Context

• Characters

  Ono - narrator

  Michiko - ono’s wife

  Setsuko - Ono's daughter

  Suichi - Setsuko's husband

  Ichiro - Setsuko's son

  Noriko - Ono's daughter

  Kenji - Ono’s son - died in war
• Kazuo Ishiguro, the acclaimed author and Nobel laureate, possesses a unique perspective shaped by his upbringing and experiences. Raised in a traditional Japanese household, Ishiguro's formative years were marked by cultural immersion and familial ties. However, his family's relocation to Britain in the 1960s introduced him to a world of new influences and opportunities, sparking a lifelong journey of exploration and self-discovery.
• Throughout his life, Ishiguro has drawn inspiration from diverse sources, including his time backpacking in North America and his involvement in social activism. These experiences not only broadened his horizons but also instilled in him a keen awareness of political and societal dynamics, which would later permeate his writing.
• Ishiguro's literary oeuvre is characterized by lyrical tales that delicately navigate themes of regret and human connection. His novels, such as "An Artist of the Floating World," reflect a profound understanding of the complexities of memory and identity in the face of cultural change. Set against the backdrop of post-World War II Japan and 1980s Britain, Ishiguro's works illuminate the impact of political upheaval on individual lives, underscoring the enduring relevance of personal narratives amid broader historical shifts.
• In awarding Ishiguro the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017, the Swedish Academy recognized his ability to probe human experience with compassion. His exploration of the "abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection" resonates globally, urging reflection on memory, forgiveness, and the human condition. Through his prose, Ishiguro challenges us to confront the "mist of forgetfulness," urging us to forge a path forward.
• How does the political world impinge upon the smaller, personal world?‘Somebody could give their best efforts out of idealistic intentions to a cause only to find out, only to find out towards the end of his life, that society has completely changed its values and he is obliged to accept that all of his efforts were not only in vain but he had actually contributed to something bad.’
• Why Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for literature“He’s not out to redeem the past; he’s exploring what you have to forget in order to survive in the first place, as an individual or as a society”“Mist of forgetfulness”
• How is the place Japan constructed for Ishiguro? “Vast stored of memories.”“I can still construct the house we lived in, in my mind.”
• Kazuo Ishiguro began writing 'An Artist of the Floating World' in September 1981 in a basement flat in Shepherd's Bush, London. Ishiguro was 26 years old at the time
• Ishiguro became concerned that his fiction was too similar to a screenplay, and wanted to find a way for the novel to offer something unique
• 'An Artist of the Floating World' was written between 1981 and 1985, during a period of political and economic upheaval in Britain under Margaret Thatcher's governments