Together we will read and revel in five novels and a book of short stories by the culture-crossing, genre-bending, Nobel Prize winning Kazuo Ishiguro. Ishiguro is lauded for his elegant prose as much as for his bold experiments in genre and form. A Japanese-British man, he explores the experiences and consciousness of characters from a range of gender, cultural, historical, and fantastical perspectives, in stories that include precise psychological realism along with ghosts, ogres, musicians, butlers, and AI.
As writers reading together, we will examine the stylistic and technical choices that Ishiguro makes and what this offers us in terms of creative possibility. We will consider the novels as stand-alone works and will also seek to trace the evolution of Ishiguro's craft from his first novel to his most recent. Participants will be invited to relate the reading to their own experiences and creative experiments. In class, we will also look at the critical and popular reception of Ishiguro's novels and compare that to our understanding of them.
This class takes place remotely online via Zoom.
NOTE: You can register for just the first session, or receive a discount by committing to both.
January 22: A Pale View of the Hills (1985)
February 26: Remains of the Day (1989)
March 26: Never Let Me Go (2005)
April 23: Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music & Nightfall (2009)
May 28: The Buried Giant (2015)
June 25: Klara and the Sun (2021)
This class is co-sponsored by Loganberry Books on Larchmere Boulevard. Registered students will receive a code to purchase the books at a discount—10% off per title, or all 6 for 15% off!
Toni K. Thayer is a two-time recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, once in playwriting and once in fiction.