Reliving the Past: Autobiographical Memory in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go

Abstract

This paper offers a new psychological reading of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go by indicating how autobiographical memory serves three main functions in the novel: directive, social and self-representative. The paper is meant to extend the argument regarding the importance of memory in Ishiguro's fiction. Narrated in first person by Kathy, the novel depicts how autobiographical memories help Kathy, the novel's protagonist, maintain social bonds with her two friends, create a coherent self-identity and regulate her mood and cope with the grief and anxiety caused by what lies before her. The article investigates how the situations Kathy passes by activate specific personal memories that assist her to hold on as the novel's title suggests. The discussion places an emphasis on the link between autobiographical memory and survival, in a way through which Kathy's personal memories enhance her sense of self, her social interaction and her sense of existence and continuity