Fantastic Metropolis

So the artist sees himself as a saviour, or perhaps even a messiah figure, and Ishiguro gives him powers which are beyond those of mere mortals. But what Ishiguro gives to Ryder, he also takes away, by forcing Ryder the cultural messiah to juggle two different realities at the same time, one his public life, the other his domestic life. In earlier Ishiguro novels this conflict was handled by portraying the artist in both private and public settings and, as readers, we were able to explore the protagonist’s character through his different reactions in each setting. In The Unconsoled Ishiguro carries this essential conflict to extremes. He splits the private and public worlds of the artist into parallel worlds, each one existing in a separate universe to the other. When parallel worlds are explored in science fiction, the differences between the worlds are obvious and usually the main thrust of the story. For example, the protagonist, as a result of some experiment or accident, awakens in a world that appears to be the world that he knows, but suddenly realises that something is drastically wrong when he picks up a newspaper to find that all the words are written backwards, or the events described in a history book are very different to those that he remembers. (9) Ryder’s parallel universes work in a similar fashion, but the differences between the worlds are less dramatic. In one, Ryder is a musician with few family ties who is able to concentrate on his profession and public duties. In the other he is the same musician but with the responsibilities of an estranged wife and adoptive son to deal with.

As with Ryder’s mental powers, the existence of Ryder’s parallel worlds are introduced with very little warning. Ryder agrees to assist Gustav (the hotel porter) by speaking to his daughter, Sophie, about her problems. Following Gustav’s instructions, Ryder comes across Sophie and her son, Boris, in the Hungarian Cafe in the old part of the city. He identifies them from the description that Gustav has given him and it is clear that up to this point that “our” Ryder, the narrator, has no knowledge of Sophie and Boris. Sophie, however, soon after meeting Ryder starts a conversation about a new house about to come onto the real estate market and expects Ryder to come and inspect it with her. At first Ryder is perplexed by the conversation, but then as Sophie continues to speak:

She began to give me more details about the house. I remained silent, but only partly because of my uncertainty as to how I should respond. For the fact was, as we had been sitting together, Sophie’s face had come to seem steadily more familiar to me… (10)

Ryder experiences a sense of disorientation as result of this shift—as does the reader. He is caught between two worlds, one in which he has met Sophie for the very first time and another where he is married to Sophie and they are experiencing difficulties in their relationship. As the second world takes hold of Ryder, he remembers a number of quarrels they have had over the phone and feels the sense of estrangement those disagreements have brought on. Ryder, the visiting concert musician, the cultural saviour, quickly becomes trapped in an alternative reality where his own domestic problems are demanding attention.

Ishiguro’s handling of Ryder’s experience of these alternative worlds is not simply a case of moving his character from one world to another and seeing how the character deals with the distortions that arise. In the novel, Ryder shifts back and forth between both worlds frequently, often in a very short space of time. This appears to account for the lingering partial amnesia Ryder experiences throughout the book. His memories are constantly being filtered through the perception of another self who has not lived through the exact same events that Ryder the narrator has. The reader is often unsure which Ryder in which world is in control of the narration. Sometimes it is Ryder the musician and estranged husband of Sophie. At others, it is Ryder the visiting concert pianist, unencumbered by family responsibilities. Neither has knowledge of everything that is going on, despite those extraordinary mental powers, which appear to give the domestically troubled Ryder no assistance in solving his marital problems.

This at times leads to some absurd situations that lend a certain dry humour to the book. After his first day in the city, Ryder, exhausted and obviously suffering jet-lag, is ready to retire for the night. He has changed into his dressing gown and is thinking of only one thing, getting some sleep, when he is dragged off to a formal dinner party as part of his round of official engagements. The fact that he is still wearing his pyjamas and dressing-gown is unnoticed by others, and when Ryder protests that he needs to change his attire he is assured:

you look splendid Mr Ryder. (11)

Ryder’s perceptions of how he is dressed do not match the perceptions of those around him. This is because they do not experience the same shifts between the two worlds that Ryder does. Others, although they exist in both of Ryder’s different worlds, remain the same people in both worlds, with the same character and roles. It is only Ryder who is capable of moving between two realities and only Ryder who suffers confusion because of this.