INTERSECTIONS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY, FICTION, AND POSTMODERNISM IN KAZUO ISHIGURO’S WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS

Authors : Şebnem Düzgün

Pages : 1-17

Doi:10.33171/dtcfjournal.2024.64.1.1

View : 231 | Download : 117

Publication Date : 2024-06-25

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans (2000) can be read as a postmodern fictional autobiography, in which Christopher Banks, a fictional detective, uses autobiographical writing to relieve himself from his childhood traumas caused by the mysterious disappearance of his parents. Christopher reflects on past events from his mature perspective and fills in the gaps in his childhood memories by using his imagination to cope with his traumatic past. However, the narrator is unable to make a complete assessment of past events from his current perspective because of the temporal distance between the past and the present. Challenging the notions of metanarrative and linear temporality, he reimagines and reconstructs the past to create his own truths about his life. On the other hand, Christopher’s fictional autobiographical writing serves as a means for self-discovery, which compels him to confront his traumatic past rather than hide it behind the facade of a successful and renowned detective. Referring to the arguments on postmodernism and autobiographical writing, this article examines When We Were Orphans as a postmodern fictional autobiography to show that the narrator reconstructs and reshapes his story in order to create a coherent and cohesive personal reality and mitigate his childhood traumas.
Keywords : Kazuo Ishiguro, Çocukluğumu Ararken, Otobiyografi, Postmodernizm, Postmodern Kurgusal Otobiyografi