What to Do after the Recurrence of Memory -- Trauma and Memory in The Buried Giant

What to Do after the Recurrence of Memory -- Trauma and Memory in The Buried Giant

Jingxian Liu

Abstract   The theme of Kazuo Ishiguro's work is “memory”. In Ishiguro's Nobel Prize-winning novel The Buried Giant, he depicts the peaceful coexistence of the Britons and Saxons in the state of memory loss with the clue of the existence and death of the she-dragon. He deepens the theme of the novel with an open ending. By exploring the clue of “mist” emanating from she-dragon, this paper interprets the theme of “memory” in Ishiguro's work and his in-depth reflection on human society through the literary work: Should traumatic memory be preserved or forgotten? When the traumatic memories are uncovered, what should people do? The text draws the following conclusions: traumatic memory should not be erased because of pain, and the correct attitude towards history should be to face the pain, remember the historical memory, learn lessons and avoid causing new trauma.

Keywords   Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant, Memory, Trauma, Forgetting

记忆浮现后该何去何从——《被掩埋的巨人》中的创伤与记忆

刘静贤

摘要：石黑一雄的作品主题以“记忆”见长。在石黑一雄诺贝尔文学奖获奖作品《被掩埋的巨人》这本小说中，石黑一雄以母龙的存在和死亡为线索，真实地刻画了不列颠人和萨克逊人在记忆丧失状态下的和平相处，却又以开放式结尾深化了作品主题。本文通过探析母龙散发的“迷雾”这一线索，解读石黑一雄作品中的“记忆”主题以及石黑一雄通过文学作品阐发的对于人类社会的深入思考：创伤记忆应当保留还是被遗忘？留存的创伤记忆又该何去何从？文本得出以下结论：创伤记忆不应因伤痛而被抹去，对待历史的正确态度应该是直面伤痛，铭记历史记忆，吸取教训，避免造成新的创伤。

关键词：石黑一雄；《被掩埋的巨人》；记忆；创伤；遗忘