DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Doctoral School of Literary Studies PhD DISSERTATION GAPS AND SILENCES IN RE-INTERPRETING THE PAST THE DEVELOPMENT OF KAZUO ISHIGURO’S NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE IN HIS EARLY NOVELS Candidate: Éva Katalin Szederkényi MA Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Benedek Péter Tóta PhD Head of Doctoral School: Prof. László Szelestei Nagy DSc Head of Doctoral Programme in Modern Literary Studies: Assoc. Prof. Kornélia Horváth PhD Budapest, 2014 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem, Bölcsészet- és Társadalomtudományi Kar, Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola DOKTORI ÉRTEKEZÉS A CSÖND ÉS HIÁNY SZEREPE A MÚLT ÚJRAÉLÉSÉBEN KAZUO ISHIGURO KORAI REGÉNYEINEK NARRATÍV VIZSGÁLATA Doktorjelölt: Szederkényi Éva Katalin MA Témavezető: Tóta Péter Benedek PhD egyetemi docens Az Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola vezetője: Prof. Szelestei Nagy László DSc egyetemi tanár A Modern Irodalomtudományi Műhely vezetője: Horváth Kornélia PhD egyetemi docens Budapest, 2014 2 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 I, the undersigned, Éva Katalin Szederkényi, candidate for a PhD degree at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Doctoral School of Literary Studies in English Language and Literature declare herewith that the present PhD thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution's copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 10th December 2014 ___________________________ Signature 3 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I doubt this work would ever have come into existence without my academic research in Thessaloniki, Greece (in the academic year of 2009–2010), funded by the bilateral government grant of the Hungarian Scholarship Board and Greek Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y.), respectively. I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to these institutions for awarding me the research grant. I am grateful to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Benedek Péter Tóta and to the opportunities of publications granted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Márta Pellérdi, Assist. Prof. Dr. Gabriella Reuss, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Kinga Földváry. I am indebted to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Judit Friedrich, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Márta Pellérdi, Assist. Prof. Dr. Kinga Földváry and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ildikó Limpár for their suggestions on the earlier draft of this thesis. I also wish to express my cordial thanks to the teaching staff at the Institute of English and American Studies. All have ceaselessly encouraged me not only during my work on the project, but also before that, during my MA and doctoral studies at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Further, I am indebted to my deans, Prof. Dr. Balázs Schanda and Prof. Dr. András Zs. Varga of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, who facilitated my research objectives greatly. 4 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCING PVH A Pale View of Hills AFW An Artist of the Floating World RD The Remains of the Day UC The Unconsoled WWO When We Were Orphans NLMG Never Let Me Go All references are to the Faber & Faber editions of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels except When We Were Orphans which was published at Knopf. 5 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 4 ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCING ................................................................................ 5 1. RATIONALE ............................................................................................................ 9 1.1 Statement and research question ................................................................... 9 1.2 Research methodology ................................................................................ 11 2. THE USE OF PSYCHOANALYTIC LITERARY THEORY IN ISHIGURO’S NOVELS .......... 16 3. GAPS AND SILENCES ............................................................................................. 29 3.1 Silences and gaps in narrative discourse ..................................................... 33 3.2 Reading “gaps” and “silences” via Dorrit Cohn’s narrative method .......... 35 3.3 Deciphering “gaps” and “silences” – An adaptation of Patricia Ondek Laurence’s model ..................................................................................................... 37 4. ISHIGURO’S EARLY NOVELS AND THEIR NARRATIVE EVASIONS VIA GAPS AND SILENCES .............................................................................................................. 41 5. TELLING THE IMPOSSIBLE – A PALE VIEW OF HILLS (1982) .................................. 52 5.1 Killing the void............................................................................................ 56 5.2 Silent glances and perturbing guilt .............................................................. 61 5.3 Rape, isolation, assaults .............................................................................. 63 5.5 Silent pauses ................................................................................................ 65 5.6 A war-trauma narrative ............................................................................... 66 5.7 Unexpected turns and abysses ..................................................................... 68 6 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 5.8 Empty silences............................................................................................. 69 5.9 Suspended communication .......................................................................... 71 5.10 Marked contrasts and suspensions .............................................................. 73 5.11 Juxtaposed and restrained reports ............................................................... 74 5.12 A moment in space – pages torn apart ........................................................ 77 5.13 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 78 6. THE IRRESISTIBLE URGE FOR DEFLECTION – AN ARTIST OF THE FLOATING WORLD (1986) ...................................................................................................... 80 6.1 An act of suspension – Bridging past and present ...................................... 83 6.2 Interruptions and intimidating silences ....................................................... 93 6.3 A web of pro-vocative silences .................................................................. 98 6.4 Visual repetition – Doubles and shadows found ....................................... 103 6.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 106 7. A DESPERATE NEED FOR CONFESSION – THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1989) ........ 107 7.1 Stuck in a moment ..................................................................................... 112 7.2 An empty castle ......................................................................................... 117 7.3 Being blanked ............................................................................................ 121 7.4 Trapped between dialogues ....................................................................... 128 7.5 “One”or “I” – a narration of interiority ..................................................... 129 7.6 Narrative ellipses ....................................................................................... 132 7.7 Omitted information and disguised denials ............................................... 137 7.8 Empty silence of the future ....................................................................... 140 7 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 7.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 143 8. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 145 8.1 Summary of new findings ......................................................................... 145 8.2 Further research prospects ......................................................................... 149 8.3 A summary of the dissertation .................................................................. 150 8.4 A disszertáció összefoglalása .................................................................... 151 9. WORKS CITED .................................................................................................... 152 10. APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... 162 8 DOI: 10.15774/PPKE.BTK.2015.007 1. RATIONALE 1.1 Statement and research question My research concerns the contemporary fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro, the Japanese-born British writer. Using primary sources, A Pale View of Hills (1982), An Artist of the Floating World (1986) and The Remains of the Day (1989), I create a method employing various aspects of re-construction of the stories in the presentation of first-person singular narrators. Their being provocative nature invites different interpretations. On the one hand, it is a deliberate call indicating