Alternity and Ambivalence in the select novels of Kazuo Ishiguro: A Postcolonial Approach

Abstract

The study aims to broaden the conversation about globalisation, localisation, diasporic study, and postcolonial studies by examining the ambivalence of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism in the novels of Ishiguro and following the writer's development as a cosmopolitan who embraces several cultures but rejects clear boundaries. Consideration of "otherness" is central to postcolonial theory. Even while it rejects the colonising society's authority to define, every "other" is diachronically constructed, including that society's beliefs and significance, since otherness is complex by concerns and because it involves both identification and difference. Alterity comes from the Latin term alteritas, which describes the condition of just being different or other; diversification, otherness. Psychoanalysts coined the term "ambivalence" to characterise the experience of having conflicting desires that are essentially the same as "one thing" and "the opposite," respectively. Curiosity and repulsion are two emotions that might be described using this word. A literary analysis is just one of many disciplines that could benefit from exploring this idea. Language choices, indoctrination, objectification, and attempts at assimilation are all examples of othering in Never Let Me Go. The Remains of the Day takes place in a nobleman's mansion after WWI. Artist of the Floating World describes Nagasaki's post-war rebuilding. Even while the othering phenomenon is present in the actual world, it may also be found in works of fiction. To begin with, the term cosmopolitanism is contradictory because it implies both global and region are included in its definition. Its implication is rife with conflict that cannot be resolved.