历史政治信息在《长日留痕》中的表征方式研究_英语论文

Representation of History and Politics in The Remains of the Day 

摘要

《长日留痕》是英籍日裔作家石黑一雄的著作之一。在这本书中，主人公史蒂文斯借日记的形式回顾了他作为一位英式管家的一生。不难发现，在对其回忆的叙述中，史蒂文斯透露了大量的政治历史信息。本论文旨在通过对文本的研究，具体分析作家石黑一雄如何利用各种手段去悄然传递这些信息的。研究其中的表征方式，其实也就是探讨故事中的叙述者们在叙述中所运用的叙事策略。本文认为，史蒂文斯凭借三种主要的叙事策略去传递历史政治信息，是为了将自己塑造成为一位有“尊严”的专业管家。但是，这些信息同时也暴露了他偏执保守的内心世界，预示着他伟大理想管家之梦的破灭及他必然的悲剧命运。

关键词  《长日留痕》  历史  政治  表征方式

Abstract

The Remains of the Day is one of the most famous works written by Kazuo Ishiguro. Stevens, the main character of this book, retrospects his whole life as a British butler through his diary. It is found that he conveys much information about history and politics of that time in his narration. Through textual close-reading, this paper intends to analyze how the author indicates these messages through various strategies secretly. To study the representation here is to discuss the three main narrative strategies used by different narrators in the story. It is concluded that Stevens narrates these historical and political information in order to shape himself into a professional butler with great “dignity”. However, it also exposes his intolerant and conservative inner world, indicating the disillusionment of his dream as an ideal butler and his inevitable tragic fate. 

Keywords  The Remains of the Day  history  politics  representation

Contents

1   Introduction 1

1.1   Kazuo Ishiguro and His The Remains of the Day 1

1.2   Research Object 1

1.3   Research Approach 1

2   Literature Review 3

2.1   Previous Research at Home 3

2.2   Previous Research Abroad 3

2.3   Summary 4

3   Narrative Perspectives 5

3.1   Stevens as the First Person Retrospective Narrator 5

3.2   Lord Darlington as the Third Person Limited Narrator 6

4   Analepses in The Remains of the Day 8

5   Narrative Levels 11

5.1   The Main Narrative Level 11

5.2   The Minor Narrative Level 12

Conclusion 14

Acknowledgements 15

References 16