An English butler’s obsession with dignity
I’m in an Ishiguro state of mind once more. Recently I watched the most brilliant mini-series ever called Downton Abbey, which, really, if you have access to Amazon, you should try and get your hands on. It’s all about this large house in England right before the war, and the lives and intrigues of the masters and servants who live there.
I think it would resonate largely among Indians, especially with our culture of having household help. That’s one reason I think White Tiger did so well, as it featured the lives of the “others”, people who are so intrinsically part of our lives, but who remain mostly forgotten. Help is something we are both besotted with, and try to largely ignore. I know my life wouldn’t be half as comfortable if it wasn’t for the men and women who smooth my path in so many ways.
So, Kazuo Ishiguro once more. I spoke of him earlier when I read Never Let Me Go, a book that stayed with me because of how sad it was. I was expecting this one — Remains Of The Day — to be equally sad, but was glad to see it wasn’t. It’s melancholy, sure, but not the overarching sadness that Never Let Me Go had. Remains Of The Day is the story of a butler, travelling through England in the aftermath of WW II, thinking about his life, the family he served, and deals mostly with his obsession with “dignity” and what makes for a great butler. This may seem like a sort of narrow view, especially given the political climate of that time, but as you read it, you find the politics seeping in, even in his discourses about butlers, it’s there, and that’s what makes it so excellent.
The book won a Booker in 1989 and was made into an Academy award nominated film (which I now must watch). What I like about Ishiguro, and also what puzzles me about him, is his complete English-ness, despite his Japanese name, he shies away from writing “Japanese person in England” novels, which so many writers of other countries do. It doesn’t come in even briefly, apart from his name, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a completely English person just using a pseudonym. He has written some books about Japan, I see from Wikipedia, but nothing I’ve read yet. I plan, however, to go through his whole reading list.
Is it too obvious to make him one of my favourite writers now? I love discovering people who have loads of previous writing, that way you have so much more to look forward to. I think you should make him one of your favourite authors too.
The columnist is an author
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