{"id":1444,"date":"2016-06-19T09:01:25","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T09:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:07:55","slug":"kazuo-ishiguro-nobel-prize-literature-2017-the-remains-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1444","title":{"rendered":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\nS<\/span>\n\n<\/div>\nhe couldn’t hear him leave but she knew he wasn\u2019t there. And when the phone rang, she continued to look at it, wondering why it seemed so distant from her. The leather chair they had bought from Wasava prefecture, riding early morning, the first time she had left home without coffee to beat the early morning traffic, sat between them. Kakinada-San (name changed) could hear the phone ringing. She looked at the phone and then went past it. He had kept the door open, she stopped and turned back, answered the phone. He had won the Nobel.<\/i>\n\nThat\u2019s a feeble attempt at a master. And to think it\u2019s a feeble attempt at a translation<\/i> of the master. But then, maybe, just maybe, Ishiguro is beyond words.\n\nIshiguro is that guy at a funeral who doesn\u2019t cry or hug or condole your deceased whoever. But he is there, without marking his presence. A presence that continues unnoticed much after the tears and wails go silent, the tight embraces stop, the relatives take their leave, the friends wave their goodbyes, the dog shifts masters, the nights continue forever, the bills arrive, the past knocks, the possibilities announce themselves, grief stays and willingly takes a backseat \u2013 that\u2019s when Ishiguro says hello. And this time he is here to stay.\n\n\"Kazuo\n
\n

Ishiguro is that guy at a funeral who doesn\u2019t cry or hug or condole your deceased whoever. But he is there, without marking his presence.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nTime and Ishiguro have a strange relationship. He writes behind time, allowing it to tick ahead of him, letting it lead and then taps it on its back, pointing it at his father\u2019s look on that hot afternoon when his mother lay still. Or then, he races ahead of time, stopping its advance, reminding it of the sounds of her last bath. Ishiguro, on days, is a coin-drop; on some days, he is a \u201ctime to pause\u201d. And on the rest, a complete mind-fuck, a heartbreak.\n

Ishiguro is that guy at a funeral who doesn\u2019t cry or hug or condole your deceased whoever. But he is there, without marking his presence.<\/blockquote>\nA lot of Ishiguro and his style and approach is revealed in the last scene of The Remains of the Day<\/i><\/a>, perhaps one of the finest movie adaptations of a great book. As Mrs Benn steps into the bus and rides away, Mr Stevens looks on \u2013 what could have been, is only a snowflake in the avalanche of feelings that cascade through him.\n\nIt is a scene of almost intolerable despair, narrated with an equally intolerable restraint. That scene tells us everything we need to know about Ishiguro and his inner world. This is a man who has scant respect for words. His prose is bare, vacant, as if words were something he was using hesitatingly out of a lack of choice, for want of a better means to introduce us to feelings we never knew we had. And it is in this attitude to words that he soars as a writer, as a narrator of experiences, a chronicler of feelings. And in all this, he stands out for a value system that is traditional, purist, unabashedly occidental, and Japanese.\n\n\"Kazuo\n
\n

Kazuo Ishiguro is a man who has scant respect for words.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nI\u2019ve never been to Japan but Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide. I can smell the cold winter air of melancholy in the northern prefectures, can feel the slight bow of the heads of first cousins as the elders walk by, can sense the ageing of a generation and the overhang of a long lost war, the aching pain of past deeds. Ishiguro gives us the cultural and moral compass of Japan like no other. And to think that he wrote from the other end of the world, not from the land he\u2019d left when he was five.\n\nWhich brings us to the question: Who is Ishiguro? A writer-narrator-chronicler<\/a> of things that reside beneath our skin? An abstemious, yet oddly lush excavator of anonymous feeling? A possessor of obscure, un-nameable sorrows who leads you, with polite apology, into a disarray that you can\u2019t quite fathom?\n\nIshiguro has stood for many a noble cause. But each time he has written, he has left his readers, with the secret knowledge that they have understood very little about life. For that, he is not a noble man.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":1448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[2500,2501,2502,1671,2503,2504,2505,2506],"class_list":["post-1444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-alfred-nobel","tag-japan","tag-kazuo-ishiguro","tag-literature","tag-nobel-prize","tag-nobel-prize-2017","tag-nobel-prize-in-literature","tag-the-remains-of-the-day"],"yoast_head":"\nCause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"B Saikumar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"B Saikumar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"B Saikumar\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca\"},\"headline\":\"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444\"},\"wordCount\":754,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1507285450.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alfred Nobel\",\"Japan\",\"kazuo ishiguro\u202c\u202c\",\"literature\",\"Nobel Prize\",\"nobel prize 2017\",\"\u202aNobel Prize in Literature\u202c\",\"\u202aThe Remains of the Day\u202c\u202c\"],\"articleSection\":[\"POV\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444\",\"name\":\"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1507285450.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1507285450.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1507285450.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1444#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca\",\"name\":\"B Saikumar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"B Saikumar\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=75\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man","description":"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man","og_description":"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"B Saikumar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man","twitter_description":"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"B Saikumar","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444"},"author":{"name":"B Saikumar","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca"},"headline":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man","datePublished":"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444"},"wordCount":754,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","keywords":["Alfred Nobel","Japan","kazuo ishiguro\u202c\u202c","literature","Nobel Prize","nobel prize 2017","\u202aNobel Prize in Literature\u202c","\u202aThe Remains of the Day\u202c\u202c"],"articleSection":["POV"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444","name":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-19T09:01:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:07:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca"},"description":"I\u2019ve never been to Japan but Nobelist Kazuo Ishiguro is perhaps its most engaging tourist guide: The man who narrates intolerable despair with an equally intolerable restraint.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1444#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cause Kazuo Ishiguro is Not a Noble Man"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/501bd3a28f84de5d1592994e128f40ca","name":"B Saikumar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97f912cd3452e247aaedaf35e4ef1e25812ef06c15ed42af22c82e2a60e89079?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"B Saikumar"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=75"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1507285450.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1447,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions\/1447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}