Water imagery in Kazuo Ishiguro’s A Pale View of Hills

In A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro resorts to water imagery to facilitate his construction of a uniquely fluid and dynamic textual world. Rather than treating water as a mere symbol, this article draws upon Henri Lefebvre’s theories about the spatial triad, and navigates the reading of this work through an encompassing examination of the water imagery as the natural water in the perceived space, the cultural water in the lived space and the narrative water in the conceived space. Through its multiple forms within these interactive spaces, water imagery weaves together threads of memory, identity and cultural experiences throughout the novel. By continually presenting water as an open space that blurs and crosses boundaries, the novel foregrounds the fluidity, negotiability, and ongoing transformation of personal and cultural self-understanding. Thus, this study argues that water imagery offers a space for characters and readers alike to navigate and reimagine the ever-shifting boundaries of identity and belonging in Ishiguro’s fictional universe

Painting · Photography · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Short Stories in Global Literature