An artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. In this blog i am going to discuss some of the important questions regarded An artist of the Floating world, novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Points i have ponder in my blog are this,

1) about the novel

2) about the movie

3) about Kazuo Ishiguro (Author)

4) important questions related to novel and movie.

5) Conclusion.

1) about the novel :-

An Artist of the Floating World published in 1986. Written by British author Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel is about an ageing painter, who looks back on his life and how he has lived it. The novel set in post-World War II Japan and is narrated by Masuji Ono. The novel is considered as both historical fiction and global literature (Weltliteratur).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. To read more click here

This is the summary video of the novel.

This is the video by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, the video is of confusing Characters of the novnovel and narrative strategy.

2) about the movie :-

This is the trailer of movie,

Yoshiji Ono is the protagonist if the film. Who was a prominent painter but later on because of encouragement of Chisu Matsuda an nationalist, he started making paintings of war and aggression which later on creat regret and guilt for him. Because somewhere this nationalists painters are also responsible for the disaster of Japan. Kazuki Watanabe is the director of the film.

Click here to read more about movie. 

3) About the author :- 

An artist of the floating world was written by Sir Kazuo Ishiguro. He was a British author,screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Born in Nagasaki, Japan but later on moved to Britain in 1060 when ge was five. He wrote many books during his life time, some famous books are, A Pale View of Hills,  An Artist of the Floating World, The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go etc. He also awarded by awards like Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize in 1982 for "A Pale View of Hills", Whitbread Prize in 1985 for An Artist of the Floating World, Booker Prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day and Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. He mainly write japanise fiction because he is familiar with that. As he wrote that,  "I'm not entirely like English people because I've been brought up by Japanese parents in a Japanese speaking home. My parents  felt responsible for keeping me in touch with japanise value. I do have a distinct background. I think differently, my perspectives are slightly different."

Kajuko Ishiguro describes himself as a "serious cinephile" and "great admirer of Bob Dylan", the 2016 recipient of the Nobel Literature prize. To read more about the Ishiguro click here

4) important questions related to novel and movie.

1] Lantern appears 34 times in the novel. Even on the cover page, the image of lantern is displayed. What is the significance of lantern in the novel?

In the novel, word "Lantern" appears 34 times. It is symbolize the transience of beauty. Beauty of all kind like beauty of art, beauty of nature, beauty of human kind. 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. As a symbol of the floating world, lanterns often appear in Mori-san's work, either within the picture or as the implied light source for the subject in the painting. With the end of the war, the occupation, and the rapid modernization of Japan, traditional light sources like lanterns vanish just as the pleasure district and the floating world disappear when the sleek office buildings arise.

Lanterns, then, symbolize an outlook on life which prizes small details and everyday moments above the ideological concerns of nationalists or commercial concerns of businesspeople. 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 film based on, An artist of the floating world was directed by Kazuki Watanabe and was released at March 30, 2019. If we compare both the film and novel, than novel seems far better than movie. The movie was in Japanese, might that's the reason that we got such no intrest in that. But movie is truthful to novel and gave us basic idea about the novel. Language are Japanese, so unwilling we have to read subtitles along with watching scenes, which some time creates boringness.

For those who want to understand novel in short time and have no time to read novel, movie is best option, as it gives basic understanding of novel, plots, character, setting etc. Also this movie start with home of Ono, same as  novel, but filmmaker also made some changes, like once Ono asked his daughter that where is his paintings. This scene is not there in novel. This film Also help to understand hidden meaning and emotions by setting, dialogues, use of silence and pauses, clothing, music and background sounds etc. This all help to understand the things well.

3) Debate on the use of Art / Artist (five Perspectives: 1) Art for the sake of art aesthetic delight, 2) Art for erning Money - Buisness 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)