Fragile Memory and Unreliable Narrator: A Narratological Perspective on Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
Keywords:
Unreliable narrator, Memory, Homodiegetic, Narratology, Rhetoric, Cognitive analysis, Kazuo IshiguroAbstract
The paper investigates into the notion of unreliability through a study of the homodiegetic narrator deployed by Kazuo Ishiguro in his 2005 novel Never Let Me Go. The first part of the paper presents an overview and contrasts some of the key theoretical formulations on the aspect of unreliability. Wayne. C. Booth’s 1961 work on narrative elements intensifies the whole discourse on narratology. More recently however, some theorists like A. Nunning have objected to Booth’s theory and refuted some of his key ideas on the aspect of unreliable narrator. By applying the idea of unreliability proposed by Booth’s rhetorical model as well as A. Nunning's cognitive model, the second half of the paper will attempt at an analysis of Ishiguro’s 2005 novel. Taking into cognizance different formulations on unreliability, the paper will explore the notion of unreliability and make an analysis of Ishiguro’s narrative. The paper will focus on how the foregrounded language, at first instance evokes a sense of incredulity when it comes to the reliability of Kathy. H, the narrator. It prompts the reader to investigate further and plumb the depth of the narrative to discover the hidden meaning that was not at first, immediately evident.
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