Nocturnes (short story collection)

Nocturnes

First edition
Author	Kazuo Ishiguro
Language	English
Genre	Short story collection
Publisher	Faber and Faber
Publication date	7 May 2009
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	221 pp
ISBN	978-0-571-24498-0
OCLC	310156229

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall is a 2009 collection of short fiction by Kazuo Ishiguro. After six novels, it is Ishiguro's first collection of short stories, though it is described by the publisher as a "story cycle". As the subtitle suggests, each of the five stories focuses on music and musicians, and the close of day. The hardback was published by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2009 and in the United States by Knopf in September 2009.

Stories

As the subtitle suggests, each story focuses on music and musicians, and the close of day. All of the stories have unfulfilled potential as a linking theme, tinged with elements of regret. The second and fourth stories have comic undertones. The first and final stories feature cafe musicians, and the first and fourth stories feature the same character. All five stories have unreliable male narrators and are written in the first person. ^[1]

• "Crooner"
  • Set in Venice, a fading American singer co-opts a Polish cafe musician into accompanying him while he serenades his wife (whose relationship is disintegrating) from a gondola.
• "Come Rain or Come Shine"
  • In London, an expatriate EFL teacher is invited to the home of a couple whom he knew whilst at university. However the couple's tensions affect the visitor, leading to a rather awkward^{[ clarification needed ]} situation.
• "Malvern Hills"
  • A young guitarist flees London and lack of success in the rock world to the Malvern countryside cafe owned by his sister and brother-in-law. Whilst there he encounters Swiss tourists whose behaviour causes him to reflect on his own situation.
• "Nocturne"
  • A saxophonist recuperating after plastic surgery at a Beverly Hills hotel becomes involved with a wealthy American woman (the now ex-wife of the crooner in the first story) and ends up in a rather bizarre confrontation on stage of the hotel (involving an award statuette and a cooked turkey).
• "Cellists"
  • A Hungarian cellist falls under the spell of a fellow cellist, an apparently virtuosic American older woman, who tutors him. He later realises that she cannot play the cello as she was so convinced of her own musical genius, no teacher ever seemed equal to it, and so rather than tarnish her gift with imperfection, she chose never to realise it at all. ^[2]

Reception

Upon release, Nocturnes was generally well-received. ^[3] Culture Critic assessed critical response as an aggregated score of 81% based on British press reviews. ^{[4] [5]} On The Omnivore, a British aggregator of press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 3.5 out of 5. ^{[6] [7]} According to Book Marks, primarily from American publications, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on eleven critics: four "rave", six "positive", and one "mixed". ^[8] In the November/December 2009 issue of Bookmarks , the book was scored a 3.5 out of 5. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Perhaps Entertainment Weekly summed it up best by stating that Nocturnes, by any other writer, would be praiseworthy; by a celebrated author like Ishiguro, it can best be likened to a minor work from a master composer". ^[9]

Robert Macfarlane writes in The Sunday Times that "Closing the book, it’s hard to recall much more than an atmosphere or an air; a few bars of music, half-heard, technically accomplished, quickly forgotten." ^[10] Christian House of The Independent writes that "Ultimately this is a lovely, clever book about the passage of time and the soaring notes that make its journey worthwhile". ^[11]

References

1. Ruth Scurr (24 April 2009). "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro". The Times . Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2010. All five stories have unreliable male narrators, who are musicians of some kind, and are written in the first person.
2. Decca Aitkenhead (27 April 2009). "Kazuo Ishiguro: 'There comes a point when you can count the number of books you're going to write before you die. And you think, God, there's only four left'". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 June 2010. She cannot actually play the instrument at all. So convinced was she of her own musical genius, no teacher ever seemed equal to it, and so rather than tarnish her gift with imperfection, she chose never to realise it at all.
3. "Nocturnes". Complete Review. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
4. "Kazuo Ishiguro – Nocturnes: Five Stories". Culture Critic. Archived from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
5. "Nocturnes". Culture Critic. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
6. "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall". The Omnivore. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
7. "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall". The Omnivore. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
8. "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
9. "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall By Kazuo Ishiguro". Bookmarks. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
10. Robert Macfarlane (10 May 2009). "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro". The Sunday Times . Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2010. Closing the book, it's hard to recall much more than an atmosphere or an air; a few bars of music, half-heard, technically accomplished, quickly forgotten.
11. Christian House (17 May 2009). "Nocturnes, By Kazuo Ishiguro". The Independent . Retrieved 29 June 2010. Ultimately this is a lovely, clever book about the passage of time and the soaring notes that make its journey worthwhile.