An Artist of the Floating World

Style and Technique

Kazuo Ishiguro’s «An Artist of the Floating World» is distinguished by a refined and restrained style that is characteristic of the author. The language is concise yet rich in detail, evoking the atmosphere of postwar Japan. Ishiguro uses the first-person narrative, allowing a deeper immersion into the inner world of the protagonist, the artist Masuji Ono. The structure of the novel is nonlinear: the narrative is interspersed with memories that gradually reveal the protagonist’s past and his internal conflicts. Literary devices such as retrospection and the unreliable narrator play a key role in creating the multilayered narrative. Ishiguro skillfully conveys the themes of memory and responsibility, exploring how personal and historical events shape the protagonist’s perception of reality and self-worth. The sense of ambiguity and uncertainty, reflected in the title, permeates the entire text, emphasizing the complexity and ambiguity of human life and art.