The Remains of the Day (1989)
Who wrote it?
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (1954-; active 1981-), born Nagasaki, Japan but grew up in Surrey, South England, from the age of five. Four-time Booker nominee (let’s see if this year makes it a nice round five hey?), Nobel prize winner, knight of the realm and general modern-day literary titan, “one of our greatest living authors,” etc.
Born in Nagasaki in the decade after the horrors visited on that city at the end of the war, he moved to England at a young age due to his father getting a role as a research scientist. Initially intending to pursue a musical career as a singer-songwriter in the Dylan/Cohen vein, he switched to writing, becoming one of the most celebrated graduates of the famed UEA MA Creative Writing course - his thesis formed his first novel A Pale View of Hills and with this, his third, he was a Booker winner.
What's it about
The novel focuses on Stevens, an experienced butler at the top of his trade, but coming towards his twilight years, and in the employ of a newly-arrived American businessman following years of dedicated service to the aristocratic Lord Darlington. The first-person narrative is located in the 1950s, with Stevens in charge of much-reduced staff from his glory days, and beginning to notice small errors in his previously perfectionist work. He accepts his employer’s offer of a break, for the purposes of which he borrows his car and heads off on a tour of the South West of England, part of which will involve a visit to an old colleague, Miss Kenton.
Stevens is in reflective mood and spends much of the journey going over his career, notably his relationships with the Nazi-sympathizing Lord Darlington and his housekeeper (and, we come to realise, potential love interest) Miss Kenton. Along the way, he muses on what makes a “great” butler, the nature of dignity, and the changing world around him. He shows further evidence of “senior lapses” with various car-related mishaps, and has encounters with locals that begin to challenge some of his long-held assumptions. It’s his final encounter with Miss Kenton, and realisation of what might have been, though, that causes him to truly acknowledge that his lifelong service may not have been all he had convinced himself it was - though not before an encounter with a fellow retired butler who reminds him that all is not lost, and that “the evening is the best part of the day.”
What I liked
This was my second run through The Remains of the Day, as well as having seen the celebrated Merchant Ivory movie. It was a joy to revisit and everything I remember loving the first time was only amplified on a second pass (some 15-20 years later, at a guess)
Ishiguro writes like nobody else I’ve encountered. Precision, simplicity, and readability yet with an oddly dreamlike sensibility. I’m slightly ashamed that despite loving both this and Never Let Me Go, I’ve never ventured further into his output and I really must do so soon.
His style is the epitome of the “show not tell” approach. Almost every page is laden with weight and meaning but you’re never hit over the head with it.
For those who’ve never encountered it, it’s perhaps hard to convey how a story so rooted in the world of butlers and service in the mid twentieth century can feel so universal. The gist of it, though, I think, is that sense of looking back on life and wondering what might have been, and whether there are perhaps flaws in the way your previous self constructed a view of the world.
There’s also a very evident sense of notions of “Englishness” under scrutiny - the stiff upper lip taken to extreme conclusions where suppression of emotion is seen as the ultimate expression of dignity (viz. Stevens’ pride at his ability to continue his shift relatively unfazed by news of his father’s death)…
As Stevens grapples amusingly (there is also a lot of humour here) with the concept of “bantering” as he believes is required by his new American employer, he almost comes across as a sci-fi cliché (for fellow nerds, the “Spock / Data” character) who is mystified by the ways of the humans (/newer generations) around him. It’s only in the very last scene that he begins to genuinely understand the value of these seemingly incomprehensible emotional interactions and starts to notice their enforced absence from his past.
I got a lot more into the story of Lord Darlington this time. A character who (both prophetically and misguidedly) believes that “democracy is on its way out” takes on extra significance in our era.
I’d forgotten how shocking some of Stevens’ behaviour was, in service of his relentless pursuit of so-called duty and dignity. The unquestioning dismissal of the two Jewish servants at the instruction of his employer in the 1930s and his total lack of support for Miss Kenton is obviously the standout moment, but there are certainly others.
Overall there’s an indefinable quality about The Remains of the Day that is very hard to fully articulate. It’s not a formally revolutionary novel but it stands out from most of the other winners (even some of the best!) by virtue of a sheer sense of quality. I’m not sure how many shoddy imitations this has been responsible for, but if this is what “prestige literary fiction” looks like, I’m here for much more of it…
What I didn't like
Virtually nothing, aside from some squirms of discomfort here and there, but that’s all part and parcel of a novel so brilliantly emotionally unsettling.
Food & drink pairings
Tea, properly served of course.
A mug of cocoa at the end of a tough day’s butlering.
Port and cigars for the gentlemen and their dignified guests.
Fun facts
Of course, everyone knows that The Remains of the Day is one of the few truly classic novels to have also birthed a classic film, in the shape of the 1993 Merchant Ivory masterpiece starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson (and a young Hugh Grant!) but a quick reminder that the screenplay was written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, herself a previous Booker winner. As I’ve previously mentioned, she’s the only person ever to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar (for Best Adapted Screenplay)
The film is pretty faithful in general, but toys a little with the ending, giving Miss Kenton some of the final words and leaving out Stevens’ encounter with the other butler and his more honest reflections (leaving Hopkins’ magnificent facial expressions to do the talking in the final cut) - the alternate version was filmed (and can be found at the end of this YouTube clip) but was felt by the directors to be “too much”.
As chance would have it, literally in the weeks leading up to this I’ve listened to two episodes of the very excellent Adam Buxton Podcast that reference The Remains of the Day. The first one was somewhat predictable, as it was an interview with Ishiguro as part of his promo tour for Klara and the Sun - this is excellent and absolutely worth a listen for any Ishiguro fans, and pointed me towards the YouTube clip above. The second one is more amusing and random, as English comedian Tom Allen talks about how it inspired his somewhat unusual teenage ambition to become a butler.
Another reasonably uncontroversial year for the judges in terms of picking this one out as the winner. The omission of Martin Amis’ London Fields from the shortlist did, however, provide some raised eyebrows if nothing else.
The ever-great Guardian history of the Prize gives this interesting quote from 1989 judge David Lodge. While acknowledging the value of the Prize for winners and nominees, he goes on to provide one of the more succinct articulations of a perennial complaint against the Booker and prizes in general:
“…the overtly competitive nature of these prizes, heightened by the publication of longlists and shortlists, takes its psychological toll on writers; and, given the large element of chance in the composition and operation of judging panels, the importance now attached to prizes in our literary culture seems excessive.
A committee is a blunt instrument of literary criticism.”
Vanquished Foes
Margaret Atwood (Cat's Eye)
John Banville (The Book of Evidence)
Sybille Bedford (Jigsaw)
James Kelman (A Disaffection)
Rose Tremain (Restoration)
Nope, not read any. Recommendations?
Context
In 1989:
Fall of the Berlin Wall
1989 Revolution and elections in Poland, leading to overthrow of communism in Central Europe, with significant developments in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Baltic states and Romania
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran for publication of 1988's The Satanic Verses
Hillsborough Disaster claims the lives of 96 Liverpool FC fans in Sheffield
F. W. de Klerk replaces P. W. Botha as State President of South Africa - the last to hold the role in this form
First Palestinian suicide attack on Israel on Tel Aviv-Jerusalem bus
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest, where she remains until 2010
End of Soviet-Afghan War
Denmark becomes first country to legalise civil unions for same-sex partnership
Guildford Four freed after 14 years of false imprisonment in Britain
Marchioness pleasure boat disaster on the Thames in London
Iceland ends prohibiton of beer after 74 years
Genetic modification of adult humans tried for the first time
First of 24 Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites placed in orbit
Sky Television launches in Europe
Time / Warner merger
World's first HDTV tests in Japan
Nintendo releases the Game Boy in the US
Seinfeld premieres in the US
First episode of The Simpsons on FOX in the US
Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days
Batman
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
Dead Poets Society
Martin Amis, London Fields
Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Madonna, Like a Prayer
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique
Life Lessons
Oh, where to start…
Service and dignity are all well and good, but perhaps also so are things like love, emotion, and not enabling fascists.
Still, those humans and their “bantering” - they are fairly mysterious, let’s be fair.
Score
9.5
Just sublime. Possibly helped along by my existing familiarity, but this stands up regardless and is easily among the best of the Booker winners to date, wherever I may have chosen to precisely place it…
Ranking to date:
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - 9.5
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (1981) - 9.5
Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively (1987) - 9
Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey (1988) - 9
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978) - 9
Life & Times of Michael K. - J. M. Coetzee (1983) - 9
Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982) - 9
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985) - 8.5
Troubles - J.G. Farrell (1970, "Lost Booker") - 8.5
Saville - David Storey (1976) - 8
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell (1973) - 8
Rites of Passage - William Golding (1980) - 7.5
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) - 7.5
The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens (1970) - 7
The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974) - 7
Holiday - Stanley Middleton (1974) - 7 .
Heat & Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) - 6.5
In a Free State* - V.S. Naipaul (1971) - 6.5
G. - John Berger (1972) - 6
Something to Answer For - P. H. Newby (1969) - 5.5
Staying On - Paul Scott (1977) - 5
Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (1984) - 4.5
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis (1986) - 4
*Read in later condensed edition.
Next up
I’ll be taking a week’s break with a recap of the Booker in the 80s, followed by A. S. Byatt’s Possession to kick off the 90s.
