Race Formation in Kazuo Ishiguro: The Study on The Remains of the Day from Critical Race Theory_英语论文

摘要

《长日留痕》是石黑一雄写于1989年的第三部作品，首由费伯—费伯出版社出版，小说以第一人称视角讲述了英国达林顿府邸管家史蒂文斯六天的旅行。小说的主题是旅途过程中史蒂文斯实现了与自我的和解，小说运用了戏仿和不可靠叙述，叙述方式属于现实主义文学流派。

本文借助族裔形成理论来考察石黑一雄《长日留痕》中有关意象的文化索引，针对批评界对石黑一雄的“日裔”身份认识，本文旨在通过分析其作品中的情节编织和人物刻画，对其族裔形成问题重新定义，并借助社会研究解释主流对石黑一雄文化身份进行族裔编造的原因。本文的意义在于帮助加深对石黑一雄创作风格的认识。

关键词：《长日留痕》  石黑一雄 族裔形成  意象

Abstract

First published by Faber and Faber, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro’s third works written in 1989. The stellar novel applies the first-person point of view, relating a story on the six-day travel of an English butler named Stevens who works in Darlington Hall. The theme of this novel is that the protagonist compromises with himself in the expedition. With the features of parody and unreliability, the narration mode of The Remains of the Day is realism.

This thesis attempts to analyze Kazuo Ishiguro’s cultural reference of relevant images in The Remains of the Day from critical race theory. Against the recognition of “Japanese” identity shown by the general critic circle, the analysis of the paper is aiming at redefinition of Ishiguro’s race formation through examination of plot arrangement and characterization in the Remains of the Day, leading to the consequent explanation of the race formation in terms of his cultural identity with the help of social studies of the fiction. The significance of the thesis lies in further understanding of creation style in Kazuo Ishiguro. 

Key words: The Remains of the Day  Kazuo Ishiguro  Race Formation  Images 

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction １

Chapter Two  Literature Review ４

2.1  The Theme of Japanese-ness ４

2.2  The Theme of Englishness ６

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework ８

3.1  Cultural Identification from Social perspective ８

3.2  Literary Criticism Based on Biological Illusion of Race ９

3.3  The Definition of Race and Its Formation １０

Chapter Four  Textual Analysis and Social Studies １２

4.1  Images from Bible １２

4.2  The Resemblance between Butlers and Warriors in The Iliad １６

4.3  Images from The Death of King Arthur １９

4.4  Platonism in the Novel １９

4.5  Social Studies ２３

4.5.1 Ishiguro’s Early Writing Experience ２３

4.5.2 Critics’ Arguments of Ishiguro’s Racial Identity ２７

4.5.3 International Writer ３０

Chapter Five  Conclusion ３３

Bibliography

Acknowledgements