity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant
2025 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
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.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 36
Keywords [en]
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro, Postmodernism, Intertextuality, Historiographic Metafiction, Grand narratives, Duplicity, Historical Erasure, Self-deception
National Category
General Literature Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-46987OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-46987DiVA, id: diva2:1962412
Subject / course
English
Educational program
no programme (freestanding course)
Supervisors
Examiners
2025-06-032025-05-302025-10-02Bibliographically approved