“Unharmonious Concerto”: Music and Alienation in Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Abstract

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009, Nocturnes for short) is considered a concentrated expression of interweaving music and literature. Music contributes to setting its background, portraying its characters, and developing its plot. The article systematically examines the function of music in Nocturnes, exploring its relationship with narration and thematic construction. It argues that music is vital to constructing the theme of Nocturnes: alienation, which shows Ishiguro’s concern for people’s living predicaments in modern life.