Sculpting historiography as_a_narrative

Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 11(1): January - March, 2020
1
ISSN 0975-6795 (Print)
2321-5828 (Online)
DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2020.00001.7
Vol. 11 |Issue-01|
January - March| 2020
Available online at
www.anvpublication.org
Research Journal of
Humanities and Social Sciences
Home page www.rjhssonline.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Sculpting Historiography as a Narrative in An Artist of the Floating World
Ms. Sonali Das, Dr. Mousumi Dash, Prof. Ashok Kumar Mohanty, Ms. Salini Sethi
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, SOA (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneshwar- 751030
Dist - Khordha India.
*Corresponding Author Email: sonalidas@soa.ac.in
ABSTRACT:
Past is lost for all time to come. But the snapshots of the past linger in the present. That means, the roots of the
past contributes to the making of the present consciousness of the identity which does not mean that the
character hates the present. Rather the character is trying to relocate himself or herself while traversing from the
past memory to the present. Kazuo Ishiguro’s ability to create zones of historicism in his novel infuses some
kind of aesthetic appeal and profundity to the novel. The historical milieu of Ishiguro’s tales is more than just a
frame of reference for the portrayal of national, cultural and personal identities. These historical events provide
an insight to the psychological and emotional trauma that the characters go through while making the readers
aware of the significance of reminiscing the past. Thus, Ishiguro has always concluded his works with an
optimistic note to his readers. In this present article we are going to explore the significance of historical events
in the life of the characters in An Artist of the Floating World and how this becomes a part of it’s narrative style.
KEYWORDS: Kazuo Ishiguro, history, memory, identity, nation.
INTRODUCTION:
Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of 2017 Nobel Prize for
Literature, was born in Nagasaki Japan but soon moved
to Britain when he was only five years of age, as his
father who was an oceanographer joined a British
government research on the North Sea. His family
settled in the town of Guildford, Southern England
where he grew up attending British schools but speaking
Japanese at home with his parents. In several interviews,
Ishiguro has stated that initially this migration was
supposed to be short term, but with the passage of time
the sojourn became permanent.
Received on 04.11.2019 Modified on 14.12.2019
Accepted on 20.12.2019 ©AandV Publications All right reserved
Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020; 11(1):01-04.
DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2020.00001.7
Ishiguro’s second novel, An Artist of the Floating World
(1986), is a kind of looking back to his debut novel A
Pale View of Hills and an anticipation of his third The
Remains of The Day. It tells the story of Masuji Ono, a
painter who came to fame as a nationalist creator who
painted a lot of propaganda for Japan during the World
War II. Ultimately the push for an extended Japanese
Empire fell short and so Ono spends much of the time
trying to figure out what his identity is in this newly
democratic Americanized version of Japan. Ono’s
recollections of his past shows his constant effort of self-
deception to hide or forget his past memories which has
been discussed throughout the novel as against the
backdrop of certain historical incidents of a major
turmoil and Japan’s cultural change.
NARRATIVE FLOW IN THE NOVEL:
The narrative of the novel has been set between October
1948 and June 1950. At the outset of the story we are
informed that Ono’s wife and son has been killed in
bombings and war and now he is left with his two
daughters, Setsuko and Noriko. Setsuko, the elder one, is
married and have a child named Ichiro and the younger

2
daughter Noriko, still single as she is having a hard-time
in finding a husband, stays with Ono. Ono’s constant
pondering of his past acts as an antithesis all through the
novel. With his dramatic monologue, where he is seen
recollecting and giving all information about the gone
years, the audience is sluggishly and essentially
summoned to assume Ono’s role in all of the events of
the past.
The flow of Ono’s narrative gives hint to the readers of
his own history, his contribution and effort to the
propaganda of Japan entering into war from being an
artist and also at the same time to being a loyal and
dedicated public servant, and also his retirement after the
surrender of Japan to America. Because of the horrifying
effect of the war in Japan, one may possibly expect a
rancorous voice, but however, Ono well managed to
cope with it. He honestly admits his past errors if any as
he says,
‘There are some, Mrs Saito,’ I said, perhaps a little
loudly, ‘who believe my career to have been a negative
influence. An influence now best erased and forgotten. I
am not aware of this viewpoint. There are some who
would say it is people like myself who are responsible
for the terrible things that happened to this nation of
ours. As far as I am concerned, I freely admit that I made
many mistakes. I accept that much of what I did was
ultimately harmful to our nation, that mine was part of
an influence that resulted in untold suffering for our own
people. I admit this. You see, Dr Saito, I admit this quite
readily. My paintings. My teachings. As you see, Dr
Saito, I admit this quite readily. All I can say is that at
the time I acted in good faith. I believed in all sincerity I
was achieving good for my fellow countrymen. But as
you see, I am not now afraid to admit I was mistaken.1
After this, Ono further reflects on what he has done in
the prospect of the war,
Of course I do not pretend certain moments of that
evening were not painful for me; nor do I claim I would
so easily have made that sort of declaration I did
concerning the past had circumstances not impressed
upon me the prudence of doing so. Having said this, I
must say I find it hard to understand how any man who
values his self-respect would wish for long to avoid
responsibility for his past deeds; it may not always be an
easy thing, but there is certainly a satisfaction and
dignity to be gained in coming to terms with the
mistakes one has made in the course of one’s life. In any
case, there is surely no great shame in mistakes made in
the best of faith. It is surely a thing far more shameful to
be unable or unwilling to acknowledge them.2
Throughout the dramatic monologue of Ono, an initial
impression was may be he is trying to conceal something
but eventually we learn that Ono is rather very honest
with his involvement or participation in the war.
MEMORY AND HISTORY:
Ono’s past is retrieved in the form of memory. In
Ishiguro’s novel, his protagonists always try to reconcile
their personal memories with that of the history of the
nation which is usually an unsuccessful attempt.
Memory and history, far from being synonymous, appear
now to be in fundamental opposition. Memory is a
perpetually actual phenomenon, a bond tying us to the
eternal present; history is a representation of the past.3
Here what Nora is trying to define is that the people and
society are always haunted by both memory and history.
History always aims at something more universal and
objective than that of memory. History has always been
written from somebody else’s point of view which is
quite different when it comes to the memory of an
individual. So, Ishiguro has significantly illustrated the
relationship in addition to the tension between the
memory and history in An Artist of the Floating World.
Ono’s reminiscing of his past and personal history gives
a wider scope to the readers to have an insight to other
issues such as literary expressions, power of art on
culture, loneliness, identity, the device of memory and
the pertinence of past. Memory does intervene in any
kind of mental activity. In An Artist of the Floating
World and some of his other novels, Ishiguro portrays
the effect of historical events and the turning points on
the lives of his characters. He further validates to this
fact in an interview, as he says,
I’ve always been interested in what happens to people’s
values when they have invested all their energies and
their lives in the prevalent set of social values, only to
see them change. and to see what happens to people
when, at the end of their lives, they find the world has
changed its mind about what is good and what is bad.
But for this particular individual, it’s too late. They had
the best intentions, but history has proved them to be
either foolish or perhaps even someone who contributed
to evil.4
As the plot of An Artist of the Floating World is set in
the post-war Japan background but nowhere in the novel
there is any implicit description or mention of the war.
Yet it lingers around in the narrative of the protagonist,
Masuji Ono. Ono’s private memory reveals the nation’s
history and his endeavor for his best contribution to his
land. But in the wake of the war, his social identity is
belittled by his family and other people. Hence, he gets
alienated or excluded at certain point. This effect of
history on his life is quite evident where he is making an
attempt to come in terms with his own values and

3
identity by his memory as opposed to the background of
historical alterations. As Ishiguro connotes,
I’m interested in people who, in all sincerity, work very
hard and perhaps courageously in their lifetimes toward
something, fully believing that they’re contributing to
something good, only to find that the social climate has
done a topsy-turvy on them by the time they’ve reached
the end of their lives. The very things they thought they
could be proud of have now become the things they have
to be ashamed of.5
Upon Ishiguro’s own view to history, he says,
What I started to do was to use history. I would look for
a moment in history that would best serve my purpose,
or what I wanted to write about.6
ARE THOSE HISTORICAL EPISODES
ACCURATE?
Whether these historical events are accurate or not in the
novel that is not the point. Rather how this historical
process is having an impact upon the life of the
characters is more important. Ono’s retrospection of the
past acting as a basic component of history is the crux of
the novel. Ishiguro’s exploration of the historical
situation is a way of revealing how Ono and other
characters in the novel have experienced or suffered the
torment of the war, scrutinize the past that they fear to
recall, stand up to the arduous truth which they have
been avoiding and ultimately discover their own stance
or position in that particular historical moment. Thus,
Ishiguro here has intermingled Ono’s past and that of the
history of the nation.
ACCEPTING AND ADAPTING TO THE
CHANGES:
The narrative of Ono is set against the scrim of a cryptic
and antithetical society which has taken a precipitous
angle towards a new path in history. In the past years as
he was working as a painter in favour of the autocrat
government, now he is seen struggling to adapt to this
change in Japan after the war. He is struggling between
his personal narrative and the tensions going on in the
new society where the people and the society itself has
been forced to accept and adapt during the post-war. As
stated by Silvia Tellini,
Through his eyes the is able to observe conflicting
positions that emerge from different ideologies in
dispute at a time of intense political upheaval in Japan,
insofar as the characters expose their divergent values in
face of the changes the nation has to make to move from
being a colonial empire to accepting a new system of
democracy imposed by the victors.7
This can be confirmed as Ono’s son-in-law, Taro San
says,
The changes we made after the war are now beginning to
bear fruit at all levels of the company. We feel very
optimistic about the future. At times, I’m sure, we have
been a little hasty. But by and large, the Americans have
an immense amount to teach us. Just in these few years,
for instance, we Japanese have already come a long way
in understanding such things as democracy and
individual rights. Indeed, Father I have a feeling Japan
has finally established a foundation on which to build a
brilliant future. In fact, Father, just the other week I
attended a reunion dinner of my school graduation year
and for the first time since the surrender, all those
present from every walk of life were expressing
optimism for the future. And while I fully understand
Father’s worries, I’m confident that by and large the
lessons of these past years have been good ones and will
lead us all on to a splendid future.8
While narrating his participation and involvement in the
war and the nationalist party, Ono himself is doubting
whether his past acts were right or wrong. He declares,
I do not think I am claiming undue credit for my younger
self if I suggest my actions that day were a manifestation
of a quality I came to be much respected for in later
years – the ability to think and judge for myself, even if
it meant going against the sway of those around me.9
In one of the passages in the novel, Ono is seen advising
one of his former students Shintaro to ‘face up to the
past’10
which sounds like Ono is indeed saying this to
himself.
Ono’s initial struggle of going against his father’s
wishes, to being a student under a renowned painter of
that time and finally becoming an affluent painter
himself as he was known as Sensei, he is somewhat
trying to portray the conflicts and differences between
the imperious art teachers and those warring students and
how that is weighing in to push Japan into the Second
World War. As Ishiguro himself says,
I needed to portray this world where a leader figure held
this incredible psychological sway over his subordinates.
And for subordinates to break free, they had to display a
remarkable amount of determination. I’m pointing to the
master-pupil thing recurring over and over again in the
world.11
CONCLUSION:
The novel, An Artist of the Floating World is set on the
edge of a historical inversion, which is a major concern
in the novel as Ishiguro says,

4
How people justify to themselves the kind of life they’ve
had. how they try to do something that will give their
lives some kind of dignity, to do something and then
have to come to terms with their ordinariness. Therefore
I’m interested in historical periods that are topsy-turvy,
where people who’ve spent their whole lives doing
something are suddenly told it’s wrong. The things they
could be proud of are suddenly something to be ashamed
of.12
In the final passages of the novel, Ono says,
It must have been approaching the lunch hour by then,
for across the road I could see groups of employees in
their bright white shirtsleeves emerging from the glass-
fronted building where Mrs Kawakami used to be. And
as I watched, I was struck by how full of optimism and
enthusiasm these young people were. I smiled to myself
as I watched these young office workers from my bench.
Of course, at times, when I remember those brightly-lit
bars and all those people gathered beneath the lamps,
laughing a little more boisterously perhaps than those
young men yesterday, but with much the same good-
heartedness, I feel a certain nostalgia for the past and the
district as it used to be. But to see how our city has been
rebuilt, how things have recovered so rapidly over these
years, fills me with genuine gladness. Our nation, it
seems, whatever mistakes it may have made in the past,
has now another chance to make a better go of things.
One can only wish these young people well.13
As Wright says here,
At first glance, Ono’s acceptance of the passing of his
world and its values to make way for the new regime
seems a painful but necessary and honest one. However,
this closing passage is in fact far more sinister than an
initial reading suggests. It is necessary to reintroduce the
historical context deliberately excluded from the
narrative in order to reveal the full extent of the novel’s
subversion of this new Japan.14
In the novel, Ono and some of the other characters are
seen trying to seek atonement for their past acts for
which they are either not proud of or ashamed of, being
nostalgic about past sometimes and accepting it as their
homes which is now far far away. The post-war years are
assembled well through the memories of Ono which
portrays an era of dire social dissolution. Thus, the
historical events are investigated through Ono’s
memories and experiences that describes the collective
backdrop of Japan which he had served with his best
intentions that was later condemned by the current
generation. So, somewhat the narration of Ono becomes
evidently one of the self-understanding. Thus, the
window of the history is very crucial in the novel.
History is receded into the background and Ono’s
struggle against the edge of life is emphasized in the
novel. The novel ends with an optimistic note, implying
that the characters and the nation will be able to bury
their dead past and move forward with a positive hope.
REFERENCES:
1. Ishiguro Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World. Faber and Faber,
London. 1986; pp. 123-124.
London. 1986; pp. 124-125.
3. Nora Pierre. Between Memory and History: Les Liuex De
Memoire. Theories of Memory: A Reader. John Hopkins Univ.
Press, USA. 2007; pp. 146.
4. Mason Gregory. An Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro (1989).
Conversations With Kazuo Ishiguro. Edited by Brian W. Shaffer
and Cynthia F.Wong. Univ. Press of Mississippi, USA. 2008; pp.
7.
5. Mason Gregory. An Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro (1989).
Conversations With Kazuo Ishiguro. Edited by Brian W. Shaffer
and Cynthia F.Wong. Univ. Press of Mississippi, USA. 2008; pp.
7.
6. Oe Kezaburo. and. Kazuo Ishiguro. The Novelist in Today’s
World: A Conversation (1991). Conversations With Kazuo
Ishiguro. Edited by Brian W. Shaffer and Cynthia F.Wong. Univ.
Press of Mississippi, USA. 2008; pp. 58.
7. Tellini Silvia. Identity and Nation in Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of
the Floating World. Transnational Literature. Available
from:URL:
http://fhrc.flinders.edu.au/transnational/home.html/2018/vol-10-
issue-3.
London. 1986; pp. 184-186.
London. 1986; pp. 69.
London. 1986; pp. 103.
11. Mason Gregory. An Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro. Contemporary
Literature 30. 1989; pp. 340-345.
12. Sinclair Clive. Kazuo Ishiguro In Conversation. Northbrook,IL.
ICA Video. 1982.
London. 1986; pp. 205-206.
14. Wright Timothy. No Homelike Places: The Lesson of History in
Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World. Available
From: URL: https:// muse.jhu.edu/ article/545854 N1 - Volume
55, Number 1, Spring 2014 ER

Sculpting historiography as_a_narrative

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