Automobile Mobility and Identity Reconstruction in The Remains of the Day
Abstract
The Remains of the Day is a major work of Kazuo Ishiguro and it won the Booker Prize in 1989. Framed by a motoring journey, the
novel traces Stevens's process of identity reconstruction as memory and present experience interweave. Whereas earlier scholarship has often
treated the Ford car as mere background, this articledrawing on mobility theory and identity theoryreconsiders its symbolic significance.
In the novel, the automobile functions not simply as a means of transport but as an agentive medium that propels three interrelated forms of
mobility: geographically, it expands the boundaries of the body and of consciousness, awakening an incipient sense of freedom; socially, it
enables cross-class encounters that prompt self-reflection; culturally, it figures the movement of plural cultures and gestures beyond a singular
model of national identity. Through the car's layered symbolism, Ishiguro explores pathways of identity reconstruction in and through mobil
ity, articulating a critique of ethnocentrism alongside a sustained concern for cross-cultural subjectivity and a shared human destiny.
novel traces Stevens's process of identity reconstruction as memory and present experience interweave. Whereas earlier scholarship has often
treated the Ford car as mere background, this articledrawing on mobility theory and identity theoryreconsiders its symbolic significance.
In the novel, the automobile functions not simply as a means of transport but as an agentive medium that propels three interrelated forms of
mobility: geographically, it expands the boundaries of the body and of consciousness, awakening an incipient sense of freedom; socially, it
enables cross-class encounters that prompt self-reflection; culturally, it figures the movement of plural cultures and gestures beyond a singular
model of national identity. Through the car's layered symbolism, Ishiguro explores pathways of identity reconstruction in and through mobil
ity, articulating a critique of ethnocentrism alongside a sustained concern for cross-cultural subjectivity and a shared human destiny.
Keywords
Kazuo Ishiguro; The Remains of the Day;Automobile mobility; Identity reconstruction
Full Text:
PDFReferences
[1] Cresswell T. On the Move:Mobility in the Modern Western World[M]. London: Routledge, 2006.
[2] Ishiguro K. The Remains of the Day[M].New York:Vintage Books, 1993.
[3] Liu Y. Spatial Literary Studies after "the Mobilities Turn"[J].Foreign Literature, 2023, (6):143-153 .
[4] Liu YL. The Transformation of Modern Transportation and Literary Writing Style[J].Journal of Southwest Minzu University (Humanities
and Social Science Edition), 2017, (3):203-209 .
[5] Urry J.Mobilities[M]. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007.
[6] Zhang J. Mobilities:A Keyword in Critical Theory[J].Foreign Literature, 2021, (2):118-130 .
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/rcha.v4i2.9181
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
