This thesis explores Ishiguro’s novels in the light of his preoccupation with emotionaludupheaval: the psychological devastations of trauma, persisting in memory fromudchildhood into middle and old age. He demonstrates how the first person narratorsudmaintain human dignity and self-esteem unknowingly, through specific, psychicuddefence mechanisms and the related behaviours, typical of narcissism.udIshiguro’s vision has affinities with the post-Kleinian Object-Relations psychoanalyticudliterature on borderline states of mind and narcissism. I propose a hybrid, criticaludframework which takes account of this, along with the key aspects of the traditionaludhumanist novel, held in tension with certain deconstructive tactics from postmodernistudwriting. Post-Kleinian theory and practice sit within the humanist approach in any case,udwith both the ethical and the reality-seeking imperatives, paramount. Ishiguro presentsudhumanism in the ‘deficit’ model and this framework helps to bring it into view.udThe argument is supported by close readings of the six novels in which the traumaudconcerns different forms of fragmentation from wars, socio-historic upheaval,udgeographical dislocation, and emotional disconnection. All involve psychicudfragmentation of the ego in the central character, through splitting and projection.udIshiguro, himself, perceives some sorts of object-relations, psychic mechanisms,udoperating at the unconscious level, which he calls ‘appropriation’ and which the post-udKleinians have theorised. They have found a range of variants of projectiveudidentification into the ‘other’ with the re-introjection of a distorted self, suffused withudnarcissistic phantasy.udWhile these defences are protective, Ishiguro seems aware that excessive projectionudcomes at a cost: depletion of affect, weak identity, limited symbol formation, thinkingudand self-knowledge, and a diminished capacity to give meaning to relationships. Theseudfactors are all borne out in his narrators’ omnipotent behaviours – in re-enaction.udIshiguro’s narrative methods produce figurative representations of the narrators’ internaludworlds through his external worlds of settings, while other conventions of the novel,udsuch as plot, character, genre and so on, are reconfigured in their deficit versions.
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