Kazuo Ishiguro

Grew up in Guildford, Surrey where he attracted attention in the neighborhood by being the only Japanese child. In his teens, he wanted to be a rock star - actually in 1973, Ishiguro worked for a time as a grousebeater for the Queen Mother at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeen, Scotland - however in 1983, he became a full-time writer.

Idealistic people often become misanthropic when they are let down two or three times. Plato suggests it can be like that with the search for the meaning of the good. You shouldn't get disillusioned when you get knocked back. All you've discovered is that the search is difficult, and you still have a duty to keep on searching.