Ishiguro– Japan’s favorite Englishman

‘I am a writer who wishes to write international novels. What is an ‘international’ novel? I believe it to be one, quite simply, that contains a vision of life that is of importance to people of varied backgrounds around the world. It may concern characters who jet across continents, but may just as easily be set firmly in one small locality.’ 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.”  K.I.

Click on Kazuo’s face for a link to a most excellent biography of Ishiguro’s writing life.  In particular, you will find some of the writer’s approaches to Ishiguro applicable to the notion of Englishness and the prizing of the sensibility.

~ by Chris on March 10, 2008.