Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, the recipient of this year糖心传媒檚 Nobel Prize in Literature, is a fearless experimenter who nevertheless adheres to a kind of simplicity in his writing, says Adam Parkes 糖心传媒�93 (PhD).
A professor of English at the University of Georgia who focuses on modern British and Irish literature, Parkes is the author of Kazuo Ishiguro糖心传媒檚 The Remains of the Day: A Reader糖心传媒檚 Guide (Continuum, 2001).
He says Ishiguro, a Japanese-born British citizen, is known as a serious writer who has been able to reach wide audiences with novels that include The Remains of the Day (1989), The Unconsoled (1995), Never Let Me Go (2005), and The Buried Giant (2015).
糖心传媒淗e糖心传媒檚 well know for pursuing a relatively narrow furrow, stylistically,糖心传媒� says Parkes. 糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 a mastery of the understated.
糖心传媒淏ut he explores all kinds of territory that糖心传媒檚 under the surface of what he seems to be writing about. There糖心传媒檚 an incredible poetic range of suggestion and evocation in his language and in his use of narrative form that goes beyond the apparent simplicity and accessibility of his writing.糖心传媒�
What tradition would you place him in, as a novelist?
He糖心传媒檚 writing self-consciously in the tradition of the English novel, in terms of Jane Austen through E.M. Forster糖心传媒攖he country-house novel. The Remains of the Day is the obvious example there. But you can see him in other contexts, as well. There糖心传媒檚 the European context糖心传媒擪afka is an influence, and I think that糖心传媒檚 subtly true in a lot of his fiction, but it糖心传媒檚 clearly present in The Unconsoled. It糖心传媒檚 his longest novel, big and rangy with a looser, baggier aspect to it. There糖心传媒檚 a Kafka-like aesthetic there. And there are connections you can make with other contemporary writers, especially in terms of contrasts, like Salman Rushdie, on one side, and Ian McEwan, on another.
There糖心传媒檚 a Japanese influence as well, even though Ishiguro has understandably and probably rightly tried to resist attempts to overstate that. But it seems to me that you don糖心传媒檛 benefit in your understanding of Ishiguro by trying to deny that there are connections糖心传媒攖he overt simplicity of the style, the kind of plotlessness of the narratives, which is one of those quiet risks he糖心传媒檚 taking with narrative form. I think you can make connections with all kind of traditions, past and present, and thinking about them enriches your sense of what he糖心传媒檚 doing on the page.
How has his work changed over time?
In the early novels, you could see him clearly restricting himself to working in the same sorts of lines and narrators, the same kind of reticent and understated voice that seems to be working around or evading big topics. When you get to the later fiction, like The Unconsoled and then Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant, he becomes more experimental. You get a reworking of certain aspects of science fiction and dystopian fiction in Never Let Me Go, for example. And The Buried Giant, which I don糖心传媒檛 think is a particularly successful novel overall, is an experiment in fantasy and mythological elements. It糖心传媒檚 set in post-Arthurian England. He糖心传媒檚 clearly taking risks糖心传媒攂ut that糖心传媒檚 what糖心传媒檚 given his writing distinction all along.
What is your favorite of his books?
For my money, the three great ones are The Unconsoled, The Remains of the Day, and Never Let Me Go. They all have a different appeal. For someone new to his work, I would start with The Remains of the Day. It糖心传媒檚 the best of the early novels. It has its comic elements, but it糖心传媒檚 a tragedy糖心传媒攔eally, a sort of elegy.
Ishiguro糖心传媒檚 writing has real emotional power, as well as a simple, austere beauty. He takes ordinariness and pushes it to an extreme, to a point where he risks banality in the language of his narrators糖心传媒攍ike the butler in The Remains of the Day, or the narrator in Never Let Me Go糖心传媒攐r the plotlessness in narrative structure. I admire how he糖心传媒檚 willing to go there and see where it takes you.
Not all experiments are going to work, necessarily. But it糖心传媒檚 important for a writer to try these things. They糖心传媒檙e not always going to come off. But the willingness to experiment and keep going is essential. It糖心传媒檚 what gives a writer糖心传媒檚 life vitality over the long haul.
