Introduction 7: Stories by New Writers

by Kazuo Ishiguro (Contributor), J.K. Klavans (Contributor), Steven Kupfer (Contributor)

- Kazuo Ishiguro: A Strange and Sometimes Sadness, Waiting for J, Getting Poisoned;
- J.K. Klavans: A Girl's Place, The Baby Inside Jenifer;
- Steven Kupfer: Smoked Goose, Jesus Lives in the City, D;
- Tim Owens: The Night it Rained, Life Support, Voice Training;
- Amanda Hemingway: The Alchemist.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (カズオ・イシグロ or 石黒 一雄), OBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist of Japanese origin and Nobel Laureate in Literature (2017). His family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing course in 1980. He became a British citizen in 1982. He now lives in London.

His first novel, A Pale View of Hills, won the 1982 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. His second novel, An Artist of the Floating World, won the 1986 Whitbread Prize. Ishiguro received the 1989 Man Booker prize for his third novel The Remains of the Day. His fourth novel, The Unconsoled, won the 1995 Cheltenham Prize. His latest novel is The Buried Giant, a New York Times bestseller. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017.

His novels An Artist of the Floating World (1986), When We Were Orphans (2000), and Never Let Me Go (2005) were all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

In 2008, The Times ranked Ishiguro 32nd on their list of "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". In 2017, the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing him in its citation as a writer "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up cheap from a good dealer of my acquaintance. This was Ishiguro's first appearance between hard covers: three short stories. They vary somewhat in quality. 'A Strange and Sometimes Sadness' reads like a dry run for his first novel A Pale View of Hills. 'Getting Poisoned' owes much to Ian McEwan's early work, the story 'Pornography' in particular. 'Waiting for J' is the best - deft, unflashy, involving.

[معتز · Rating 4 out of 5]

قصة قصيرة محيرة جدًا. إلي الصفحة السادسة كنت أقول قصة عادية وميزتها تكاد تنحصر علي التفاصيل الصغيرة [ أفعال- أو مشاهد يومية] قد تبدو عادية جدًا لتكرارها.
مثلًا كفكرة استراق السمع على الفتاة اليهودية الصغيرة وزوارها والفشل في إمساك أي جملة. أو فكرة التردد الطويل في دعوتها إلي كوب قهوة.
كذا مشهد J
وإنهاءها لمعاناة الأرنب المحتضر. وقتله بفظاظة.
ذلك يذكرني بمصير الكلاب والقطط في نواحي الأرياف لدينا.. وتعذيبهم وقتلهم إلخ..إلخ
..
كل هذا جيد. حتى الوعد الذي قام به J والراوي
هنا نهضت من مكاني وقلت: حسنًا..هذا مثير حقًا.
حينما نصل إلي الأربعين دعنا نقتل كلانا.
حسنًا..أيًا يكن.
..
لا أدري..لسبب ما أتذكر قصة القتلة لهيمنغواي الآن.
..
أعتقد أنني سأضع رواية " بقايا اليوم" في قائمة الأولويات لهذا العام.

[Konstantin R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kazuo Ishiguro is the stand-out best. But "D" by Steven Kupfer and "The Night it Rained" by Tim Owens are also two highlights by authors who deserve more recognition. The stories were well-crafted and all dealt, in one way or the other, with a vague storyline that slowly revealed itself. Ishiguro, especially, showed his story-telling powers in his, pre-novels/pre-fame stories.