Imprisonment And Release In Kazuo Ishiguro S The Remains Of The Day

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Leipzig (Institut für Anglistik), language: English, abstract: This paper examines the themes of imprisonment and release in Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 novel "The Remains of the Day." It discusses the relation between the two main narratives as well as the peculiarities of the language of Stevens, the butler at Darlington Hall, who is the protagonist and first person narrator. The author examines in what ways Stevens' demeanour resembles that of a man to whom has been granted release following a life spent in prison. The nature of this prison is investigated as well as whether Stevens is conscious of his imprisonment and if his journey through England provides him an opportunity for escape. The question of Stevens' self-awareness is an important one for this paper and draws upon an essay by Meghan Marie Hammond about Stevens' role as an author.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is “an intricate and dazzling novel” (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly compelling portrait of a butler named Stevens. Stevens, at the end of three decades of service at Darlington Hall, spending a day on a country drive, embarks as well on a journey through the past in an effort to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving the "great gentleman," Lord Darlington. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness," and much graver doubts about the nature of his own life.

Continuum Contemporaries will be a wonderful source of ideas and inspiration for members of book clubs and readings groups, as well as for literature students.The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to 30 of the most popular, most acclaimed, and most influential novels of recent years. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. The books in the series will all follow the same structure:a biography of the novelist, including other works, influences, and, in some cases, an interview; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received upon publication; a summary of how the novel has performed since publication, including film or TV adaptations, literary prizes, etc.; a wide range of suggestions for further reading, including websites and discussion forums; and a list of questions for reading groups to discuss.

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5 (A), University of Cologne (Philosophy Faculty), 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Kazuo Ishiguro was born in 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Great Britain in 1960 where he grew up. The Remains of the Day is his third novel after A Pale View of Hills (1982) and An Artist of the Floating World (1986), for which he won the Booker Prize in 1989. The film with Anthony Hopkins also won an award. The Remains of the Day describes the journey of an old-fashioned British butler named Stevens, who undertakes a motoring trip through Britain in 1956 intending to visit Miss Kenton. He received a letter from her and because of staffing problems at Darlington Hall, where he is still employed, he hopes to gain her back as the housekeeper. During his trip, Stevens not only remembers the time he and Miss Kenton worked together, but also the historical events that took place in Darlington Hall between the wars, when Lord Darlington, its former owner, organized several meetings of intellectuals from different nations to discuss the political situation in Europe. While Stevens tells his memories, it becomes clear that he completely gave himself up for his intention to be a great butler and to serve the right man, Lord Darlington. But he presents Lord Darlington as an honourable man that he has not always been, and at last Stevens leads an unhappy and unfulfilled life and does not know what to make out of it because he never allowed himself to live his own life. Stevens is one of Ishiguro′s characters that tragically shows how people who have tried to do something good and useful in their lives can suddenly find that they have misplaced their efforts. Not only have they perhaps wasted their talent and their energy, but also they may have contributed, unknowingly, to something that was evil, all the time thinking they were doing something good. (Bigsby 1990: 26)

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is “an intricate and dazzling novel” (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly compelling portrait of a butler named Stevens. Stevens, at the end of three decades of service at Darlington Hall, spending a day on a country drive, embarks as well on a journey through the past in an effort to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving the "great gentleman," Lord Darlington. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness," and much graver doubts about the nature of his own life.

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Stuttgart (FB Anglistics), course: Essay Writing, 6 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: "The Remains of the Day", winner of the 1989 Booker Prize, was written by Kazuo Ishiguro in 1989. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki , Japan, on November 8, 1954. At the age of five he came to Great Britain, were he had a typical English upbringing with an immersion in Japanese culture and language. Ishiguro has gained a reputation as one of the finest British writers. "His fiction deals broadly with themes of self-deception, truth and the clash of public and private images of his characters. He reworks the images which people have both of themselves and of their historical background. He situates his work firmly in the inner world of his characters and often avoids much overt plot construction." While set technically in the present, most of the novel takes place in a sequence of reminiscences in the past. The book tells the story of an old man who takes a trip across England to the sea. His name is Stevens, and he had been the head butler at Darlington Hall, a famous country house, for many years. He is going to visit a woman, he has not seen in a long time: Miss Kenton, who was once the housekeeper at Darlington Hall. He thinks perhaps she can be persuaded to resume her old position under the hall′s new owner, a retired American Congressman. Along his way to the sea, in flashback, we see his memories of the great days at Darlington Hall, when Lord Darlington played host to the world′s leaders. The work gives you an analysis of the major parts of the book, including characterisation and development of Mr. Stevens, history in "The Remains of the Day" and structure and presentation of narrative notes.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day comes this stunning work of soaring imagination. Born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own, painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition-and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him. Masterful, suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one’s past.

Nineteen interviews conducted over the past two decades on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond with the author of the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day