Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

Paola Trimarco (The Open University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1986

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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A short novel broadly categorised as historical fiction,

An Artist of the Floating World

is one of Kazuo Ishiguro’s most studied and discussed works. Like his first novel,

A Pale View of Hills

(1982), this second novel by Ishiguro is set in Japan and draws on the author’s Japanese heritage. Following the publication of

An Artist of the Floating World

in 1986, Ishiguro became regarded as an “internationalist” writer, alongside Salman Rushdie and Shiva Naipaul, at a time of growing interest in foreign-born writers with a British connection.

The story is narrated by Masuji Ono, an elderly, retired artist in Japan, writing what reads like a memoir over a period of two years, between 1948 and 1950. Early in his recollections, the reader is told that Ono was a distinguished artist and,

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1529 words

Citation: Trimarco, Paola. "An Artist of the Floating World". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 December 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6688, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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