S Kazuo Ishiguro: Memory, Identity, and Unreliability in Fictional Self-Narratives

From Angl-Am
Jump to: navigation, search

COURSE OUTLINE

3.02.121: S Kazuo Ishiguro: Memory, Identity, and Unreliability in Fictional Self Narratives

  • [Module] ang612 - Periods and Key Figures
  • [Credits] 6 KP
  • [Instructor] Dr. Christian Lassen
  • [Time] Tuesday, 08.15 am - 09.45 am, weekly session, consisting of the following two parts: plenary session, discussing the asynchronous presentation (8.15 am - 9.15 am); and prepararory session for presentation groups (9.15 am - 9.45 am); nota bene: presentations will not be given in class but they will be made available on Stud.IP the Friday before they are scheduled, i.e. watching the presentations prior to the relevant sessions constitues a mandatory course requirement.
  • [Room] V03 0-D001
  • [Description] Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in literature, counts among the most prolific and influential writers of our time. His novels, however diverse in range and setting, frequently feature homodiegetic narrators whose accounts of themselves largely rely on the unreliable and fragile forces of memory, which constantly lead them to shape and reshape their identity and their sense of self. Among them, we find Stevens, the exceptional English butler from The Remains of the Day, who glosses over his wasted chances by clinging to professional ideals of dignity and restraint; Christopher Banks, the master detective from When We Were Orphans, who loses himself in his childhood traumas as he tries to find his allegedly abducted parents in war-torn Shanghai in the mid-1930s; Kathy H., the clone and soon-to-be donor from Never Let Me Go, whose speculative memoir shows how, in this novel, institutionalised miseducation and cultivated non-knowledge lead characters to adopt a view of themselves as living organ farms; and finally, Klara, the 'Artificial Friend', a humanoid robot, who eventually comes to embody mankind's exploitation of the posthuman in Ishiguro's most recent novel Klara and the Sun. In the seminar, we will explore how all these narrators rearrange fact and fiction, memory and fantasy, so as to produce coherent and consistent self-narratives that will allow them to make sense of their own lives – and how, eventually, they all will have to cope with the inevitable and unalterable fragility of these narratives.
  • [Office Hours] Monday, 09.00 am - 10.00 am


PRIMARY TEXTS (Mandatory Reading)

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. 1989. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. When We Were Orphans. 2000. London: Faber and Faber, 2013. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. 2005. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun. 2021. London: Faber and Faber, 2022. Print.


FURTHER TEXTS (Recommended Reading)

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. A Pale View of Hills. 1982. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World. 1986. London: Faber and Faber, 2001. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Unconsoled. 1995. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Buried Giant. 2015. London: Faber and Faber, 2016. Print.


ASSIGNMENTS

  • [Prüfungsleistung] asynchrones (Gruppen-)Referat (max. 2 Personen; ca. 20 Folien) mit Schriftlicher Ausarbeitung (10 Seiten) [oder in Ausnahmefällen: Hausarbeit (15 Seiten)]
  • [Aktive Teilnahme] Regular Attendance (cf. Richtlinien der Fakultät III, Studiendekanat), Course Preparation (i.e. watching the asynchronous presentations), 2 Abstracts

Please note that written assignments (abstracts, short term papers, long term papers) need to be composed according to the style sheet ("Leitfaden")of the University of Oldenburg, which can be accessed via the 'Institutswiki'-page of the English department. The style sheet not only provides relevant information on how to write a correct bibliography but it may also help you to structure your work according to academic standards.

Please make sure to sign the "Erklärung zum 'Plagiat'" and to attach it to your research papers.

  • [Abgabefrist] 15. September 2022.




Session 01, April 19: Introduction

Organisational Matters

  • Assignments

Assignments are graded and mandatory. In order to obtain 6 credits (KP), you will have to give an asynchronous (group) presentation (Referat, 20 Folien) on one of the presentation topics specified in the syllabus. In addition to that, you will have to hand in a short term paper (Ausarbeitung, 10 Seiten) by the end of term (15. September). In exceptional cases, you may hand in a long term paper (Hausarbeit, 15 Seiten) instead of the above. However, an exception is only granted upon consultation.

  • Presentation Topics, Presentation Groups

Presentation Topics are specified on your syllabus. In order to prepare your presentations, please pick a topic, get together in groups (see below) and write up a power-point presentation. Add your audio commentary to the presentation, save the file and send it on to me so that we can discuss your presentation during your preparatory session before you upload it. After that, you make your file available on Stud.IP on the Friday before your presentation is due so that all participants can read/ watch the presentation in time, i.e. before the session.

Requests regarding your choice of presentation topics can be send to me via e-mail, starting on Tuesday, April 05. I will sign you in in the order of the requests' arrival. Please check this page regularly to see if your requests have been met.

Preparatory Sessions for presentations take place in the second part of the weekly sessions, i.e. Tuesday 9.15 am - 9.45 am. Please make sure that you send me your presentation at least one day prior to your preparatory session and that you attend said session the week before your presentation is due.

  • Active Participation

Active Participation is ungraded but mandatory. In order to fulfil the requirements, you will have to attend class regularly and watch the asynchronous presentations prior to the relevant sessions. Moreover, you will have to write two abstracts, each including a topic, a state of research, a thesis statement, and a brief outline of your argument (approx. 1 page), in the course of the seminar. You can choose your own topic; however: all abstracts have to address different primary texts. In other words, your abstracts will have to cover two of the four primary materials. They are due by the end of the week (i.e. Friday) that marks the ending of the respective sections, i.e. due date The Remains of the Day: May 20; due date When We Were Orphans: June 10; due date Never Let Me Go: July 01; due date Klara and the Sun: July 15) 

   Summary: Presentations

1. Pick a presentation topic and contact me via e-mail (starting April 05). Check below for available places. Presentation groups may consist of a maximum of 2 people.

2. Contact the other members of your group and prepare your presentation, i.e. power-point presentation with audio commentary.

3. Send me your presentation 8 days before your presentation is scheduled.

4. Discuss your presentation with me in your preparatory session 7 days, i.e week, before your presentation is scheduled. Preparatory sessions take place during the second part of class, i.e. Tuesday 9.15 am - 9.45 am.

5. Upload your file on the Friday before your presentation is scheduled.

6. Be ready to answer questions on the day of your presentation.

Session 02, April 26: Theory Session - Memory, Identity, Unreliability

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • If identity, according to a cultural studies approach, is understood as a dynamic construct in the constant process of becoming, then what role do memories and memory-based self-narratives play in said process? In what way do memories shape our accounts of ourselves and to what effects?
  • What are the major functions of memory when it comes to creating a self-narrative?
  • In what ways are these functions compatible with an understanding of memory that points out and insists on its instable and re-constructed qualities? And why are memories considered modified re-constructions and re-presentations in the first place (rather than simply exact copies of past events)?
  • What are some of the possible irritations and distortions that affect our memory? How do "false memories" come about? (And why may this term be misleading?)
  • How do traumas influence our identity? And how do they influence the alleged coherence of our self-narratives?
  • In how far do schemata influence (or even categories) our ability to remember?
  • In what ways is our memory shaped by current, present-oriented stimuli (cues) or triggers? And what does the concept "Ekphorie" (cued recall) describe?
  • What is the difference between the episodic and the semantic memory?
  • What does the term autobiographical memory mean?
  • How do narratives shape our sense of self? How 'true' are our accounts of ourselves?
  • In fiction, how can texts approach the representation of the (allegedly flawed) workings of memory? What choices regarding the narrtive design could inform those "fictions of memory"? What is it that these fictions need to do justice to when it comes to be representing the workings of memory? In what ways may manifestations of unreliability differ?

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 03, May 03: The Butler - Stevens's Englishness and His Professional Work Ethos

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. 1989. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "Butlers only truly exist in England,": Landscape Constructions, Identity Constructions, and the Function of Nostalgia in Stevens's Analogy between Estate and Nation
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Lucie Timm

Session 04, May 10: Lapses of Memory - Stevens's Reconstruction of the Past

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. 1989. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "A case of hindsight colouring my memory,": Schacter's 'Sevens Sins of Memory' - Their Representation and Their Function in The Remains of the Day
  • Presentation Group: Lucie Timm

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 05, May 17: Self-Deception and Self-Reflection - Stevens's Inconsistent Self-Narrative

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. 1989. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "My explanation was woefully inadequate,": Stevens's Unreliable Homodiegetic Narrative and Its Formal and Functional Design
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Sonia Briesemeister, Kaan Ugrar 
Abstract The Remains of the Day Due: May 20

Session 06, May 24: The Detective - Christopher Banks's Cultural Hybridity and His Professional Role Model

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. When We Were Orphans. 2000. London: Faber and Faber, 2013. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "Rooting out evil,": Literary Role Models, Detective Fiction, and the Cultivation of Englishness in Christopher Banks's Personal and Professional Identity Constructions
  • Presentation Group: Sonia Briesemeister, Kaan Ugrar

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Marvin Hinrichs, Sandra Merkel

Session 07, May 31: Trauma - Christopher Banks's Wild Goose Chase

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. When We Were Orphans. 2000. London: Faber and Faber, 2013. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "To face the world as orphans," : Childhood Recollections, Unsolved Crimes, and Unresolved Traumas in Christopher Banks's Increasingly Surreal Self-Perception
  • Presentation Group: Marvin Hinrichs, Sandra Merkel

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Matti Kutzner

Session 08, June 07: Re-Collecting the Self - Christopher Banks's Melancholic Self-Narrative

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. When We Were Orphans. 2000. London: Faber and Faber, 2013. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "Where would I be without you?,": (Re-)Gaining a Sense of Commitment and Cultivating Reparative Uses of Melancholia in Christopher Banks's Self-Narrative
  • Presentation Group: Matti Kutzner

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Frauke Stegmann 
Abstract When We Were Orphans Due: June 10

Session 09, June 14: The Clone/Donor - Kathy H.'s Vocational Ethics and Dystopian Health Care Systmes

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. 2005. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "It felt right. After all, it's what we're supposed to be doing,": Miseducation, (Manipulative Uses of) Empathy and Art, and the Vocation to Care in Never Let Me Go
  • Presentation Group: Frauke Stegmann

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Sina Klink

Session 10, June 21: Manipulated Minds - Kathy H.'s (Non-)Knowledge of the Past

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. 2005. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "We'd been 'told and not told',": Memory, Focalisation, Unreliability, and the Management of (Non-)Knowledge in Never Let Me Go
  • Presentation Group: Sina Klink

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Lea Welp

Session 11, June 28: Reclaiming and Repurposing the Self - Kathy H's Nostalgic Self-Narrative

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. 2005. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Presentation

  • "A real source of comfort,": Facing the Futureless Future and Cultivating Reparative Uses of Nostalgia in Kathy H.'s Self-Narrative
  • Presentation Group: Lea Welp

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: 
Abstract Never Let Me Go Due: July 01

Session 12, July 05: The Artificial Friend - Klara's Posthuman Gaze and Its Limitations

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun. 2021. London: Faber and Faber, 2022. Print.

Theory Texts

  • Varia

Presentation

  • "The field became partitioned into boxes,": Focalising the Limits of (Non-Human) Knowledge and Perception in Klara and the Sun
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group: Saskia Repper

Session 13, July 12: Overlapping Memories - Klara's Dissociative Self-Narrative

Primary Material

  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun. 2021. London: Faber and Faber, 2022. Print.

Theory Texts

  • Varia

Presentation

  • "Such composite memories have sometimes filled my mind so vividly,": Remembering and Forgetting as Distinctly Human(e) Qualities in Klara and the Sun

Presentation Group: Saskia Repper 

Abstract Klara and the Sun Due: July 15

Session 14, July 19: RPO Session

Guidelines for finding your RPO topic:

Your RPO topic needs to be related to at least one of the primary texts 

   September 15: Term Paper Due

Please upload your paper to the folder "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" on our Stud.IP page and send a printed copy to the address below.

Bitte stellen Sie Ihre Prüfungsleistung in den Ordner "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" auf unserer Stud.IP-Seite ein und senden Sie eine gedruckte Fassung an die untenstehende Adresse.

Dr. Christian Lassen

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Fakultät III: Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118

26129 Oldenburg

Retrieved from "https://wiki.angl-am.uni-oldenburg.de/index.php?title=S_Kazuo_Ishiguro:_Memory,_Identity,_and_Unreliability_in_Fictional_Self-Narratives&oldid=488775"