Abstract: This article reviews the role of the theme of memory in the novel “The Buried Giant” by Kazuo Ishiguro. The motives of regeneration and loss of memory are relevant in modern literature as a whole and in works of K. Ishiguro in particular. The research is based on the methods of motivic and culturological analysis. In the novel “The Buried Giant”, the theme of memory has a structural meaning. It manifests through the spatial-temporal arrangement of the text, system of characters, symbolism of the novel, and organizes the core antithesis of the work – cultural memory and “mist” (embodiment of oblivion), which creates with the plotline and images of the characters. In the text of the novel, the people lose memory; the limits between the “native” and “alien”, the past and the future are blurred. The theme of memory is the source of unravelling of the plot. The two storylines are distinguished: external (the path of the characters seeking their son) and internal (regeneration of memory). The theme of memory organizes the system of characters: the protagonists Axl and Beatrice reconstruct the events preceding the beginning of the novel and accept them. Sir Gawain and Wistan remember the past, but they have a different attitude towards collective memory: the first one wants to prolong the oblivion, while the other one wants to restore the people's memories. The research demonstrates the role of the theme of memory within the structure of K. Ishiguro's novel “The Buried Giant”, which reveals the author's idea: nothing can be forgotten completely.