好莱坞编剧作家访问利物浦霍普大学
Kazuo Ishiguro, author of ‘The Remains of the Day’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’, discussed and read from his work during a public event as part of a conference held at Liverpool Hope University in June 2007.
The reading by Ishiguro, on 2nd June 2007, took place in The Great Hall at Hope’s Cornerstone Campus in Everton.
The conference, entitled Kazuo Ishiguro and the International Novel, welcomed scores of academics from across the globe including America, Shanghai, Japan, South Africa and Australia as well as Europe.
The event included a talk with Ishiguro’s Japanese and Italian translators.
Ishiguro’s best-known work, Booker Prize-winning novel ‘The Remains of the Day’, was turned into an award-winning Hollywood movie starring Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Reeve which was nominated for eight Oscar Awards.
Among the issues discussed were the transnationalism of Ishiguro’s work and his earlier Japanese novels such as ‘An Artist of the Floating World’.
To stimulate reading amongst Liverpool’s youngsters, some 50 local ‘A’ Level students attended a public reading by Ishiguro during the conference. They were given free copies of ‘The Remains of the Day’ and took part in workshops based on the novel.
Ishiguro has enjoyed a glittering writing career, which began at the University of East Anglia’s famous Creative Writing School. Ishiguro went on to win the ‘Cheltenham prize’ for his novel ‘The Unconsoled’ and was awarded an OBE for services to literature in 1995.
Ishiguro’s work appeals to people across the globe. The author has described himself as an international author: “My novels contain 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.”
Ishiguro has also been nominated for the ‘Whitbread Prize’ and his work has been translated into over 30 different languages.
He also wrote the screenplay for a film ‘The White Countess’ which starred Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson.
His latest, best-selling novel ‘Never Let Me Go’ tells the story of a group of students who find out that a sinister fate lies behind the ideal world they grow up in. Ishiguro commented: “The book is about how we face the knowledge that our time on earth is limited and how we decide what things are the really worthwhile things.”
Professor Gerald Pillay, Vice-Chancellor and Rector at Liverpool Hope University said: “This is a real coup for us at the university and we’re delighted to welcome Mr Ishiguro to Liverpool.
We believe it is a unique event that will contribute greatly to Liverpool’s cultural and academic life and will help us build towards our Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008.
Hope is obviously well-known locally for its expertise in such things as teacher training but an event of this kind indicates the strength of our broader academic offering.
It is testament to how well respected Hope is worldwide and also to the appeal of Liverpool to have conferences and speakers of this calibre at the university.”
