Reading Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

An attempted reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s surreal novel The Unconsoled finds that Freud’s methods of dream interpretation shed some initial light on the book’s complexities. Following this, it becomes apparent that an understanding and application of Freud’s account of the Oedipus Complex provides further insight into the text and, especially, into the concerns and behaviour of its central character, Ryder. Discussing Freud’s development of his theories, and his interest in the figure of Oedipus as an interpreter, or as one who solves riddles, we begin to realise that The Unconsoled is a text which is concerned also with the act of reading itself. We become aware that Ryder, like ourselves, encounters the world of The Unconsoled as text, so that, in following Ryder, we read of the constructed nature of textuality, of the uncanny experience of reading, and of what the text holds for us in the end.
Original languageEnglish (Ireland)
Pages (from-to)259-283
Number of pages25
JournalSogoseisaku Kenkyu (Journal of Policy and Culture)
Issue number10
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2003

Keywords

  • Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Oedipus Complex
  • Reading

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