An Artist of the Floating World (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote “The Remains of the Day,” is a highly lauded Japanese author, born in Japan, then moved to England at the age of six. The novel follows Masuji Ono, a much accomplished artist from October 1948 to June 1950. The background is a Japan recovering and rebuilding after World War II. Ono-san had joined the patriotic fervor leading up to the war. Confrontations with Mr. Kuroda, his former pupil, along with suggestions from his daughter Setsuko’s hint at past transgressions as does Ono-san believing his role in the war may hinder his daughter Noriko’s miai, or marriage arrangement. The new generation—Suichi, Setsuko’s husband, and Taro, his new son-in-law—regard the newly embraced democracy as tantamount to a happy future, even if, as Ono-san sees it, Japan remains in the shadow of America. He is old, retired, belittled by his two daughters, and so he passes his time reinterpreting conversations he’s had and sharing scenes of his past. Ono-san’s thoughts often glide in and out of these scenes even as his present life carries on, glimpses of past glories haunt the present in the same way Mrs. Kawakami’s traditional bar is soon overshadowed by multi-story offices. Unfortunately for this reader, the pacing of the novel is slow, and the meaning of those recounted episodes not evident until the reader has nearly finished the book. Still, perhaps the genius lies in the irony of a man stuck in the floating world of the past. And despite his break with Mori-san, his former mentor, Ono-san realizes the break was anything but clean. Ono-san’s words, thoughts he realizes may have been molded from his former teacher, show his life not so far removed from the one he so criticized in his former mentor. So, this inheritance--stuck as it seems in the floating world--only comes to fruition when he learns to break free.