Written by award-winning British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro, this week's book is “An Artist of the Floating World”. The title refers to several things simultaneously. The floating world—or ukiyo-e—is a style of art, mainly woodblocks and paintings, which was prominent in Japan for a few hundred years, from the 1600s into the 20th century. Its prominent artists include Hiroshige, Hokusai, and many more. It’s a distinctive style of art and one that, like many styles of art, reflects its surroundings…including its political climate.
The main character of Ishiguro’s novel is Ono, an ageing painter, whose skills at ukiyo-e saw him rise from student to apprentice to teacher over his career. But Ono is a grandfather and widower, looking back on his life, and at the cultural changes to the world around him. The book takes place in the late 1940s, and his memories search back to pre-, during-, and post-World War II. Ono gently traces in his mind all the associated changes that happened to Ono’s country as a whole and to his smaller circles of friends, colleagues, students, family, and acquaintances. So the title can also refer to Ono himself, an artist in a changing world.
This multi-layered, careful intention behind the words is what characterizes all of Ishiguro’s books and especially this one. It is a dreamy book, one full of depth and subtlety. Its pace is slow and measured, like the calm steps of an old man on a sunny day. It’s sparse and beautiful, like a good ukiyo-e painting. It’s full of emotion and it captures the essence of age itself and reveals what that period in Japan’s history must have been like. An ageing country. It’s a remarkable book and one that when I first read it, I didn’t want it to end.
I could say a lot more about Ono and his past, his links to Japanese politics pre and during the war, his daughters, his grandson, his acquaintances…but I feel strongly about this book. In particular, I think that you should listen to the show and then go read (or reread) it. Because it’s a book full of amazing characterization and incredible descriptive writing that you can only properly experience on your own, in a quiet place with flowers arranged nearby and a perfect cup of herbal tea wafting towards you. “An Artist of the Floating World” deserves your full attention.