Nostalgia and Redemption in Kazuo Ishiguro s Novels开题报告

Nostalgia is aphenomenon in modern society. People who like nostalgia live in reality, butnever forget the past. Whatever beautiful or sad memories, they will allbecome objects of nostalgia. They continue to reproduce memories in theirbrains, trying to draw the scene of the past world and place their spiritualperception on the past. Many are either not satisfied with the present life,or frustrated in real life, trying to find comfort in the past. The Bourgeoisrevolution, industrialization, and the development of the democraticpolitical system have brought people into the mass society, and the membersliving in this social state are the 'mass.' The masses arescattered and lonely. Because they have lost the reference of the unifiedvalue system and social norms in the past, the masses are in existence ofanxiety, drift, and fragility. The discomforts, which come with socialchanges, will induce them to miss the past society. With the development ofmass society, nostalgia has become a common social phenomenon.

Many sociologists take aview of that nostalgia is a common problem of modern people. The famouswestern sociologist Zygmunt Bauman once pointed out in his book 'TheUtopia of Nostalgia' that nostalgia is a departure from the reality ofsociety, and this phenomenon has been criticized. But nostalgia is not alwaysonly negative. 'Nostalgia is not always about the past. Nostalgia may beretrospective, but it may also be forward-looking.' The American scholarSvetlana Boym put forward two types of nostalgia, 'remediationalmodel' and 'reflective model' in her book 'The Future ofNostalgia', placing more expectations on the present and the future.

KazuoIshiguro is one of the 'Three Great Immigrant Writers' in the UKand won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. Kazuo Ishiguro is an importantcontemporary British writer, and the study of his works is of greatsignificance. The outstanding feature of Kazuo Ishiguro''''''''''''''''s works is the themeof memory. In the writing technique, the past is presented in reminiscencewriting. The protagonist of his work is full of deep nostalgia while statingthe past. Therefore, nostalgia has become a theme that cannot be ignored inhis works, and even has a great influence.

Ishigurodefines nostalgia in his work as a “ a largely pejorative one”. He alwaystries to “defend nostalgia as an emotion, which he thinks is valuable. In hisworks, protagonists'''''''''''''''' reconciling past memories with present circumstances'leads to a less accurate and less objective version of the past'. Repressingthose traumatic memories is also a way in which narrators forget the past in Ishiguro''''''''''''''''sbooks. Retrieving the past is a major theme of Ishiguro'''''''''''''''' ''''''''''''''''s work. Thenarrators impose the significance and meaning on the past throughretrospection. Ishiguro''''''''''''''''s works are “homeless', being marginalized inmodern society and facing the identity crisis or anxiety caused by thepolitical, economic and cultural turmoil in modern society'

Thisessay attempts to analyze his three works ' The Remains of the day ', ' A Pale view of Hills ' and ' An Artist ofFloating World ' from the perspective of 'nostalgia' toconstruct the 'nostalgic' images and its possible impact and value,trying to find outlets for the nostalgia of the masses in modern society.

Thisessay will analyze the three works of Kazuo Ishiguro, “The Remains of theday ',” A Pale view of Hills “and' An Artist ofFloating World ' from the perspective of nostalgia theory, and sortout his nostalgic consciousness by studying the typical reminiscences of theprotagonists in the three works. And through analyzing the treatment ofnostalgia consciousness of the protagonists, to discover the value andmeaning of nostalgia. That is, redemption of the soul.

Thisessay is divided into three parts. The first part is introduction, the secondpart is the main body of the essay, and the third part is a conclusion. Thefirst part is a brief introduction to the current research on Kazuo Ishiguroand his works，and brief introduction of these therenovels: “The Remains of the day ',” A Pale view of Hills “and' An Artist of Floating World”. Thesecond part is divided into four chapters. The chapter 1 states nostalgiainclude Boym''''''''''''''''s nostalgia theory and Kazuo Ishiguro’ Nostalgia.Chapter 2 introduces causes of nostalgia. Chapter 3 introduces the utopia of nostalgia.Chapter 4 introduces the redemption of nostalgia, that is the value ofnostalgia. Finally, there will be a conclusion about this essay.