It took ten years for Kazuo Ishiguro, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day, to bring to life his latest piece of fiction, The Buried Giant. The author will read from his new novel as part of the 2014/2015 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series on Monday, March 23; his first visit to Houston in 20 years.
“He worked on this book for a long time,” said Rich Levy, Inprint’s executive director. “He first showed his wife a version of this book ten years ago, and she said, ‘Not only [is] it not ready for publication, don’t ever show it to anybody.’ He simply had to start over.”
It was worth the wait, since the finished work, which is set in a mythical time around 1,500 years ago, includes knights, dragons and warriors. “Ishiguro has said that he’s fascinated by samurai movies. He also loves westerns,” said Levy, who added that the author is attracted to the theme of “trying to right the wrongs.”
On the surface, it’s a story of an elderly couple who are suffering from memory loss and seemingly surrounded by this same affliction wherever they go. Through the mist, they remember they have a son and set out to find him, and, along the way, experience adventures and meet key characters who have an impact on their lives.
“It’s powerful. It’s very much about memory, but also about love and facing death and about how one faces death, eventually,” said Levy. “It does work on an allegorical level.” The book weaves in the contrasting themes of hate and tolerance, enmity and allegiance, loyalty and revenge, and war and peace.
7:30 p.m. Monday. Cullen Theater, Wortham Center, 501 Texas. For information, call 713‑521‑2026 or visit inprinthouston.org. $5.
Mon., March 23, 7:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.
