Palimpsests from the past and Within : the unburied by Charles Palliser

Abstract EN

Charles Palliser is a contemporary British novelist whose famous Quincunx won him a reputation as a contemporary Victorian novelist.

The Unburied was about a history professor who had to travel both geographically and historically to uncover a secret for one of his research topics.

He was the narrator of his own travels which involved him in other historical epochs and shown him murders, ghosts, re-written manuscripts, many-versions stories, and palimpsests from the past and the present at rather a gothic atmosphere.

This paper attempts to discuss how; in parallel with his outside physical journey, the protagonist/narrator leads another self-discovery journey.

While failing to notice the clues to solve historical mysteries, he succeeded in finding missing palimpsests in his past life to re-evaluate his inner understanding of himself and therefore to change his entire perspective of life.