ROMANIAN JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES
RJES 15 /2018
37
DOI: 10.1515/rjes-2018-0006
THE SYMBOLIC PAST IN GRAHAM SWIFT’S LAST ORDERS
ELISABETA SIMONA CATANĂ
POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest
Abstract: This essay examines the concept of the past in Graham Swift’s Last Orders, showing that it is
illustrated through symbols in a postmodernist manner, being associated with the figure of a dead character
perceived as a living presence and with a book whose analysis can offer multiple interpretations. Focusing
on the symbols of the past and evincing the metafictional condition of Graham Swift’s novel, this essay
remarks that the past is open to the readers’ analysis and different interpretations.
Keywords: duty, the past, the present, respect, unity of vision.
