The Trauma And Ethical Significance In Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist Of The Flaoting World

Kazuo Ishiguro, a Japanese-born British novelist, is one of the foremost and celebrated British writers of his generation and is regarded as “three eminent English postcolonial writers” with V.S. Naipaul and Salmon Rushdie. Most scholars and critics pay attention to him and his works and study the exilic motif, memory, nostalgia, narrative technique etc. However, in general, those critics spend much time analyzing the later novels of Ishiguro, like The Remains of the Day(1989), When We Were 0rphans(2000), Never Let Me Go(2005), while ignoring his former novels, especially An Artist of the Floating World(1986). In the present research home and abroad, there is little study on this novel from the perspective of trauma or ethics. With the application of trauma theory and Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics of the Other as main theory, this thesis intends to describe and analyze the trauma and ethical significance in An Artist of the Floating World, providing a new theoretical perspective for a comprehensive interpretation of this novel.The whole thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One is consisted of introductions to Kazuo Ishiguro and An Artist of the Floating World, relative researches on the author and the novel, as well as trauma theory and Levinas’ ethics of the Other. Chapter Two makes an attempt to analyze the family trauma experienced by the young Ono from three aspects, including the violent event of burning Ono’s paintings, the repetitive image of smoke and the effect of trauma---a displaced adulthood. To some extent, Ono’s family trauma leads to his later choice to be a propagandist for Japanese imperialism. Chapter Three is concerned with Ono’s war trauma in adulthood. His war trauma originates from his burden of conscience after witnessing the great loss of his nation and people as a collaborator of the crime. The deep sense of guilt triggers serious hallucinations and he isolates himself from the outside world. Chapter Four is an exploration of the working-through of trauma by the protagonist. Ono deals with his war trauma with positive attitude by writing confessional dairies and reconnecting with old friends. Chapter Five analyzes Ono’s ethical elevation from trauma. After the protagonist’s confession and positive actions, he recognizes Self’s responsibility for the Other, and changes from repressing the Other to respecting the Other. Ono’s ethical awakening and ethical changes correspond to Levinas’ philosophical thoughts. Chapter Six comes to a conclusion which says that the traumatized should take positive actions to walk through traumatic experience and the process of walking though provides the possibility of ethical elevation. Perpetrator is supposed to face past mistakes bravely and take the responsibility for others.