An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro

Here I am presenting my thinking activity on an Artist of the floating world : Kazuo Ishiguro: 

* An Artist of the Floating World -   Kazuo Ishiguro :

-1. Sculpting Historiography as a narrative technique in " An Artist of the Floating World". Give your point of view on this narrative technique.   

   * Narrative Flow of the novel    narrative of the novel has been set between October1948 and June 1950.

        An Artist of the Floating World novel is told the story by first person narrative. Masuji Ono is narrator of the novel. In this novel we see sculpting historiography as a narrative technique. 

          In which the word sculpting means creating or representing something by carving or other shaping techniques. Historiography means the writing of history. I this novel we see Masuji Ono narrates his story by this sculpting historiography narrative technique. Masuji Ono create his life's image by edit some other elements.

 He not only tells about history but he also tells his memory. The past is lost for the time to come. But the snapshot of the past linger in the present. The character is trying to relocate himself while passed from the past memory to the present. 

        Ono's past is retrieved in the form of memory. In this Ishiguro's novel, protagonist Masuji Ono try to reconcile his personal memories with that of the history of the nation. In the novel we see he remembers incident which happened with him that incident now happened with someone. Like Kurodo's painting burnt by police and in Ono's childhood his father burnt the paintings. 

2) The effect of the new culture on characters in the novel. Have you notice this kind of changes. How and where you notice. Explain in detail.

       Ukiyo is the Japanese term used to describe the urban lifestyle and culture, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo period Japan. Ukiyo culture developed in Yoshiwara, the licensed red-light district of Edo, the site of many brothels frequented by Japan's growing middle class. 

    In this novel the influence of American culture which presents the lives of Japanese is obvious. That is the reason why the protagonist Ono feels estranged and displaced. In the novel past and present is compared through the eyes of Ono. 

     The loss of traditional values is connected with the Americanization process. In Japan there is a change and it is mostly observed through the younger generation and this change makes Ono feel disturbed. In the novel we see effect of new culture on the characters. In the novel negotiation for Noriko's marriage is a centre. The first negotiation fails and results in the withdrawal of the suitor's family. Ono is blamed by Setsuko for causing the breakdown of the negotiations, so she warns her father in order not to cause any further disappointment. Japanese culture is known for its values including close relations, parental respect and arrangements for marriage. 

        However, here Ono's daughter can criticize their father frankly and sometimes they are impolite. The another example for culture change is Noriko's talking about her marriage negotiation in the presence of a stranger. This is again the result of change in culture in that women feel free to become outspoken. 

3)    How you see the political representation in this novel? Or there is nothing politically active in this novel? Give your point of view and argument also. 

       

       This  novel is based on the aftermath of the Second World War. This novel raise significant doubts between freedom and the city in its melancholic representation of lost urban community. 

          The private memories of the character give us a glimpse of the historical events that shook the world without directly narrating him. The political accountability of the major protagonist is brought to focus in the reader's mind.

        Masuji Ono, a respectable artist of 1930s and an imperial protagonist remembers and reconsiders his past actions that pronounce him as a collaborator in disgrace.

          The very first line of the novel refers to the destruction caused by war. Politics and art represented in the novel . The  main protagonist, Masuji Ono, an artist, refuses to represent the real world while his imperialist mentor denies freedom of artistic expression to him. Ono's creativity is suppressed right from his childhood, first by his father and later by his mentor. 

          His paintings burnt by his father and Mathsuda tell him to joining in nationalism. 

       Ono's daughters Noriko and Setsuko are liberated women in comparison to their mother. Setsuko blame on his father and Noriko talks about her own marriage negotiation in presence of suitors family. The Japanese culture do not allow this kind of freedom, it is like a politics in society. 

Q-4. Give appropriate argument on "Memory, ethics and the first person unreliable narrator" with special reference on " An Artist of the Floating World".

  

         In the novel "An Artist of the Floating World" we see the three major theme memory, ethics and the first person unreliable narrator. The narrator of this novel is unreliable due to the suppression of painful memories relating to their past. The ethical dimension is relevant to the contextual circumstances surrounding the text.  

This novel is tells the story of Masuji Ono a Japanese artist who dedicated much of his professional life to producing World War Two propaganda posters to aid the Japanese war effort. The narrative focuses on the retired Ono looking back on his life's mistake. 

        Memory is about narrator's own past incidents. In the novel Ono memorised his past and tells us about his life. Ethics is at the forefront of such concerns, as the protagonist in novel makes ethical compromises for the supposed greater good.  

         Unreliability is about narrative style of Ishiguro. Ono is unreliable narrator because the story is first person narrative.

  Masuji Ono recalls his past throughout the novel. Ono rethinking about his past events its highlights his status as unreliable narrator.

       The narration reflects the concept that memory is processed through an individual's consciousness, making it subjective to that particular person.  Ono is first person unreliable narrator and he recalls his memory and it arises ethical questions. We are not yet convinced with Ono's story because we are not there when all the things happened. In this novel we see this three memory, ethics and first person unreliable narrator.

  

5)Explain in detail features of the narrator's account and also explain Ono's attitude to his past explain in detail.

      In the novel Masuji Ono is narrator. He is unreliable narrator. Ono tells story about his past events and this narrative has three different features. This are digression, indirectness and incompleteness, metanarrative comments. The meaning of digression is some story or things beyond of subject. 

         Ono like to become an artist but his father not interested in Ono's dicision. This mater Ono tells us when the paintings of Kuroda burnt by police. And he see this and tell us about his paintings which burnt by his father. Here we find the features of digression. In the negotiation of Noriko's marriage Ono's elder daughter warn his father for careful discussion about marriage. 

      She tells to his father that this time not misunderstand and mistake which happened by him as he do in past. In Setsuko's dialogue we see the indirectness and incompleteness about Ono's past events. 

         Ono's narrative and reliability of his memory expressed both directly and indirectly. Ono 's attitude to the pre - war era, it discovers a struggle between two opposing forces : his nostalgia and his awareness of his own mistake. Ono 's nostalgic idea dislike modern Japan and specially the American culture. 

         He also fears about his past that he do in the negotiation for his daughter's marriage. Setsuko warm him about his past. Ono fails to direct account of his past events. He became unreliable narrator. We see there is some absence in Ono's narrative. Ono's attitude to Kuroda telling about his own past. Kuroda and Ono both 's painting burnt by someone. By connecting present events Ono trying to say about his mistakes and his good memories about his past.