Description
"Orphans Again: Ishiguro's The Unconsoled and When We Were Orphans"There are a number of striking similarities between Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled (1995) and the novel which followed it, When We Were Orphans (2000). The title of the later book immediately indicates that its protagonist, Christopher Banks, has a "lack of parents" (6), while Ryder seems to suggest that every word of The Unconsoled is really about his absent parents when he says, "That's who we're talking about" (255). Both Banks and Ryder are leading practitioners in their respective fields, display an acute awareness of the potency of their actions, and are credited with the power to save a city. In other words, both are like Oedipus the King, who also arrives at a city in turmoil to be hailed as a saviour, but ultimately finds it is his relationship with his parents which is his greatest concern.
This paper argues that, within this Oedipal framework, it was fated that When We Were Orphans should follow The Unconsoled, for the thematic repetition replays, and thus continues, the compulsive return to familiar places (a hotel, a café, an apartment, a body) seen in The Unconsoled. It will be asked what the effect of these repetitions is on readers who, uncannily finding themselves where they did not expect, come face-to-face with former, other, selves, like a clone finding a possibly familiar face in an unfamiliar place. And it will be seen that it is in this way that Never Let Me Go (2005) follows inevitably from that which has gone before.
Period | 2 Jun 2007 |
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Event type | Conference |
Location | Liverpool, United KingdomShow on map |
Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- Kazuo Ishiguro
- Uncanny