KAZUO ISHIGURO

Never Let Me Go - fragments
 

I want to move on now to our last years at Hailsham. I’m talking about the period from when we were thirteen to when we left at sixteen. In my memory my life at Hailsham falls into two distinct chunks: this last era, and everything that came before. The earlier years—the ones I’ve just been telling you about—they tend to blur into each other as a kind of golden time, and when I think about them at all, even the not-so-great things, I can’t help feeling a sort of glow. But those last years feel different. They weren’t unhappy exactly—I’ve got plenty of memories I treasure from them—but they were more serious, and in some ways darker. Maybe I’ve exaggerated it in my mind, but I’ve got an impression of things changing rapidly around then, like day moving into night.
That talk with Tommy beside the pond: I think of it now as a kind of marker between the two eras. Not that anything significant started to happen immediately afterwards; but for me at least, that conversation was a turning point. I definitely started to look at everything differently. Where before I’d have backed away from awkward stuff, I began instead, more and more, to ask questions, if not out loud, at least within myself.

Ioana Amalia Nita

Kazuo Ishiguro
 

Acum as vrea sa trec la ultimii nostri ani la Hailsham. Vorbesc despre atunci cand aveam treisprezece ani si pana la saisprezace ani cand am plecat. In amintirile mele viata mea la Hailsham se imparte in doua bucati diferite: aceasta ultima perioada, si tot ceea ce s-a intamplat inaintea ei. Primii ani – cei despre care tocmai v-am vorbit – tind sa se contopeasca unul in celalalt precum o epoca de aur , iar cand ma gandesc la ei toti, chiar si la lucrurile mai putin minunate, simt fara sa vreau un fel de stralucire. Insa , acei ultimi ani au fost diferiti. Nu au fost chiar tristi – am numeroase amintiri din acea perioada pe care le pretuiesc – dar au fost mai seriosi si intr-un fel mai intunecati. Poate ca am exagerat eu in imaginatia mea, dar mi s-a parut ca lucrurile se schimbau foarte repede atunci, de parca ziua devenea noapte.
Acum ma gandesc la acea discutie pe care am avut-o cu Tommy langa elesteu ca la un fel de delimitare intre cele doua perioade. Nu pentru ca s-ar fi intamplat ceva semnificativ imediat dupa; dar pentru mine cel putin, acea discutie a fost un punct de cotitura. Cu siguranta am inceput sa vad totul diferit. Acolo unde inainte ma indepartam de lucrurile neobisnuite, am inceput in schimb, sa pun intrebari, daca nu cu voce tare, atunci mie insami.