https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2017/ishiguro-interview.html

Kazuo Ishiguro - Interview

"I come in the line of lots of my greatest heroes. The greatest authors in history have received this Prize."

Kazuo Ishiguro: Hi, hello, Mr Smith, how are you?

Adam Smith: Very well. Thank you very much indeed for calling, very kind. Congratulations on the award of the Nobel Prize.

KI: Yes, thank you. I'm sorry you were kept hanging on. It's absolute chaos here I'm afraid. There's suddenly ... a lot of press has turned up and they're queued up the road.

AS: I can imagine. So, yes, your day must have changed in a totally unexpected way. How did you hear this news?

KI: Well I was sitting in the kitchen writing an email to a friend and the phone rang. And it started off as not entirely certain. People at my literary agents were watching the live feed come through on the announcement. I don't think they were expecting it, they were just waiting to hear who won the Nobel Prize this year. And so I started to receive calls back to back, and each time we were trying to establish if it was a hoax or if it was fake news, or what it was. And then it started to become more and more certain. By the time the BBC called I started to take it seriously. But I haven't actually stopped since then. It's a bit like the Marie Celeste here – everything's exactly as it was at about 11 o'clock, or whenever, before the whole thing started. And then it was pandemonium. There's now people queueing up the street to interview me.

AS: So has it sunk in?

KI: No! No, I don't think it will sink in for a long time. I mean, it's a ridiculously prestigious honour, in as far as these kinds of things go. I don't think you would have a more prestigious prize than the Nobel Prize. And comments I would make, I mean, one is, a lot of that prestige must come from the fact that the Swedish Academy has successfully, I think, kept above the fray of partisan politics and so on. And I think it's remained one of the few things that's respected, whose integrity is respected by many people around the world, and so I think a lot of the sense of honour of receiving the Prize comes from the actual status of the Swedish Academy. And I think that's a great achievement unto itself, over all these years the Swedish Academy has managed to retain that high ground, in all the different walks of life that it honours. And then the other reason it's a terrific honour for me is because ... you know I come in a line of lots of my greatest heroes, absolutely great authors. The greatest authors in history have received this Prize, and I have to say, you know, it's great to come one year after Bob Dylan who was my hero since the age of 13. He's probably my biggest hero.

AS: That's nice company to be in.

KI: Yeah. I do a very good Bob Dylan impersonation, but I won't do it for you right now.

AS: That's a pity, I would have liked that. Maybe at least when you come to Stockholm in December, please.

KI: Yes, I could try that.

AS: You must. It's a funny time in Britain at the moment. Does that place any particular significance for you on receiving the Prize now?

KI: I think it does. I mean, in fact just before I picked up the phone to you I was writing a kind of statement for press release, and I was trying to think what could I say in three lines, and I think the timing is pertinent for me because I feel ... I'm nearly 63 years old, I can't remember a time when we were so uncertain about our values in the western world. You know, I think we are going through a time of great uncertainty about our values, about our leadership. People don't feel safe. So I do hope that things like the Nobel Prize will in some way contribute to the positive things in the world, to the decent values in the world, and that it would contribute to some sense of continuity and decency. Yeah.

AS: I suppose what you have been writing about all this time, in a way, is that question of our place in the world, our connection to each other, our connection with the world. That is perhaps the theme you explore the most, do you think?

KI: Yes, I would say so, I mean I think ... If I could put it a little bit more narrowly that that, I mean it's probably ... one of the things that's interested me always is how we live in small worlds and big worlds at the same time, that we have a personal arena in which we have to try and find fulfilment and love. But that inevitably intersects with a larger world, where politics, or even dystopian universes, can prevail. So I think I've always been interested in that. We live in small worlds and big worlds at the same time and we can't, you know, forget one or the other.

AS: Thank you, well, these are things to talk about on a different day I guess.

KI: Yes.

AS: For the moment you have to work out how you're going to handle this line of press. Just a last thought – how do you feel about the deluge of attention you're about to receive?

KI: Well, I think ... I take it very positively. I mean, while it's a little unsettling because I had no idea when I woke up this morning that it was going to be anything other than a very ordinary day, I think it's a great thing that the press, the media, take the Nobel Prize for Literature seriously. I'll be very alarmed if there was a day when somebody won the Nobel Prize for Literature and nobody was interested. That would suggest that some awful things had happened to the world.

AS: A day to celebrate literature has to be a good day.

KI: Yes, and I think literature can be a great thing, it can be sometimes a force for bad as well. You know I think things like the Nobel Prize for Literature exist to try and ensure that it is a force for good.

AS: Lovely. Well thank you very much indeed, and we very much look forward to welcoming you to Stockholm in December.

KI: Yeah, really looking forward to it. Well, very nice to talk to you Mr Smith.

AS: Thank you very much indeed.

KI: Take care now. Bye.

“我得以与我心目中的许多最伟大的英雄同列。史上最伟大的作家都荣获了这一奖项。”

石黑一雄（下简称KI）：你好，史密斯先生，你怎么样？

亚当·史密斯（下简称AS）：我很好。非常感谢您来电话。祝贺你获得诺贝尔奖。

KI：好的，谢谢。我很抱歉一直让你待机。我恐怕这里实在太喧闹了。突然有许多媒体现身，他们沿路摆开阵势。

AS：我能想象得到。好的，那么，对你来说今天肯定变成了完全意想不到的样子。你是怎么听到消息的？

KI：我正坐在厨房给一个朋友写电子邮件，这时电话铃响了。一开始还不十分确定。我的出版代理人正在看宣布奖项的实时信息流。我不认为他们有心理准备。他们只是等着听今年谁获奖。所以我开始接二连三地接到电话，每次我们都试图确定是骗局还是假新闻，或者是其它的什么。然后消息越来越肯定。等BBC打来电话时，我开始当真了。但我实际上并没停止写信。这有点像玛丽·塞利斯特号船——事情发生前所有东西一如11点左右或随便什么时刻的样子。然后就乱成了一锅粥。现在人们在街上排队要采访我。

AS：那么已经平静下来了么？

KI：没有！没有。我认为长时间都不会平静。我的意思是，这是一项无比权威的荣誉，这类事情正是这样。我不认为还有比诺贝尔奖更权威的奖项。我要指出一点，权威性主要来自一个事实，那就是瑞典皇家科学院已成功摆脱政党政治和其它因素的影响。我认为它一直坚守着为数不多的几项原则之一，这很可敬，世界上许多人都尊敬它的公正性，因此我认为获奖的荣誉感主要来自瑞典皇家科学院的真实状态。我还认为这是它自己取得的伟大成就，这些年来瑞典皇家科学院在授予社会各阶层人士荣誉时设法保持了道德高度。还有一个原因让我感到获奖是我的无上荣耀，那就是我得以与我心目中的许多最伟大的英雄同列，他们绝对是伟大作家。史上最伟大的作家都荣获了这一奖项，而且我不得不说，我在鲍勃·迪伦获奖一年后也获奖，这太棒了。我13岁时他就是我的英雄，他很可能是我心目中最大的英雄。

AS：加入他们的行列真好。

KI：是啊。我模仿鲍勃·迪伦惟妙惟肖，但现在我不会演给你看。

AS：那太遗憾了，我真想看。当你12月来斯德哥尔摩时总可以了吧？求你了。

KI：好的，我尽量吧。

AS：你一定要。这时的英国很有意思。那对你现在获奖有什么特殊意义吗？

KI：我认为有的。我的意思是，实际上就在我拿起电话打给你之前，我正在为新闻发布会写一份类似于声明的东西，我正在绞尽脑汁想三行能说些什么，我认为这个时间点对我太重要了，因为我觉得 ... 我快63岁了，我记不得有什么时候我们像现在这样对我们在西方世界里的价值如此不确定。你知道吗，我认为我们正在经历一个我们的价值和领导力非常不确定的时代。人们没有安全感。所以我真心希望像诺贝尔奖这样的事情将在一定程度上增加世界的正能量，提升世界的良性价值，并增进一些持续感和体面感。是的。

AS：我猜你一直围绕这个时代在写的东西在某种意义上就是我们在世界里的位置问题、我们彼此之间的联系、我们与世界的联系。这可能是你探讨最多的主题。你认为呢？

KI：是的，我也这么想，我的意思是我想 ... 如果我能把范围稍微缩小一点说，我的意思是很可能 ... 总是引起我兴趣的事情之一是我们如何同时活在小世界和大世界里，我们有一个个人舞台，在那里面我们必须尝试，获得满足和爱。但是它又不可避免与更大的世界有交集，在更大的世界里，政治甚或反乌托邦宇宙可能占主导地位。所以我认为我总是对那些感兴趣。我们同时活在小世界和大世界里，我们不能忘掉其中任何一个。

AS：谢谢你，好了，我想这些是我们改天要谈的事情。

KI：是的。

AS：现在你不得不考虑怎样应付这一大票媒体。我还有最后一个想法——你对即将引来的铺天盖地的关注有何感想？

KI：嗯，我想 ... 我积极看待它。我的意思是，虽然有点烦人，因为我今早起床时完全没想到这绝不是普通的一天，但我认为新闻机构和媒体重视诺贝尔文学奖是好事。如果有一天某人获得诺贝尔文学奖却没人感兴趣，我将非常紧张。那将说明世界上发生了一些可怕的事情。

AS：庆祝文学的一天必然是美好的一天。

KI：是的，我认为文学可以是好事，有时候也可以成为邪恶的力量。你知道吗，我认为有了诺贝尔文学奖这样的事情，就可以做出努力，确保它是正义的力量。

AS：说得好。啊真的非常感谢，我们万分期待12月在斯德哥尔摩欢迎您。

KI：是啊，实在期待。好了，很高兴与你谈话，史密斯先生。

AS：真的非常感谢您。

KI：保重。再见。

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