“Here are the skulls of men, I won’t deny it. There an arm, there a leg, but just bones now. An old burial ground. And so it may be. I dare say, sir, our whole country is this way. A fine green valley. A pleasant copse in the springtime. Dig its soil, and not far beneath the daisies and buttercups come the dead. And I don’t talk, sir, only of those who received Christian burial. Beneath our soil lie the remains of old slaughter”
Pg. 171
Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant is a contemplative fantasy novel that considers the nature of human memory. It could also be categorized as historical fiction since it is set in the relatively grounded post-Arthurian world of Saxons and Britons in a time when a peaceful truce holds sway over the land. A mysterious mist has caused wide-spread amnesia that seems to be dimly accepted by the general population, and because of this the typically warring groups live as friends and neighbors amongst each other. Mythical creatures such as murderous pixies, light-fingered ogres, and restless dragons lurk nearby, although appearances are not at all as they seem.
I’ve come across Ishiguro’s work in the past, and last semester I did my capstone project on his sci-fi novel, Klara and the Sun. While visiting Harrisburg, I stopped by one of my favorite bookstores, The Midtown Scholar, and picked up The Buried Giant since I was curious to know what a fantasy world constructed by Ishiguro might be like. I instantly connected with the subject matter because my own grandfather currently suffers from advanced dementia. It was impactful both on a personal and academic level.
The story focuses on an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice. Both suffer from a dreamlike acceptance of their reality, and despite their lengthy marriage both cannot recall how they met, or when. They leave their comfortable warren-village and set off on a journey across England to visit their son. Along the way, they encounter both friend and foe. The narrative is told from multiple perspectives of characters that join the elderly Briton couple as they traipse across the uncertain country. Sir Gawain makes an appearance reminiscent of Don Quixote in a suit of rusty armor astride an equally aged steed. Wistan, a Saxon warrior sent on an errand by his king accompany Axl and Beatrice, alongside an orphan boy with a troubled past named Edwin. All their memories are somewhat unreliable and there are psychological disruptions throughout the narrative. The strength of the characters memories flicker weakly as they each move towards a future they’re not sure if they’ll remember anyway.
The Buried Giant is an ode to England’s rich history, the burying and exhumation of its secrets. Ishiguro lends his wisdom to his fascinating characters, pays homage to England’s Judeo-Christian roots, and there are even a few elegantly choreographed sword-fighting scenes. Like his previous works, Ishiguro’s style of writing is not quite immersive and at points feels withdrawn even from itself. Axl and Beatrice’s journey becomes tedious at points, but don’t all journeys?
At times as I was reading my hair stood on end and a sense of foreboding stayed with me. The heart of this novel rests in the love that two individuals can share over a lifetime and coming to terms with the truth that we must all one day forget those that have been dear to us, a path of forgetting that must be taken alone. At one point, Axl confides in a boatman before they set sail, “God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.” At the end of the last page my eyes burned, but I couldn’t quite cry, as though I was mourning a friend that I couldn’t remember losing.
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