The Twentieth Century Literature: From World War II to the End of the Century

Assignment 107 An artist of the floating world symbols . This blog is part of an assignment for paper 107: The Twentieth Century Literature: From World War II to the End of the Century

Personal Information:

Name: Nirali Vaghela

Batch: M.A. sem 2 (2024-2026)

Enrollment number:5108240036

Email address : niralivaghela9270@gmail.com

Roll number:18

Assignment Details :

Topic: Myth in Symbols of the ‘An artist of the floating world’

Paper & subject Name: 107 The Twentieth Century Literature: From World War II to the End of the Century

Submitted to: Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar

Date of submission:17/4/2025

Abstract:

This paper explores the symbolic elements in An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro, examining how symbols like the floating world, art, suicide, the smell of burning, and bridges reflect themes of memory, guilt, honor, and the instability of identity in post-WWII Japan.

Key words

Ishiguro, Floating World, Symbolism, Memory, Guilt, Postwar Japan, Identity, Art, Transition.

Introduction

Symbolic Study of An Artist of the Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World is a novel rich with symbolism, using key motifs to explore themes of memory, guilt, honor, and betrayal. Set in post-World War II Japan, the novel follows Masuji Ono, a former propaganda artist, as he reflects on his past actions and their consequences in a rapidly changing society. Through symbols such as the floating world, art and paintings, suicide, the smell of burning, and bridges and pavilions, Ishiguro presents a meditation on the fluidity of personal and national identity. This study examines these symbols in detail, analyzing their function within the novel and their broader thematic implications.

About author:

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese: 石黒一雄, Hepburn: Ishiguro Kazuo, /kæˈzuː.oʊ ˌɪʃɪˈɡuroʊ, ˈkæzu.oʊ/; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese-born British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. He is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary fiction authors writing in English, having been awarded several major literary prizes, including the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, the Swedish Academy described Ishiguro as a writer "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".

1. The Floating World: A Shifting Sense of Reality

The novel’s title itself is its most central symbol. Traditionally, the term ukiyo (literally, “floating world”) refers to the pleasure districts of Japan, where artists, courtesans, and patrons sought beauty and momentary escape from everyday concerns. This world, captured in Edo-period ukiyo-e prints, symbolized an ephemeral existence, a life dedicated to fleeting pleasures.

In Ishiguro’s novel, however, the floating world takes on a broader meaning. It does not merely represent the entertainment districts but serves as a metaphor for the transient nature of ideals, status, and memory. Masuji Ono, the protagonist, once embraced this world as an artist painting geishas and pleasure scenes. However, he abandoned it for political engagement, creating propaganda in support of Japan’s wartime ambitions. This transition—from artistic detachment to ideological commitment—parallels Japan’s own shift from cultural tradition to aggressive nationalism.

The floating world of entertainment was ultimately illusory, so too was the nationalist world that Ono embraced. After the war, his reputation is dismantled, and the political ideals he once supported become sources of shame. The novel thus suggests that all worlds are, in some sense, floating—unstable, subject to the changing tides of history and personal perception. Ono’s difficulty in coming to terms with this instability reflects the broader struggle of a nation attempting to reconcile its past with its present.

2. Art and Paintings: Identity and Ideology

Art serves as both a personal and political symbol throughout the novel. For Ono, painting is not just a craft but an extension of his identity. His artistic choices reflect his shifting beliefs—from the aesthetic focus of his early years to the propagandist realism he later embraced.

The transition from beauty to propaganda: Ono’s initial works, focused on the pleasure districts, align him with a tradition of detached artistry. However, he later dismisses these subjects as frivolous, turning to patriotic art that supports Japan’s imperialist cause.

The destruction of paintings: The burning of paintings recurs throughout the novel, symbolizing the destruction of ideals and personal transformation. As a child, Ono watched his father burn his early artworks, attempting to steer him toward a “respectable” profession. Later, after the war, his student Kuroda’s works are burned by the authorities, mirroring Ono’s own earlier ideological rigidity.

The absence of concrete images: Unlike in many novels where art is vividly described, Ishiguro leaves much of Ono’s work ambiguous. This lack of specificity reflects the novel’s themes of memory and self-deception, as Ono struggles to accurately recall his own past and its impact.

Art, in An Artist of the Floating World, is never neutral. It is shaped by the political forces of its time, and its value shifts depending on the era in which it is viewed. This idea reinforces the novel’s broader exploration of shifting narratives and unreliable memory.

3. Suicide: Honor and Betrayal

Suicide is a powerful symbol in the novel, tied to the themes of honor, guilt, and shifting moral codes. In traditional Japanese culture, seppuku (ritual suicide) was an act of atonement and honor. After the war, however, suicide takes on a different meaning—one of guilt and a refusal to adapt to the new order.

The suicides of Ono’s former colleagues: Several figures in the novel, once influential in wartime Japan, take their own lives after the country’s defeat. Their deaths symbolize an inability to reconcile their past actions with the new moral landscape. These suicides serve as a stark contrast to Ono, who, despite his guilt, chooses to live and rationalize his past instead of ending his life.

Ono’s internal conflict: Though he does not commit suicide, Ono contemplates his legacy in light of these deaths. His survival forces him to confront a question: Does his refusal to take his own life mean he lacks honor, or does it mean he is willing to face the truth? The novel leaves this ambiguity unresolved, reinforcing the theme of moral complexity.

Generational differences: For the younger generation, the suicides of wartime figures appear unnecessary and outdated. This generational gap highlights the shifting values of postwar Japan, where personal survival and pragmatism take precedence over traditional notions of honor.

Through these deaths, Ishiguro critiques the rigid moral frameworks that define history. Suicide, once a noble act, becomes in An Artist of the Floating World a symbol of outdated values and the refusal to accept change.

4. The Smell of Burning: Memory and Destruction

The smell of burning is a recurring sensory symbol in the novel, tied to both personal and national trauma.

Burning as erasure: Throughout Ono’s life, fire marks moments of transition and loss. As a child, his father burned his early paintings to discourage his artistic ambitions. Later, the authorities burn Kuroda’s work, silencing an opposing artistic voice. These acts of destruction symbolize the suppression of unwanted narratives.

The aftermath of war: The smell of burning also recalls the bombings that devastated Japan. This lingering presence in Ono’s memory ties his personal losses—his wife and son’s deaths—to the larger destruction of the war.

Psychological weight: The motif of burning suggests that memory itself is unstable. Just as physical objects can be destroyed, so too can the narratives surrounding them. Ono’s recollections are tinged with uncertainty, as he attempts to reconstruct the past in a way that justifies his actions.

The smell of burning thus becomes a haunting reminder of loss—both personal and historical—emphasizing the novel’s themes of memory and reckoning.

5. Bridges and Pavilions: Transition and Betrayal

Bridges and pavilions appear at key moments in the novel, symbolizing transitions—both personal and ideological.

The pavilion as a place of confrontation: Ono recalls a conversation with his former mentor Mori-san at a pavilion, where he rejected his teacher’s aestheticism in favor of politically charged art. Later, he remembers confronting his own student, Kuroda, in the same location. This doubling emphasizes cycles of ideological shifts and betrayals.

Bridges as uncertain passageways: A bridge is a literal and metaphorical space between two points, representing transition. In the novel, bridges appear when Ono reflects on the divide between past and present, tradition and modernity, honor and disgrace.

The ambiguity of place: Ishiguro does not describe these locations in great detail, allowing them to function as psychological spaces rather than fixed places. They become symbols of uncertainty, reinforcing the novel’s theme that no past decision or belief remains stable forever.

By using these locations as backdrops for key moments of change, Ishiguro highlights the impermanence of personal and national identity.

Conclusion

An Artist of the Floating World is a novel built on shifting perspectives, and its symbols reflect this fluidity. The floating world represents the impermanence of status and ideology. Art serves as both identity and propaganda. Suicide marks the clash between past honor and present guilt. The smell of burning underscores memory’s instability, while bridges and pavilions illustrate moments of ideological transition. Through these symbols, Ishiguro crafts a meditation on how history is constructed, remembered, and, ultimately, reinterpreted. The novel’s greatest insight is that truth is not fixed but, like the floating world itself, always in motion.

Reference :

Walkowitz, Rebecca L. “Ishiguro’s Floating Worlds.” ELH, vol. 68, no. 4, 2001, pp. 1049–76.JSTOR,http://www.jstor.org/stable/30032004. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

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