摘要：This paper proposes to compare and contrast two novels that take as their theme the reflections and regrets of a lonely male protagonist. In the case of Bruno's Dream (1969), the main character is Bruno, a sick old man nearing death. In The Remains of the Day (1990), it is the butler Stevens who, preoccupied with his work, has always kept to himself and now discovers a longing to establish human contact with others. Bruno and Stevens are depicted as essentially alone. In the drama of life they are spectators rather than actors. They are 'insider outsiders.' Bruno inhabits a large household in London and Stevens heads the staff of an English country house, but both hold themselves aloof or apart from those around them. That the sense of alienation Bruno and Stevens experience is so acutely described may be attributed in part to the fact that they are the creation of authors who have acknowledged feelings of being 'insider outsiders' themselves: inhabiting England but not native to it. Iris Murdoch was born in Ireland and taken to England as a baby. Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Japan but has lived in Britain since he was six years old
