Reconstruction of Historical Narrative in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book

Abstract

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book centers on Nobody Owens, an orphan raised by supernatural inhabitants of a graveyard. Beyond conventional children’s fantasy and Gothic fiction, the novel integrates folk narratives, spatial memory, and fragmented histories to reconsider the past. Grounded in Linda Hutcheon’s theory of historiographic metafiction, this study employs close textual reading and narratological analysis to examine how Gaiman reconstructs historical experience through narrative form. The research analyzes three key dimensions: the reworking of traditional narrative materials, spatial memory within the graveyard, and nonlinear narration. The study finds that traditional figures—witches, ghosts, and vampires—are transformed into individualized narrative subjects with distinct histories. Meanwhile, the graveyard operates as a narrative space where gravestones, ghosts, and communal bonds transmit personal and collective memory. Additionally, structural non-linearity disrupts chronological continuity, requiring readers to actively assemble fragmented historical accounts. Ultimately, The novel presents history not as a fixed record, but as an interpretive process reconstructed through narrative, space, and memory—extending the coming-of-age arc into a broader reflection on historical knowledge and identity formation.