An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

As artists, they ultimately decide that this is worth some good will. The redeeming quality of their actions is that they tried something daring instead of taking the safe route. In one another’s empathy, they find redemption, which is another theme of the novel. They also conclude in retrospect that while their actions were obviously negative, at the time, they thought they were doing the right thing. Together, they come to terms with how they impacted Japan and the Japanese during the war. Matsuda was responsible for bringing Ono into the nationalist party.

Ono presumes this is because the other family is in a different class, but his daughters are concerned the issue stems from Ono’s background. His youngest daughter, Noriko, was engaged to marry but the other family broke the contract. Now retired, Ono struggles with family matters. It wasn’t an auction for money, but rather for prestige. It once belonged to a famous artist, and he won it at auction. Ono wonders if he really deserves his house.

Even though Ono decides that his actions were wrong, his family doesn’t seem to think so-or they don’t care, as they enjoy the comforts his prestige provides. Ono had had doubts about Kuroda’s loyalty, which he shared with the authorities as a result, Kuroda had been arrested. He visits with other artists, even Kuroda, whom he feels he wronged.

Identity is a major theme, and Ono spends much of the novel trying to figure out his own identity and his place in his family and in the post-war world. Due to his political position-working as a nationalist creator of propaganda for the government during World War II-Ono doubts his status after his daughter’s marriage negotiations suffer. Retired artist Masuji Ono’s career has delivered him prestige, but he questions his status. An Artist of the Floating World (1986), a novel by Nobel-winner Kazuo Ishiguro, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize it also took home the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro