Artist floating World
Artist of the floating World is a novel by British author kazuo ishiguro it is set in post world war 2 Japan and is narrated by masuji ono an ageing Pinter who looks back on his life and how he has lived it. He notices how his once great reputation has faltered since the war and how attitudes towards him and his paintings have changed . The chief conflict deals with one's need to accept responsibility for his past actions rendered politically suspect in the context of post war Japan the novel ends with the narrator expressing good will for the young white collar workers on the streets at lunch break . The novel also deals with the role of people in a rapidly changing political environment and with the assumption and denial of guilt
The novel is confidential as both historical fiction and global literature it is considered historical fiction on account of its basis in a authors own experience and it draws from historical facts it is also considered global literature on account of its broad international market and it's thematicisation of how the World today is interconnected.
1) Lantern appears 34 times in the novel event on the cover page the image of Lanterns is displayed what is the significance of Lanterns in the novel?
Lanterns in the novel are associated with one's teacher mori San who included a lantern in each of his paintings and dedicates himself to trying to capture the look of Lanterns light for mori San the flickering easing extinguished quality of Lantern symbolises the transience of beauty and the importance of giving careful attached to small moment and details in the physical world lantern then symbolises an outlook on life which prizes small detail and everyday moments above the ideological concerns of nationalist or commercial concerns of business people . It is an old fashioned aesthetically focused and more traditional way of viewing the world.
2) write in brief a review of the film based on the novel
The novel is structured as a series of interwoven memories described by Masuji ono Ishiguro uses a variety of techniques to convey the fallibility of one's recollection to the audience gradually revealing that ono is an u reliable narrator and undermining the audiance faith in his story
Ono is an unreliable narrator disgusting his motives and spining recollection to portray himself more favorably although he denies making mistakes his true feelings slowly sleep through and the evolution of his character is expertly revealed by the reaction of his worried daughters.
3) Debate on the use of art / artist (1) art for the sake of art aesthetic delight (2)art for earning money business purpose (3) art for nationalism imperialism art for the propaganda of government power (4) art for the poor/ Marxism and (5) no need of art and artist ( Masuji's father's approach)
Art enthusiasts or not this is a phrase Many of us in the 21st century will be familiar with on question of why we create and value art for art's sake not be made based on how well work serves external parposes instead value is intrinsically defined by the aesthetic impression.
The novel highlights the way politicised art was retrospective seen as detrimental to society through the impact of the war but also present views within which art is conversely seen as ineffectual and unable to influence events by implying that the war and it's subsequent effects would have occurred with or without Ono's propaganda.
4) What is the revevance of this novel is our times?
The novel The Artist of the floating World is very fascinating in a way . The word floating is the most important thing in the whole work . The novel title is based on the literal translation on of Ukiyo e a word referring to the Japanese art of print therefore it can be read as a printmaker or an artist living in a changing word given both Ono's limited understanding and the dramatic change his word Japan in the first half of the twentieth century has undergone in his lifetime.
