Conjectural History in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novels: A Pale View of Hills, When We Were Orphans, and The Buried Giant

Abstract

Upon leafing through the pages of Kazuo Ishiguro’s works, it is easily discerned that there is a laudable attempt on the part of him to make of history an integral part of the fabrics of his novels. There is a remarkable endeavor to plow up past events and paint them with a tinge of fiction. There is that constant oscillation between the past and present. The narrative structure of his novels is fundamentally carried through the memories of their characters including the protagonists- the first-person narrators. Taking this into account, there is a ringing plea to question the rationale behind Kazuo’s heavy reliance on memory and deliberate use of history. This article seeks to shed light basically on the conjectural dimension of history use in Ishiguro’s literary works, focusing namely on A Pale View of Hills, When We Were Orphans, and The Buried Giant.

Keywords: Conjectural history, facts, opinions, interpretations, forgetfulness, and journey

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/56-02

Publication date:May 31^st 2019