pandemonium

Kazuo Ishiguro氏の小説には大げさな感じのするいかにも文学的な言葉は余りでてこないのですが、次ぎの文にあった "pandemonium" はギリシャ神話に出てくるような感じのする単語です。
On descending, I found tha kitchen on the brink of pandemonium, and in general, an exteremely tense atmosphere amongst all levels of staff. However, I am pleased to recall that by the time dinner was served an hour or so later, nothing but efficiency and professional calm was exhibited on the part of my team.
"pandemonium" を辞書で見ると：
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a situation in which there is a lot of noise and confusion because people are excited, angry or frightened: Pandemonium reigned in the hall as the unbelievable election results were read out.
・V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: a state of chaos, confusion, and disorder: The term pandemonium was coined by John Milton in his book "Paradise Lost." It was a palace built in the middle of hell. Pandemonium has come to denote a state that resembles "hell breaking lose.": The rock concert ended in pandemonium and police were called in to calm the rowdy crowd. (chaos, turmoil) (Ref."rowdy" は既出 see blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2010/3/9 ）
失楽園で最初に使われたというのは何かの本で読んだ気がするので "pandemonium" は恐らく初めて見る単語ではない様ですが、いずれにしても忘れていました。
主人公のStevensが回想しているDarlington Hallは貴族の館ですが、今の東京で言うと例えばオークラホテルの様に、内外の重要人物が集まって会議を開く会場となる様な場所なので "pandemonium" の言葉が適しているのでしょう。