A LitSalon Short: Kazuo Ishiguro and Japan

Ahead of his forthcoming study of A Pale View of Hills, join Lewis Ward for a discussion of Ishiguro’s intriguing and complex relationship to the country of his birth. We will read an early short story, analyse sections of his Nobel Prize speech, and consider the influence of classic postwar Japanese cinema on his imagination and writing.

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954, and moved to England aged five. He grew up as a typical Surrey schoolboy, singing in the choir and commuting on the suburban train. He took British citizenship in his twenties, and only returned to Japan for brief visits later in life. Yet in his Nobel speech of 2017 the author spoke extensively about his relationship to the country of his birth, and how his Japanese ‘side’ played a crucial role in his becoming a writer.

In his speech, Ishiguro described how, studying for an MA in creative writing, he suddenly took inspiration from what he calls his inner ‘personal Japan’, not a ‘real place’ but ‘an emotional construct put together by a child out of memory, imagination and speculation’. With hindsight, he sees this as ‘an act of preservation’ in the face of his dwindling connections to Japan, a way of getting ‘his’ Japan down on paper forever.

This impulse led to his first two novels, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World, both set largely in the post-war Japan he had left. We will read these novels in future LitSalon studies, starting with Pale View (beginning in the week after this session, at the same time).

But first, and as a kind of preparation for those who wish to join the group reading A Pale View of Hills, we will read what may be seen as a ‘prototype’, an out-of-print short story set in Nagasaki, A Strange and Sometimes Sadness. This gives some clues to the nature of Ishiguro’s ‘personal Japan’. We will also explore the important influence of classic post-war Japanese cinema (such as Ozu’s Tokyo Story) on Ishiguro’s imagination, and consider his own later adaptation of Kurosawa’s Ikiru as Living.  Finally, we will closely read sections of Ishiguro’s Nobel speech and examine it in relation not only to Japan but also the important themes of hindsight, self-fashioning, self-deception and memory that have formed the bedrock of his art.

JOINING DETAILS:

• Single meeting LitSalon Short, led by Lewis Ward live on Zoom
• Wednesday 13 May, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK time)
• Free of charge, but please book your place using the form below.