How to name your novel with Kazuo Ishiguro

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‘Some of my book titles have come from cookery books... This probably isn’t acceptable,’ explains Kazuo Ishiguro to journalist Samira Ahmed during his appearance at the Southbank Centre in March 2024.
‘But for 30 or 40 years, my wife and I have collected titles. I’m sorry to admit this, but we have this thing where we open a book at random, it could be a cookery book, you stick your finger in without looking, and then look to see what phrase you’re pointing at. You do this about 30 times and you come up with about five titles’.
The surprising admission prompted Ahmed to quip, ‘was The Remains of the Day, originally the soup of the day?’. Ishiguro was talking to Ahmed as part of a special event in our Queen Elizabeth Hall which also featured music from the jazz singer Stacey Kent.
The writer goes on to explain that as a result of his approach he now has ‘a list of great titles that don’t have works to go with them,’ and that he has ‘some that I’ve been wanting to bringing use for 30 years’. He also admitted to occasionally tweaking scenes within his books so that they were more fitting to a potential title he really wanted to use.
Order Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel 'The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain: Lyrics for Stacey Kent' here: www.faber.co.uk/product/97805...
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@thaiziono96 28 күн бұрын

Nice video! Kazuo Ishiguro's titles are beautiful and lyrical at the same time. It is carefully chosen. 1:36 - Maybe "The Meal of the Day" or "The Mediterranean Dish of the Day" ... Just kidding 😆! Thank God, Kazuo Ishiguro stick with "The Remains of the Day", a very profound title and suitable for this novel. I can see myself in a bookshop thinking: "Is this a cookery book or a Historical Fiction? It is very confusing!" 😅🤣😅 1:57 - It is very interesting the double functions of a title, a window to the book and also a "A-HA" moment when reading it. When an author or an editor can achieve these two functions, it is glorious. 2:52 - "The Scene of a Strange Battle" - maybe David Lynch meets Game of Thrones? A Fantasy book? A Dystopian book? ... Just kidding! 😆 In the end, a profound reflection about the title/music/statement - "Never Let Me Go". Florence and the Machine also has a song with its title and the lyric of this song represents a bit of this feeling and impossible request.