The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way. Kazuo Ishiguro More Quotes by Kazuo Ishiguro More Quotes From Kazuo Ishiguro I couldn't speak Japanese very well, passport regulations were changing, I felt British and my future was in Britain. And it would also make me eligible for literary awards. But I still think I'm regarded as one of their own in Japan. Kazuo Ishiguro japan awards thinking You could say I'd rewritten the same novel three times and I thought I had to move on. The success of the book, and then the movie, had by then also created a commercial expectation and I remember touring America and seeing people in the audiences who I thought might not want to read the books I wanted to write next. My constituency had become broader, but more mysterious to me. Kazuo Ishiguro writing book moving I had been plunged into a different world. I found myself spending half my time answering weird questions on book tours in the Midwest. People would stand up and explain to me the situation in their office and ask me whether they should resign or not. Kazuo Ishiguro hiking book people The English landscape at its finest - such as I saw this morning - possesses a quality that the landscapes of other nations, however more superficially dramatic, inevitably fail to possess. It is, I believe, a quality that will mark out the English landscape to any objective observer as the most deeply satisfying in the world, and this quality is probably best summed up by the term 'greatness.' Kazuo Ishiguro greatness morning believe It was like being given a maths problem when your brain's exhausted, and you know there's some far-off solution, but you can't work up the energy even to give it a go. Something in me just gave up. Kazuo Ishiguro brain math giving I was very young when I prepared those prints. I suspect the reason I couldn't celebrate the floating world was that I couldn't bring myself to believe in its worth. Young men are often guilt-ridden about pleasure, and I suppose I was no different. I suppose I thought that to pass away one's time in such places, to spend one's skills celebrating things so intangible and transient, I suppose I thought it all rather wasteful, all rather decadent. It's hard to appreciate the beauty of a world when one doubts its very validity Kazuo Ishiguro skills men believe It was like there was some parallel universe we all vanished off to where we had all this sex. Kazuo Ishiguro parallel-universe parallels sex When I see films made from books, I make a huge effort not to remember the book. It's important to see the film as a film. Kazuo Ishiguro effort important book I wouldn't want to try to adapt something of my own. It would be like going back to school and doing all my exams again. Kazuo Ishiguro would-be trying school I try to always go for something... very interior, following thoughts and memories, something that I think is difficult to do on the screen, which is essentially a third-person medium. Kazuo Ishiguro trying memories thinking It is one of the enjoyments of retirement that you are able to drift through the day at your own pace, easy in the knowledge that you have put hard work and achievement behind you. Kazuo Ishiguro achievement hard-work retirement I don't think it's any fun, even if you are one of the most respected authors in the world like Margaret Atwood, to keep being nominated and not win. Kazuo Ishiguro winning fun thinking Perhaps it is indeed time I began to look at this whole matter of bantering more enthusiastically. After all, when one thinks about it, it is not such a foolish thing to indulge in - particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth. Kazuo Ishiguro keys lying thinking I spent ages figuring out things like viewpoint, how you tell the story, and so on. Kazuo Ishiguro viewpoints age stories I realised, of course, that other people used these roads; but that night, it seemed to me these dark byways of the country existed just for the likes of us, while the big glittering motorways with their huge signs and super cafes were for everyone else. Kazuo Ishiguro dark night country He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lorship's wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in that? Kazuo Ishiguro path mistake years And so we stood together like that, at the top of that field for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging our clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onto each other because that was the only way to stop us from being swept away into the night. Kazuo Ishiguro clothes wind night I don't have a deep link with England like, say, Jonathan Coe or Hanif Kureishi might demonstrate. For me it is like a mythical place. Kazuo Ishiguro england links might My donors have always tended to do much better than expected. Kazuo Ishiguro never-let-me-go donors expected People were incredibly kind to our family and went out of their way to help. Kazuo Ishiguro literature people way
