An Artist of the Floating World | Techniques

An Artist of the Floating World Techniques

Like A Pale View of Hills, this novel is driven by the memory of a narrator thinking back over his life, but there are several differences in the way Ishiguro employs this technique in An Artist of the Floating World. Instead of following the action over a relatively short span of time, Ono's remembrances are broken up into four sections spanning a year and eight months, allowing him time to alter his thinking about several issues. The narration is conversational, and the lapses into the past are sometimes noted by such phrases as "However, I see I am drifting" and "But I am digressing."

Ishiguro also introduces the subjectivity of experience into his narration, as we are left to wonder, was Ono as important to the war effort as he claims he was, or is his daughter Setsuko right when she says that no one understands why he...
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