Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Cambridge Companion to Kazuo Ishiguro
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Kazuo Ishiguro in the World
- Part II Literature, Music, and Film
- 6 The Ishiguro Archive
- 7 The Unconsoled of The Unconsoled
- 8 ‘A More Sophisticated Imitation’
- 9 Ishiguro and Genre Fiction
- 10 Ishiguro’s TV and Film Scripts
- 11 ‘I’m a Songwriter at Heart, Even When I’m Writing Novels’
- Part III Ethics, Affect, Agency, and Memory
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
10 - Ishiguro’s TV and Film Scripts
from Part II - Literature, Music, and Film
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Cambridge Companion to Kazuo Ishiguro
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Kazuo Ishiguro in the World
- Part II Literature, Music, and Film
- 6 The Ishiguro Archive
- 7 The Unconsoled of The Unconsoled
- 8 ‘A More Sophisticated Imitation’
- 9 Ishiguro and Genre Fiction
- 10 Ishiguro’s TV and Film Scripts
- 11 ‘I’m a Songwriter at Heart, Even When I’m Writing Novels’
- Part III Ethics, Affect, Agency, and Memory
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Summary
This chapter offers readings of Kazuo Ishiguro’s screenplays, paying particular attention to two films commissioned by Channel 4, A Profile of Arthur J. Mason (1984) and The Gourmet (1986), and to his collaboration with Merchant Ivory, The White Countess (2005). In these rarely discussed works, Ishiguro interrogates the form of film itself by drawing attention to ‘unfilmable’ aspects of experience such as memory and imagination, which also feature prominently in his novels and short stories. While often overlooked in critical examinations of his work, these films provide insights into Ishiguro’s creative process and the evolution of his recurrent themes more generally. Like his most renowned novels, the subjects of these screenplays are service, sacrifice, and self-deception.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Kazuo Ishiguro , pp. 152 - 169Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023