An Analysis of Julian Barnes' England, England & Kazuo Ishiguro's Never let me go in the light of Jean Baudrillard's simulacra and simulation

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2019
Kara, Emre
This thesis examines the novels England, England by Julian Barnes and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro from a theoretical background informed by the ideas proposed by Jean Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation. The aim of the study is to compare these two novels thematically and examine the similarities and differences in the ways that they utilize, question and discuss the notion of simulation. Through this comparison, the study aims to contribute to current scholarship by thematically bringing closer to each other these two novels that seemingly deal with different subject matters and that have not been previously studied together. The study suggests that while Barnes deals with the notion of simulation on a larger scale, focusing on a national body, Ishiguro focuses on the human body. Therefore, while Barnes mainly examines the concepts of country, nationality, history and culture in their relation to the concept of simulation, Ishiguro mainly examines humanness and identity. Both novels depict the negative outcomes of simulations but they also question the validity and singularity of the notion of reality.

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Citation Formats
E. Kara, “An Analysis of Julian Barnes’ England, England & Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never let me go in the light of Jean Baudrillard’s simulacra and simulation,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2019.