‘An Ancient Procession’: Memory, Myth and Movement in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant

Abstract

Abstract The novels of Kazuo Ishiguro span a variety of literary genres but are unified by a profound interest in the workings of memory. Guided by recent scholarship in the field of cultural memory studies, this essay analyses Ishiguro’s seventh novel, The Buried Giant, in the context of the Middle English romance traditions which it echoes both formally and thematically. In doing so, it argues that the novel’s use of Arthurian myth is a technique by which to illuminate and explore the role of literature in the formation of collective memory and cultural identity.