Kazuo Ishiguro: The Poet of Existential Unease

“Memory, I realize, can be an unreliable thing; often it is heavily coloured by the circumstances in which one remembers.” – Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro is a British novelist of Japanese descent, celebrated for his themes exploring memory, time, and self-delusion. His writings traverse various genres—from science fiction in 'Never Let Me Go' to historical drama in 'The Remains of the Day.' In 2017, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

 Personal Life

Complete Name: Kazuo Ishiguro

Born: November 8, 1954

Birthplace: Nagasaki, Japan

Spouse: Lorna MacDougall

“What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint.” – Kazuo Ishiguro

Academic

Education: University of Kent (BA in English and Philosophy)

Postgraduate: Creative Writing, University of East Anglia

Kazuo Ishiguro Trivia

• Ishiguro moved to England when he was five years old.
• He initially aspired to be a singer-songwriter before turning to literature.
• His thesis became his first novel, 'A Pale View of Hills.'
• He worked as a social worker before becoming a full-time writer.
• His style is often compared to that of Henry James and Marcel Proust.
• He's known for writing novels that are both emotionally subtle and profoundly unsettling.

“One is not struck by the truth until prompted quite accidentally by some external event.” – Kazuo Ishiguro

Here is the list of books written by Kazuo Ishiguro

1. A Pale View of Hills (1982)
2. An Artist of the Floating World (1986)
3. The Remains of the Day (1989)
4. The Unconsoled (1995)
5. When We Were Orphans (2000)
6. Never Let Me Go (2005)
7. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009)
8. The Buried Giant (2015)
9. Klara and the Sun (2021)

List of film adaptations of Kazuo Ishiguro's work

1. The Remains of the Day (1993): directed by James Ivory, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

2. Never Let Me Go (2010): directed by Mark Romanek, starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley.

3. Living (2022): directed by Oliver Hermanus, starring Bill Nighy. This movie is an adaptation of the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru directed by Akira Kurosawa

4. The Buried Giant: an animated adaptation of Ishiguro's fantasy novel, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is currently in development for Netflix.

Kazuo Ishiguro is a highly acclaimed author who has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career. Here is a list of some of his most notable awards and honors:

• Nobel Prize in Literature (2017)
• Booker Prize (1989)
• Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France
• Knighthood for Services to Literature (2018)
• The Peggy V. Helmrich Award (2013)
• The Library Lion Medal from New York Public Library (2014)
• The Sunday Times Distinguished Author Award (2014)
• The Golden Plate from the American Academy of Achievement (2017)

Feel free to share any literary work you've read from these renowned authors and what you think about them. Just hit the comments below!