Unkel, LeonieLeonieUnkel2025-12-012025-12-012025978-3-98989-055-8https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/111819As part of the so-called postclassical narratologies, contextualist or thematical narratologies allow for the inclusion of gender, sexual identity, and ethnicity in the study of narratives, thereby successfully undermining ‘classical’ narratology’s claim to universality. While many contextualist approaches like feminist, queer, and postcolonial narratology have already been firmly established, it is striking that there is, as of yet, still no approach that considers age(ing). Age(ing) is oftentimes overlooked as an (intersecting) category that completes considerations on identity (politics). Thus, as part of a postclassical, contextualist approach, I seek to link concepts of age studies and narratology to reveal that the ‘classic’ narrative category ‘time’ is not ‘neutral’ or ‘universal’ but has to be understood as a function of age(ing). Time is closely linked to ageing processes. Nevertheless, I aim to study its narrative realisation through a narratological lens and show that the apparent linearity of time and the life course has to be questioned. Informed by a revisionist view, I will present a study of narrative time in Kazuo Ishiguro’s famous novel The Remains of the Day. A context-sensitive reading of the novel will offer new insights and reveal age(ing) as a major theme of the tex. I argue for an age(ing)-conscious approach to narrative theory in order to provide a more detailed study of narrative structures and continue to diversify narratology.engPostclassical narratologycontextualist narratologynarrative timeage studiesKazuo IshiguroThe Remains of the Day820bookpart