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This document involves contextual points and the themes present within the novel along with quotes and is good study material for the exam....

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Amended NOTES Artist of Floating World: Advanced 2019 WAFA TAOUBE Tempe High School Selected Slides from ETA Day Critical Study Focus: What does it mean?

Information on Slides

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Identify relevance and importance of ideas Consider what assumptions, attitudes, values and belief influence your thinking Reflect on and justify why you believe a certain way about characters and texts Consider analogous situations in the text to provoke insight Recognise contradictions in texts Evaluate the credibility of sources of information

Artist is a Writerly Text

Roland Barthes – A writerly text is one in which the reader is a producer of the text rather than simply a consumer of text. The novel places us in the position of a detective; what crime has been committed and who is the criminal? This means we must objectively consider what we see and what we are told by an unreliable narrator.

Context

• Before the novel – Japan ✓ Rise of Japanese militarism and warrior code of ‘never surrender’ ✓ Upsurge in Japanese nationalism; acceptance of Fascism movement in Europe 1930s ✓ Backlash against capitalism seen as ‘infecting’ Japan ✓ Resigned from League of Nations after it was seen to be increasing territory and practising expansionism ✓ Continues to attack China- Nanking Massacre During the novel o o o o o o o

6th August 1945 – Hiroshima Bombing Three days later – Nagasaki bombing Massive waste of life Japan surrendered and had to pay compensation to countries they impacted Japan could operate a government between 1945-1952 but at the discretion of occupation authorities 1946- occupied Japan held its first general election; 39 women elected into parliament; introduction to democracy America begins its capitalisation of Japan

1980s – when novel was written ✓ Capitalism and consumerism ✓ Distrust of institutions: in the late 1970s we have the Watergate Scandal, Vietnam War, Middle East crisis and the dissolving of the idealism of the 1960s. • Americanisation of more than Japan – global • 1982: Almost a million people rallied in support of a nuclear freeze between America and the Soviet Union • Popular television shows reflected a generation of young men and women who were plagued by anxiety and self-doubt

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Who is Ishiguro? What does he believe? We will look at this novel through the concept of revision – the framework for today

Types of Revision

Why do we revise?

So what is the significance of the floating world?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/05/kazuo-ishiguro-wins-the-nobelprize-in-literature • Latin – videre – to see • Re – again • Revise means to examine and make corrections or alterations • To re-read to work to improve one’s knowledge of a subject • Synonyms: amend, alter, recast update Artist of the Floating World is concerned with the practices and process of revision which lead to an awareness of: a) Self b) Others c) The world • Identity: reputation becomes currency; patriotism; gender; self • Relationships: father, mentor, business, marriage • Function of art: propaganda, social critique, anxiety • Spaces and places • Guilt and innocence • Power paradigms • • • • • • • •

To achieve closure To absolve us of guilt To discover the truth To confront the truth To escape the truth To reflect To belong or validate our worth/significance What happens to those who cannot revise?

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Ono can be viewed through the lens of existentialism – Sartre There is no meaning to life other than the meaning we give to it through our choices and actions. Concept of authenticity - individuals can always choose even when they appear enslaved. Existential angst/nausea- the feeling that our lives are meaningless. Gaze as judgement - hell is other people

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The Protagonist – Masuji Ono

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Our guide through the intellectual and cultural rubble of post-bomb Japan Unreliable narrator Trigger for revision: daughter’s marriage negotiation Ono’s identity has consequences for his daughter’s identity and significance so it reinforces how the narratives we act out define us and others. The narrative is a revision of Ono’s multiple roles: Father Artist Patriot Teacher/mentor Student Personal narrative alongside cultural narrative – Ono’s transformation and anxiety reflects the anxiety of Japan post bomb Ono is symbolic of families in crisis post-war

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At the beginning, we do not know Ono is engaging in revisionwe take it as a vision

How does the structure of the novel invite revision?

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Because Ono cannot change the war narrative, steeped in history and public consciousness, he attempts to revise his personal narrative to reconcile his emotions of guilt and the desire to find significance in a post-bomb world

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All the revisions we look at will eventually feed into each other; once we revise one area, we are ultimately led to revise others. It is only through revision of a narrative that we identify the complexity of pursuing truth. We must sift truth from: - Fallibility of memory - Bias – personal and contextual - Myth-making

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How does the postmodern philosophical framework invite revision?

How do we know that Ono is an unreliable narrator? Ono’s diegesis ( the telling of his stories) is compared with his actions and reactions (mimesis – showing) and they clash, which lead us to believe he has misread situations. Structural similarities leading to thematic development – guilt – forces a parallel analysis and then synthesis. Ishiguro uses analogies between characters to force us to particular conclusions. Diary entries – subjective and personal which means we must employ objectivity Detective Form – are people who they say they are and the detection of whether Ono was a criminal or a victim? We are in a constant state of revision because of the way values change across time – postmodern instability and uncertainty Postmodern merging of high culture (paintings) and low culture – Pop Eye vs Japanese culture Colonial occupation – postcolonialism structures of power changing Alienation and displacement of those who were once in power

Feminism – marginalised being permitted greater instances of vocalisation Subjectivity rather than objectivity about history; not dealing in absolute truths Critical of allknowing elites who are now being distrusted

Textual integrity in terms of the unity of the text: Why does this text resonate? How does it have textual integrity?

Message: truth can never be absolute – postmodern concept How: focalised through an unreliable narrator, evasions and digressions by the narrator, multiple perspectives and voices, symbolism of the floating world for all, architectural renovations suppressing the look of the past

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Part 1: Revision of Identity

Revision of Identity: Ono engages in construction of his significance from the orientation Even if it did not occupy such a commanding position on the hill, the house would still stand out from all the others nearby, so that as you came up the path, you may find yourself wondering what sort of wealthy man owns it. • Language is connotative of status. Ono is 4haracterize4 as a suitable buyer but his suitability becomes fragile in a post-bomb world. • The house is symbolic of a man’s status and reputation. Starting with this information sets up the way in which surface features often define our identity. We are 4characterize4, and c4haracterize others, through commodities.

Unreliable narration – Diegesis vs Mimesis What he tells us vs what we see

Page 19: Indeed, I have never at any point in my life been very aware of my own social standing, and even now, I am often surprised afresh when some event, or something someone may say, reminds me of the rather high esteem in which I am held.’ Irony – he started his narrative with his being chosen for the house – status ✓ Page 73: Ono is conversing with students at the Migi-Hidari. Ironically, he states: ‘Being at Takeda’s’, I told them, ‘taught me an important lesson early in life. That while it was right to look up to teachers, it was always important to question their authority. The Takeda experience taught me to never follow the crowd blindly, but to consider carefully the direction in which I was being pushed.’ Irony= Ono followed patriotism and then adapted his story as time went to fit into dominant groups.

Ono and the house have war wounds

Revision of cultural and hero narratives

• Page 11: The house had received its share of the war damage. The part of the house most damaged by the bomb was ‘the extravagant corridor’ which can feature as a link to Ono’s pride which was similarly ‘bombed’ as a result of the war. The fact that the house is still under repair is symbolic of the owner who is also still ‘in construction mode’. • Page 30: Ono to Ichiro: But tell me, who were you pretending to be?’ Ichiro: You guess, Oji?’ Ono: A samurai warrior? The Ninja of the Wind’ Ichiro: Lone Ranger! From the perspective of the Japanese, the losers, symbols of strength are no longer linked to cultural warriors who are associated with the symbols of militarism. Children are being asked to revise the faces of their heroes.

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Patrick Hogan The arrogance of the colonisers…tend to be connected with a widespread denigration of the culture of the colonised people and a widespread celebration of the culture of the coloniser Hero narratives encourage affiliation with role models – these moments would be quite confrontational for a proud Japanese man like Ono

What are you doing, Ichiro? You tell me now what you’re up to.’ ‘You guess, Oji!’ he said, through spinach. ‘Hmm. I don’t know, Ichiro. A man drinking sake and fighting. No? Then you tell me. Oji can’t guess.’ ‘Popeye Sailorman!’

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Inability to share similar cultural narratives of the past leads to alienation within relationships. What connections can be made with a grandfather and his grandson if there must be a repression of storytelling?

Female Identity post war

Setsuko comments that Noriko has been disappointed by the previous failed marriage negotiations: Setsuko: ‘I’m sure Father did all he could. But of course, such things are a terrible blow to a woman.’ (page 17) A woman’s identity in post-war Japan is still subject to the traditional ties of patriarchy – she is only as good as the reputation of her family, referencing her floating identity, tethered only from one masculine figure to the next. •

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Part 2: Revision of Relationships

Ono’s cultural attitudes appear archaic to a modern audience but this conversation reflects the tension of Japan’s post-war era where gender identities and status were being tested . The dialogue between the young and the old, in the absence of the middle generation, is poignant – at either ends of the spectrum, the young and the old, are the new powerless.

Noriko to Setsuko: • ‘Father’s very different, now. There’s no need to be afraid of him any more. He’s much more gentle and domesticated. • Noriko: Isn’t that so, Father? You’re making a lot of progress.’ • Noriko: ‘Well, he can’t rely on me to come back when I’m married. I’ll have enough to do without Father to look after as well.’ The dialogue implies that father was domineering and aggressive prior to the war. The daughter’s tone is patronising reflecting the changing cultural paradigms through these new dialogic interactions. There is a sense of belittling the father rather than reverence and respect; the father is a represented as a burden. War has led to distrust of institutions and that distrust has spilled into the family space which has now become a site of protest. • Cold War era of suspicion and paranoia is echoed in the actions of the women. Is the father seeing them through this historical lens? Page 51: More than once last month, I had come upon my daughters deep in discussion and noticed how they broke off guilty before starting some fresh, rather unconvincing conversation. Noriko questions the failure of marriage negotiations and seems to be pointing to the guilt of her father’s past: It seemed to me there was something unnaturally deliberate in the way my daughter uttered those words. Perhaps I imagined it, but then a father comes to notice any small inflexions in his daughter’s speech. •

• Ono and his father and his mentors

Ono experiences a flashback to a discussion with his father which informs the audience of the strict and conservative nature of his father. His father’s contempt for art is clearly palpable and he ‘burns’ Ono’s painting. Ono’s delusional view of reality almost starts here where he has to put on a mask: ‘Whatever he is doing in there it does not bother me in the least’.

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Page 180: Sensei, it is my belief that in such troubled times as these, artists must learn to value something more tangible than those pleasurable things that disappear with the morning light. It is not necessary that artists always occupy a decadent and enclosed world. My conscience, Sensei, tells me I cannot remain forever an artist of the floating world.’ Ono’s confession suggests that, having searched for meaning and purpose, he found it in patriotism not beauty. We see conflicting values in Japan through Ono’s deliberation – is the seeking of pleasure and beauty a meaningless endeavour in troubled times or is it more important than ever to retain one’s compassion and humanity? Is patriotic art not an enclosed world, too? •

Page 25 – the diegesis - …my protégés would take to making speeches of a loyal nature to me. And Kuroda in particular, looked upon as a sort of spokesman for them, gave a fair proportion of these. The mimesis • Page 77: Beneath his umbrella he was hatless, and dressed in a dark raincoat. The charred buildings behind him were dripping and the remnant of some gutter was making a large amount of rainwater splash down not far from him. Kuroda’s face, which had been quite round before the war, had hollowed out around the cheekbones, and what looked like heavy lines had appeared towards the chin and the throat.

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• Part 3: Revision of spaces and places

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This memory of betraying Kuroda comes last and the order which Ono remembers/ addresses it has built up its significance so that we are forced to register his hypocrisy. Ono has essentially become his father, destroying his ‘mentee’s’ work and creating resentment in the process. The layers of student-teacher relationships in this novel point to the importance of finding one’s identity through comparing and contrasting oneself with others … and not always liking what we see. Page 26: But I remember walking around the district shortly after the surrender and many of those buildings were still standing. The Migi-Hidari was still there, the windows all blown out, part of the roof fallen in. And I remember wondering to myself as I walked past those shattered buildings, if they would ever again come back to life. Then I came by one morning and the bulldozers had pulled down everything. Is it easy to maintain the narratives and memories of our past if new buildings are built on top of these spaces which were once the site of our rituals and memories? Can we revisit the past accurately if the landscape changes? Page 156: Modern western housing makes Ono feel claustrophobic; he prefers his traditional house. He finds Noriko’s apartment ‘unimaginative and constrictive’; he prefers the spacious over the practical, the latter being more of a Western design. ‘…the ceilings are low, sounds come in from neighbouring apartments and the view from the window is principally of the opposite block and its windows…I

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begin to find the place claustrophobic. Noriko, however, seems very proud of her apartment, and is forever extolling its ‘modern’ qualities.’ These juxtaposed perspectives reinforce Ono’s desire for tradition and conservatism; he does not want to revise his living spaces and cannot accommodate the new Western designs.

Shireen Nishat – Iranian Artist Video Art as entertainment and cult-like Art as expressing political identity Art as expressing anxiety Page 33: Using a dark brown crayon, he drew on the lower part of the sheet a row of boxes – which soon became a skyline of city buildings. And then there emerged, looming above the city, a huge lizard-like creature up on its hind legs. At this point my grandson exchanged his brown crayon for a red one and began to make bright streaks all around the lizard. Art’s value is as fluid as identity Even Ichiro here is an artist of the floating world – his anxiety is dictating his use of art.

Part 4: Revision of the function of art

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Part 5: Revision of Guilt and Innocence

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• • Part 6: Revision of Power- capitalist, democratic and youthful • •

Page 157: Ono believes that giving Ichiro sake is a matter of pride; however, it is this way of thinking that established such extreme nationalistic sentiment. When Ono argues with the women that Kenji (their dead son) had sake at an early age, there is a distinct accusation that father’s pride is still the source of angst. Setsuko: ‘There is no doubt Father devoted the most careful thought to my brother’s upbringing. Nevertheless, in the light of what came to pass, we can perhaps see that on one or two points at least, Mother may in fact have had the more correct ideas.’ Nuanced accusatory dialogue Page 155: Ichiro asks Ono to explain the reason for Mr Naguchi’s suicide. We see here some parallels with Ono as he seeks to use this vignette to justify his own actions: ‘But was he a bad man?’ ‘No…He was just someone who worked very hard doing what he thought was for the best…After the war, Mr Naguchi thought his songs had been – well- a sort of mistake. He thought of all the people who had been killed…He was brave to admit the mistakes he’d made. He was very brave and honourable. 201: ‘No one cares what the likes of you and me once did. They look at us and see only two old men with sticks…We’re the only ones who care now. The likes of you and me, Ono, when we look back over our lives and see they were flawed, we’re the only ones who care now.’ Is this true? Does the ordinary person escape blame/responsibility? ‘But tell me, Taro, don’t you worry at times we might be a little too hasty in following the Americans? I would be the first to agree many of the old ways must now be erased for ever, but don’t you think sometimes that some good things are being thrown out with the bad? Indeed, sometimes Japan has come to look like a small child learning from a strange adult.’ Simile is suggestive of Japan’s submissive relationship with its occupiers. 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

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from my bench…I felt a certain nostalgia for the past and the district as it used to be. But to see our city has been rebuilt, how things have recovered so rapidly over these years, fills me with genuine gladness. We sense Ono’s distancing from those he watches even though his...