Rebuilding Reality to Relive and Relove?: Memory and Female Identity in S. J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep

• Main Authors: Yang, Linda Tzu-Yi Meimei, 楊子儀
• Other Authors: Chen, Eva Yin I
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/ajgch9

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 英國語文學研究所 === 103 === The psychological thriller demonstrates how diversified contemporary crime writing can be like a chameleon. In the emergence of reconstituting the much-loved literary form, S. J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep infatuates the reader with its high concern for elements that unusually match: fear, identity, love, reality, relationship, memory, and female consciousness. The clear-cut answer featured by traditional crime fiction cannot be offered in this novel that blending literary thriller and domestic noir together when the female protagonist only possesses fragmentary memory. To regain her sense of self, Christine the main character has to recall her reminiscence, which sometimes can be imaginary. In fact, what she longs for is not simply rebuilding her identity as a normal person, but the identity that has a lot to do with female consciousness and autonomy, which requires her to live her present life as well. Rather than another psychological thriller that tells an old story depicting the quest for the truth, Before I Go to Sleep shifts the focus from the deeply-rooted tradition in crime fiction, exploring the question of (un)reliability and (un)reconstructability of memory as well as what love means in a relationship. Only when Christine can relive as a woman, a wife, and a mother to re-experience love can she reframe her female identity.