Editing The Remains of the Day (section)

==Reception==
''The Remains of the Day'' is one of the most highly regarded post-war British novels. In 1989, the novel won the [[Booker Prize]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021|title=The Booker Prize 1989|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/1989|access-date=2021-09-26|publisher=[[Booker Prize]]s|language=en}}</ref> It ranks 146th in a composite list, compiled by Brian Kunde of [[Stanford University]], of the best 20th-century English-language fiction.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.stanford.edu/~bkunde/best/bl-crank.htm | publisher=[[Stanford University]] | title=The Best English-Language Fiction of the Twentieth Century: A Composite List and Ranking  | author=Brian Kunde | date=24 June 2005 | access-date=29 June 2010}}</ref>

In 2006, ''[[The Observer]]'' asked 150 literary writers and critics to vote for the best British, Irish or Commonwealth novel from 1980 to 2005; ''The Remains of the Day'' placed joint-eighth.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/08/fiction.features1 | newspaper=[[The Observer]] | title=What's the best novel in the past 25 years? | author=Robert McCrum | author-link=Robert McCrum | date=8 October 2006 | access-date=29 June 2010 | location=London}}</ref> In 2007, ''The Remains of the Day'' was included in a ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' list of "Books you can't live without"<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/01/news | newspaper=The Guardian | title=Books you can't live without: the top 100 | date=1 March 2007 | access-date=29 June 2010 | location=London}}</ref> and also in a 2009 "1000 novels everyone must read" list.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=1000 Novels Everyone Must Read: The Definitive List | date=23 January 2009}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' has described the novel as Ishiguro's "most famous book".<ref name="veconomist">{{cite news|title=Kazuo Ishiguro, a Nobel laureate for these muddled times|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/10/uncovering-abyss|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=5 October 2017}}</ref> On 5 November 2019, the ''[[BBC News]]'' listed ''The Remains of the Day'' on its list of the [[BBC list of 100 'most inspiring' novels|100 most influential novels]].<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05/>

In a retrospective review published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2012, [[Salman Rushdie]] argues that "the real story … is that of a man destroyed by the ideas upon which he has built his life".<ref name=rushdie2012>{{Cite web|last=Rushdie|first=Salman|author-link=Salman Rushdie|date=2012-08-17|title=Salman Rushdie: rereading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/17/rereading-remains-day-salman-rushdie|access-date=2021-09-26|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> In Rushdie's view, Stevens's obsession with dignified restraint has cost him loving relationships with his father and with Miss Kenton.<ref name="rushdie2012" />

Kathleen Wall argues that ''The Remains of the Day'' "may be seen to be ''about'' Stevens's attempts to grapple with his unreliable memories and interpretations and the havoc that his dishonesty has played on his life" (emphasis in original).{{sfn|Wall|1994|p=23}} In particular, she suggests that ''The Remains of the Day'' challenges scholarly accounts of the [[unreliable narrator]]. Wall notes that the ironic effect of Mr Stevens's narration depends on the reader's assuming that he describes ''events'' reliably, while ''interpreting'' those events in self-serving or peculiar ways.{{sfn|Wall|1994|p=25}}

According to [[Steven Connor]], ''The Remains of the Day'' thematises the idea of [[English national identity]]. In Mr Stevens's view, the qualities of the best butlers, which involve restraining personal emotions in favour of keeping up appearances, are "identified as essentially English".{{Sfn|Connor|1996|pp=104–105}} Connor argues that early critics of ''The Remains of the Day'', who saw it as a novel about Japanese national identity, were mistaken: "there seems to be no doubt that it is Englishness that is at stake or under analysis in this novel".{{Sfn|Connor|1996|p=107}}