Hello readers...
This blog is the part of my thinking activity in classroom. In this blog I would like to talk about one famous novel An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo.so let's see first about the Novel.
Kazuo Ishiguro :-
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 when he was five. Ishiguro is one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in English. He has received four Man Booker Prize nominations and won the award in 1989 for his novel The Remains of the Day. Time named Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go the best novel of 2005 and one of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
In 2017, the Swedish Academy awarded Ishiguro the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing him in its citation as a writer "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".
About novel:-
An Artist of the Floating World (1986)[1] is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It is set in post-World War II Japan and is narrated by Masuji Ono, an ageing painter, 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 Ono'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 lunchbreak. 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 considered as both historical fiction and global literature (Weltliteratur).[2] It is considered historical fiction on account of its basis in a past that predates the author's own experiences, and it draws from historical facts. It is also considered global literature on account of its broad international market and its thematicisation of how the world today is interconnected.
1. 'Lantern' appears 34 times in the novel. Even on the cover page, the image of lanterns is displayed. What is the significance of Lantern in the novel?
Lanterns are the symbol of the floating world. They represent the fleeting beauty and warmth of nightlife as well as the transience of the traditional way of life in Japan, which vanishes after the war. Lanterns are the old-fashioned, welcoming source of soft light at Mrs. Kawakami's. Within their spheres of light Masuji Ono is embraced.
2. Write about 'Masuji Ono as an Unreliable Narrator'?
An Artist of the Floating World is a masterpiece that glides in out and of many dimensions. On the one hand, it is a story of generations separated by a massive ideological gulf. On the other, it is about an older man attempting to come to terms with his mistaken philosophies. It is also a historical fiction set in the Japan of limbos; Japan, which has suffered because of its misplaced imperialism, been shattered by bombings and is now critical of the past and every person representing it. At the heart of it is an unreliable narrator, Masuji Ono. Once an acclaimed painter, Ono is our guide through post-World War II Japan and its sociopolitical and emotional trauma; felt in extremities like the once-vibrant pleasure districts destroyed by bombings and kids who loved Popeye and Godzilla.
The book is a contemplative journey.
3. Debate on the Uses of Art / Artist (Five perspectives: 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 is a central theme of the novel, with One's role as a propaganda artist being the chief storyline. The novel questions the ability of art to influence and inspire political action within a community. There is a large conflict between whether art should be politicized or whether it should be simply a source of pleasure and gratification.Art for the sake of art - aesthetic delight When summarized in this way, the novel sounds misleadingly like the depiction of a straightforward decline: as if Ono’s artistic ambition leads him first to aloof and implicitly elitist aestheticism, and then from aestheticism to overtly elitist fascism, as Walter Benjamin might have predicted:
“Fiat ars – pereat mundus”, says Fascism, and, as Marinetti admits, expects war to supply the artistic gratification of a sense perception that has been changed by technology.
4. What is the relevance of this novel is our times?
In our time we find the same thing which we see in novel. Self-Perception, and Self-Deception are also we can see in our time.We also faced problem like Family Reputation, Family Secrets, and Familial Loss. In our t
Intergenerational Conflict are more we find in today's time.this novel is basesd on City, Nation, History.Also, According to countries people what's Nationalism? what do you believe if I know that there are so many soldiers, who will die for country. we can say that this is the true Nationalism but In my opinion like you can invent any new things from your own mind and gives for country so that's also Nationalism.
This time is also very relevant with the Floating world. We can say that we are living in a floating world. Specially after this pandemic we can say that we all are in that kind of situation when we all are floating in air.
Thank you....
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