An Artist of the Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro, in his Künstlerroman, An Artist of the Floating World, presents a double image of the male artist: the painter, Masuji Ono, deems himself a superhuman central agent in society, but must ask himself whether he is not, in reality, a pathetic fool craving power and recognition through his impotent art. Throughout the novel, a new historicist stance, insists on seeing the artist and his art a precisely lacking in agency and as controlled by ideology. Still worse, the romantic myth of the self-begotten genius above social context is disparaged by the simultaneously held romantic belief that the artist, actually, possess no unique self. The marginalized artist, eventually, attempts to assert his authority by putting his art in the service of fascism, which endorses hero-worship and the cult of beauty, but, bend on manipulating others, becomes himself a victim of manipulation. Margaret Atwood points to the writer's "crisis of self-perception"

This paper offers an intertextual reading of Kazuo Ishiguro's An Artist of The Floating World (1986) and Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (2006). It explores how both texts manage the circuits of the international book market as commodities conscious of the stakes involved in addressing a global audience and cognizant of their translinguistic and transcultural vocations. The paper probes the discursive sites built by the two texts while oscillating between the will to defy the discourse of globalization and the urge to comply with the demand for exoticism in the Western mainstream literary market.

The primary aim of this study is to identify the objects of ethical criticism in the art world. It seeks to demonstrate that the scope of ethical critique extends beyond artworks, traditionally considered the most prominent subject of moral evaluation. Accordingly, the research explores additional objects of ethical criticism in the art world, elucidates the methods of critique for each domain, and highlights their significance, ultimately proposing a comprehensive framework for the ethical assessment of the entire art domain. Adopting a qualitative and analytical approach, the study employs conceptual analysis and inductive reasoning. Data is drawn from historical texts, philosophical theories, and case studies in art. This method integrates theoretical exploration with practical insights to establish a robust evaluative framework. The research identifies eleven core objects for ethical criticism in the art world and elaborates on how ethical critique applies to each through examples while explaining their importance: (1) artworks, (2) the process of artistic creation, (3) the artist, (4) the audience, (5) the process of artistic perception, (6) the products of art criticism, (7) the critic, (8) the process of art presentation, (9) art distributors and promoters, (10) the process of art education, and (11) art educators. By presenting a theoretical and practical framework, this study argues that extending ethical criticism to all these dimensions is essential for elevating ethical standards in both the art world and society. Conversely, neglecting these aspects risks limiting art's potential to serve as a positive ethical force.

The definition of unreliable narration underlines the ironic distance between the narrator, the implied author, and the implied reader, while in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, the unreliability of the narrator, Stevens, paradoxically elicits readers’ affective transition from irony to empathy. When the occasions of achieving dignity clash with the loss of intimate relationships, Stevens makes a seemingly foolish and cruel decision to prioritize the former, which initially reveals his unreliable value and alienates the implied readers. However, a closer look reveals that behind his unreliability is his miserable upbringing, affective aphasia, and the existential anxiety of correcting one’s self-righteous belief— a struggle that echoes Lord Darlington’s plight and resonates with the universal human experience. The readers’ growing sense of sympathy for Stevens culminates in witnessing his epiphany, where he resolves to break with the old value and bring in the new. Through Stevens’s journey from unreliability to epiphany, Ishiguro demonstrates an existential query: How do we handle the disillusion when we find our self-assured truths ridiculous? The narrative suggests readers release themselves from past mistakes and embrace the potential of the future, thereby activating their sympathy and offering them consolation.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Remains of the Day delves into the intricacies of memory, self-deception, and denial through the lens of its protagonist, Stevens, a devoted butler. This article meticulously examines the interplay of these themes within the novel, elucidating their profound impact on Stevens’ identity and worldview. By meticulously dissecting Ishiguro’s narrative, the paper elucidates how memory functions as a tool for constructing personal narratives, particularly evident in Stevens’ selective recollection of events to maintain his idealized butler persona. Furthermore, it explores Stevens’ unwavering commitment to duty, which leads to his blindness towards his employer’s moral failings and the subsequent isolation and regret he faces. Through a comprehensive analysis, this paper argues that Stevens’ self-deception and denial emanate from a quest for dignity and purpose, underscoring Ishiguro’s critique of sacrificing integrity for societal conformity. Moreover, it elucidates how Ishiguro’s exploration resonates with broader philosophical discourse on memory, identity, and ethical considerations, accentuating the imperative of acknowledging past errors for individual growth and societal advancement.

An Artist of the Floating World (1986) looks back to Ishiguro's first novel, A Pale View of Hills (1982) and anticipates his third, The Remains of the Day (1989). The painter Ono worries about a possible interference in his daughter marriage negotiations as a consequence of his support to the nationalist government, which compels him to undertake a self-evaluation of his career. By focusing on the Americanisation of the Japanese culture and the generational gap created during the postwar period in Japan, the present article discusses universal conflicts that emerge from verticalised familial and social relationships through the lens of Ono who is having trouble dealing with his sense of guilt and internal conflict regarding his active participation as a nationalist propagandist artist of the empire during the war. His reminiscing reveals mechanisms of self-deception and repression to bury intolerable and unwelcome memories insofar as they are discussed against the backdrop of a unique fluid historical moment of intense upheaval and cultural change in Japan.

Ishiguro's second novel, An Artist of the Floating World set in post war Japan, recounts the experiences of a painter Masuji Ono. Ono, the narrator of An Artist of the Floating World, is compelled to look back on his life in post war Japan. It relates the experiences of Ono, who had 'supported Japan's war efforts with propaganda art pieces, and who in the aftermath of the world war is led to reexamine his militarist views'. 36 Always floating on the edges of his life story, Ono deals with present and past issues. The novel was short listed for the Booker Prize. Ono always worries about his reputation and 'hesitates between owning up to his past mistakes.' He always tries to hide his faults; 'between moral responsibility and psychological expedience'. 32 He create a different kind of world that is according to his own convenience. The things which hurts Ono's reputation, he does not want remember them. He also 'suffers from denial: he denies his role in the failure of Noriko's marriage negotiations'. 33

This paper aims to explore how Kazuo Ishiguro has found a position of enunciation away from the conflicting sentiments of otherness between the deeply rooted traditions of both Japan and England. With a particular focus on Ishiguro’s third novel, The Remains of the Day (1989), the paper highlights the shift of the scene from Japan in his first two novels, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World to a purely English setting in The Remains of the Day. Drawing on the postcolonial theoretical framework, the study examines Ishiguro’s literary production grapples with universal themes. It offers ways to question the ‘national greatness’ of both empires as represented through Japanese and British voices while narrating their personal histories and traumas. The main contribution of this study lies in extending arguments on the postcolonial engagement of Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, by focusing on his demythologization of both Eastern and Western Empires. The paper conc...

Bakalářská práce se zabývá analýzou kulturních stereotypů v románech Kazua Ishigura. V teoretické části se práce věnuje stereotypům, a to ze dvou úhlů pohledu. V druhé, praktické, části jsou rozebírány první tři Ishigurovy romány - A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World a The Remains of the Day. V centru zájmu jsou japonské stereotypy o sebevraždách, submisivitě žen a rolích v domácnosti. Poté jsou rozebírány britské stereotypy, které jsou představeny v podobě hlavních postav - majordoma a džentlmena. Kromě těchto stereotypů je v práci představena myšlenka, že v románu z britského prostředí lze najít odkazy japonské kultury.ObhájenoThe bachelor thesis uses the fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro to deconstruct cultural stereotypes. In the theoretical part, the thesis introduces the issue of stereotypes from two points of view. The second, practical, part deconstructs the first three of Ishiguro's novels - A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains...

This paper sets out to study Kazuo Ishiguro's "Cellists" by shedding light on the Japanese concept of Mono No Aware and its textual implications for Tibor who is the main character of the short story. Being a traditional notion in Japanese traditional literary criticism Mono No Aware serves as a transience that has a potential of producing lifelong repercussions. In "Cellists" the primary agent to mediate this transience is the American character Eloise who through symbolizing certain stereotypes leads one to reflect on the dilemma of talent versus hard work. Furthermore, Ishiguro brilliantly touches upon the orphanhood of man when it comes to finding functional mentorship and emotional guidance in life. Thus, in his short story Kazuo Ishiguro underscores the importance of acting on one's talent by constructing characters who use music as a tool for deeper communication and self-construction against a background of Mono No Aware.

This paper aims to explore how Kazuo Ishiguro has found a position of enunciation away from the conflicting sentiments of otherness between the deeply rooted traditions of both Japan and England. With a particular focus on Ishiguro's third novel, The Remains of the Day (1989), the paper highlights the shift of the scene from Japan in his first two novels, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World to a purely English setting in The Remains of the Day. Drawing on the postcolonial theoretical framework, the study examines Ishiguro's literary production grapples with universal themes. It offers ways to question the 'national greatness' of both empires as represented through Japanese and British voices while narrating their personal histories and traumas. The main contribution of this study lies in extending arguments on the postcolonial engagement of Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, by focusing on his demythologization of both Eastern and Western Empires. The paper concludes that Ishiguro's 'fictional' metamorphosis serves to subvert imperial landscapes, and convert them into mythical metaphors to approach universal themes and worlds, while simultaneously finding his own voice and territory.

Kazuo Ishiguro acknowledges the fallibility of the human condition, and herein lies the therapeutic core
of his novels. The current study proposes a theoretical approach to Ishiguro’s second novel (1989) from an
interdisciplinary perspective on the main character’s narrative. In the first part, Henry James' interpretation of
literature applies to Masuji Ono’s totalitarian views to link fiction to real life. The second part discusses the
relativity of choices and decisions based on transgenerational ethics as presented in Strauss and Howe’s Fourth
Turning Theory. The third part focuses on Ono’s narrative unreliability as a form of confabulation. Since Ono’s
recollections often clash with what his family can remember about certain events, the painter may be suffering
from the false memory effect as a form of healing old trauma. The last subchapter explains the concept of ‘mono
no aware’ from a scientific perspective. The Japanese understanding of the ‘pathos of things’ is reflected in the second
law of thermodynamics, which stipulates that universal disorder will always increase. While young Ono refuses to
accept the floating world, old Ono seeks to make peace with the transitory nature of existence, which is equivalent
to accepting the entropy of the Universe.

Ihara Saikaku fue un gran escritor de su tiempo y exploró como nadie la verdadera naturaleza del ser humano en los llamados barrios rojos o mundo flotante. En su obra llamada El gran espejo de amor entre hombres nos sumergimos en el amor homosexual y este trabajo pretende observar a los personajes que lo habitan, así como sus relaciones sociales y la importancia que tenían en la sociedad del momento.

У раду се проматрају наративне стратегије путем којих хомодијегетички наратори-протагонисти два романа Казуа Ишигура, Сликар пролазног света и Остаци дана, пружају отпор иронијском разоб-личавању сопствених наративних идентитета, које сматрају постојаним и вредносно неупитним. Наведени романи се у раду анализирају путем кључних термина позајмљених од деконструкције, херменеутике и поетике постмодернизма, као и са увидом у разградњу метанаративних, оприсутњујућих концепција у оквиру тих теоријских поља. Тумачењем наведених романа изводимо закључак да се и дијахронија и синхронија, односно и континуитет и кохерентност наративног идентитета Масуђија Она и батлера Стивенса, иронично растачу у оквиру њихових исповести које теже да у записима налик на дневничке одрже конфигурацију идентитета засновану на достојанству у коју су полагали веру и да је истовремено делимично преиспишу под притиском новог симболичког поретка који у сваком запису пред њих поставља додатне захтеве за прилагођавање. Перспективизам, односно Онова и Стивенсова сужена перспектива, разобличава њихове аутобиографске наративе, али наративно уоб-личење односи превагу, јер се разоб-личење може само у лимбичком простору остваривати, док наративне итерације и интертекстуалност које творе субјективност настављају да је творе и после катарзичних унижења протагониста.

Culture is a shared pattern of behaviour prevailing in a group or a society. It includes all the traditions, customs, beliefs and values that are transmitted from generation to generation and it can shape people. Thus it can be summarized that culture is something commonly shared, transmitted and it has a role in shaping people. When another culture tries to penetrate into the existing culture, some problems arise among people living in that society. Postcolonial literature deals with such problems as estrangement, displacement, identity crisis, etc. Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the examples of the writers of postcolonial literature and he studies on the aforementioned themes in his books. An Artist of the Floating World is one of them. The aim of this article is to analyse displacement and estrangement problems that the main character, Masuji Ono, faces because of the influence of another culture in Japan after World War II. There are many changes in society ranging from the traditional values to traditional art and they cause Ono to feel disturbed. Prior to discussion, an introduction and brief information about the historical background of the novel will be given.