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Psycho-Linguistic Modelling in Kazuo Ishiguro's Novels

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Psycho-Linguistic Modelling in Kazuo Ishiguro's Novels Global Education & Social Sciences Journal Vol. I, No. 2 (June 2021) Page 13 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____ Psycho-Linguistic Modelling in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novels Amalia Călinescu, Ph.D. University of Bucharest, Romania Email: [email protected] Abstract Most theories and models use different names for the same existential tenets, which may prove confusing, since the ultimate purpose of all studies is to help people heal their traumas and make inspired decisions for the betterment of their lives. Kazuo Ishiguro, meanwhile, proposes an internal shift of behavioral modelling, given the intricacy of human interrelations as well as the difficulty of altering one’s environment. All Ishigurian characters epitomize the hidden powers of the human mind and heart while the power of their language can influence readers’ emotional system, which underlies the decision-making process. The current study proposes a psycho- linguistic synthesis of Ishiguro’s novels as a way to gain better knowledge about how to apply fiction to real life, as well as prove that good fiction can influence readers’ perceptions, wants, needs, choices and decisions, and, by implication, their whole life, and, by extension, the wellbeing of their families, groups, communities and nations. By creating more effective literacy nudges and incentives, most public, private and non-profit institutions and organizations with cognitive-behavioral, psychotherapeutic, integrative, sociological, neuroscientific and didactic profiles can help people relate works of fiction to real life for individual and collective improvement. The collaboration of these institutions and organizations for the optimization of their functioning strategies can lead to significant improvement of their performance, which, in turn, leads to a major increase in people’s reading interests and, ultimately, to readers’ long-term health and wellbeing owing to the power of all good fiction to speak to readers’ thoughts and emotions. Keywords: Kazuo Ishiguro, linguistic modelling, psycho-literature Introduction The object of every academic and research field is, in the end, human behaviour. Knowing information does not help much in changing certain behavioural patterns. Researchers have found that in order to alter behaviour they should first change the environment. By reducing friction, people get motivated to realign desired behaviour with an easy pattern of doing things, because small things do matter. The second important thing in making a difference is seeing the bigger picture, which is not always easy, if not impossible (Ariely, 2008). All living creatures, humans included, can act only indirectly on their surroundings Global Education & Social Sciences Journal Vol. I, No. 2 (June 2021) Page 14 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____ and can only interact with their environment through their worldview, which, in turn, determines their daily mode of operation and shapes their experiences: “A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness” (Korzybski, 1958, p. 60). Much earlier, Immanuel Kant and David Hume showed the relation between perception, imagination and understanding, stating that it is not what humans think that matters, but how they think, therefore they can only see the world according to their personal instruments (Baier, 1993). If perception is limited, then reality is hidden in plain sight, because one cannot really see it as it is. Jean Piaget demonstrated that children could see the world differently, which further proves that humans normally see things that are already familiar to them while they cannot see the ones they do not know (Simatwa, 2010). The grain of reality is then enhanced by imagination so that all knowledge comes from something previously imagined then put into proper words. Although words evoke experiences, they are only creating illusions of reality, forcing humans to take anything as true through the naturalising phenomenon. The only salvation would be to detach oneself from the mentality of the crowd in order to get closer to the true objectivity of reality: “Truth always rests with the minority […] because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion” (Kierkegaard, 1960, p. 128). Linguistic Unification There are too many unknowns in the never-ending equation of life, yet it does not matter whether or not something is real as long it feels real to a person, group, community, or a whole nation, for that matter. There is no unanimously approved key decoder of the mind, neither in reality nor in fiction, yet studies can be done on literary works to prove their therapeutic potential. Writers imagine and create. The editing process is, meanwhile, lateralised to the left hemisphere of the brain in most right-handed people, as are critical skills. Integrative critics can thus extract the existential meaning of writers’ works, of which writers may not always be aware, since the creation process is mostly spontaneous and right- lateralised in most right-handers, stemming as it does from the depths of the subconscious mind (Corballis, 2014). The conscious cooperation of the two brain hemispheres can thus lead to the cooperation between writers and critics for the true benefit of readers: Interdisciplinary critics can find the hidden messages of good fiction and share them with the readers to help the latter decode their favourite books in an existential way. This integrative objective may lead to the simplification of critical language to a level of unanimous understanding, given the cooperation of all fields of specialisation for the betterment of life. In other words, in the near future, there may emerge a common jargon to denote the same concepts in all fields of interest, in which case memorising the different terminologies for the same sets of concepts (which can otherwise be googled) will become secondary to making constructive and critical connections. Thus, the best way to anchor any type of information is to link it to real life. Using the intellectual plane as a tool for intelligence, imagination and creativity will help people find their inner and outer freedom. Instead of rejecting what they do not see or Global Education & Social Sciences Journal Vol. I, No. 2 (June 2021) Page 15 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____ understand, they will be able to embrace, once and for all, the happy insignificance of their physicality in a Universe so big that no human mind can ever comprise its infinite dimensions in limited words, regardless of language or race. If humans keep the bigger picture in mind, they will direct their research only into meaningful directions, in accordance with the healthy requests of all present generations, and the ones to come. Should all school subjects serve life, students will feel really interested and will retain everything naturally: “By instructing students how to learn, unlearn and relearn, a powerful new dimension can be added to education. […] Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn” (Alvin Toffler cited in Ratcliffe, 2011, p. 381). Thus, “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” (Sarah J. Ratcliffe cited in Wang & Gut, 2011, p. 1). The linguistic form of information should therefore very much depend on one’s individuality so that no one should be forced to convey knowledge in its initial state as long as the meaning stays the same. This may be the only way of preserving the freedom of expression while learning new things. Kazuo Ishiguro: Psycho-literary overview Born in Nagasaki, Japan, on 8 November 1954, the Nobel-prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro came to live in Britain at the age of 5, when his father accepted a job as a researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography. After attending a grammar school for boys in Surrey, Ishiguro read English and Philosophy at the University of Kent, Canterbury, then followed a master’s programme in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia (Hunnewell, 2008). The influence of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (1982) is a proof of Ishiguro’s conscious attraction towards non-chronological order of the scenes, non-linear plot and tangential thought associations and drifting memories, like abstract paintings with many layers of self-deception. Obsessed with the past, the English author of Japanese origins wants to write cathartic fiction that crosses boundaries and cultures, having his readers wonder when it is better to remember and when to move on. His creative process is thus mainly concerned with nostalgia and melancholy, not “anger or violence.” Although he does not regret “not having grown up in Japan”, he cannot ignore the “strong emotional relationships [he] had in Japan that were suddenly severed at a formative emotional age, particularly with [his] grandfather” (Jaggi, 1995, pp. 20-21). Ishiguro feels the duty to pass on the memories of his parents’ generation, filled with individuals struggling between remembering and forgetting. It is difficult to decide whether a nation remembers and forgets in the same way an individual does or how exactly
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