KASUO ISHIGURO

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kazuo Ishiguro is a British-Japanese author. Ishiguro was born in 1954 in Nagasaki. His family left

Japan in 1960 and immigrated to England. His first two novels, ‘A Pale View of Hills’ (1982) and

‘An Artist of the Floating World’ have Japanese narrators and settings.

His best-known novel, ‘The Remains of the Day’ (1989, Booker Prize; film 1993), has a very English central character and setting.

The following site: http://literature.britishcouncil.org/kazuo-ishiguro gives more info on Kazuo Ishiguro.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1914-1918 - World War I and relations between

England, Germany, France, America

1919 - The Treaty of Versailles

  1932 – Foundation of the British Union of

Fascists – the "blackshirts". Hitler’s involvement and anti-Semitism

1956 – The Suez Crisis

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

Both The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World are written in the same style. Both narrators spend a lot of time talking and discussing topics around the subject they want to talk about, thus giving hints about the main point being made.

For example, in ‘An Artist of the Floating World’ Ono talks for 12 pages on buying his house, which, within this, tells the story of how he lost his wife and son, as well as where he lives and how it has changed since the war. This is comparable to Stevens talking about Dignity and Greatness for so many pages, showing how important they are in his life.

Regret is a theme that is present in both novels. It becomes clear, when Stevens breaks down at the

end of the novel, that he wishes he had acted differently with regard to Miss Kenton and Lord Darlington. The tone of the novel is often wistful or nostalgic for the past; as the story goes on; the tone deepens into one of regret as Stevens looks at his past actions and decisions and finds them unwise.

This is the same for ‘An Artist of the Floating World’, with Ono realizing that his past life had been in the wrong direction and that the morals and attitudes that he painted are not supported anymore in the present-day society.

Literal and figurative loss is present for both

Ono and Stevens. Stevens loses his father, Miss Kenton, and

eventually his hope of convincing Miss Kenton to return to Darlington Hall.

In ‘An Artist of the Floating World’ Ono loses his wife and son in the war, as well as his life friend, Matsuda, near the end of the novel.

He also loses his reputation and his self belief that he painted popular art, but slowly, throughout the novel, whereas Stevens starts the novel with a sense of loss and regret.

The change of setting throughout both novels is

representative of other changes in character and views.

In ‘The Remains of the Day,’ the English landscape is used to show the sense of change in Stevens, and going on the journey of realisation. It is a metaphor, the dense foliage changes to rolling countryside.

This is shown in ‘An Artist of the Floating World’ with the part of the city that Ono lives near, which was once a pleasure district and is now in ruins. This signifies the change in time and the war, as well as Ono’s slow realization of the change of others' opinions about him.

Both novels are written in long chapters, each of

about 70 – 100 pages long, except An Artist of the Floating World has sections lasting a few months in length rather than a day.

However, they can be seen to represent the slow change in mentality of both main characters, and the slow realization of both the reader and the characters about the loss and pathos created by their accounts of their lives. They also reflect Ishiguro’s narrative style, which is quite slow in revealing facts and answers but spends a long time talking around and discussing the subject.