The Problem of how to stipulate the actual world in Kazuo Ishiguro's the unconsoled

Ishiguro once suggested that writing can be a consolation in the sense that it can create new versions of the past by which one can come to terms with what is unresolved in one's heart. The Unconsoled (1995) poses the question of whether such freedom of creation is also guaranteed in the stipulation of our present, actual world. This paper analyzes lshiguro's answer to this problem. Ryder, the protagonist and narrator of The Uneonsoled, is a world famous pianist. On a visit to an unnamed European town to give a performance, he meets for the first time a lady and her son who respond to him as if he were her husband and his father. Though initially surprised, he finds himself fitting into these relationships. He also learns suddenly that his elderly parents will come and listen to his performance. The appearance of these characters seems to suggest that he has returned to his home town, There are parts of the novel in which Ryder, not as the protagonist but as the author, apparently creates himself without basing his narration on his current actual situation. Such segments, however, are referred to by other parts of the story which do seem to be reflecting his actual experiences. Therefore, it is impossible to decide whether a given part of Ryder's story represents his actual experience or his fictitious experience. Ryder finds himself unable to tell whether or not what he narrates correspondg to a situation which could be assumed outside the narrative. But, despite the problem of external reference, Ryder must rely on the narratives he chooses to construct, through which he stipulates his actuality. We should then focus upon how such stipulations are made. Masachi Ohsawa explains that in the process of stipulating the “meaning” of an existence, one meaning is chosen from more than two alternatives, of which one is the negation of the meaning selected. Those which are denied, work as the virtuals to support the one selected. It is conceivable that Ryder has chosen to think that the town is his home town