The Study Of An Artist Of The Floatihng World In The Perspective Of Space Criticism

An Artist of the Floating World,once obtained the Whitbread Book Awards and shortlisted for the Booker Prize,is the second work of Kazuo Ishiguro,2017's winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature,against the backdrop of the Japanese society in a reflection of the Second World War.As an immigrant writer,Kazuo Ishiguro pays great attentions to culture issues and spiritual crisis in his novels.He also integrated these concerns into protagonist narration and landscape description.The main purpose of this thesis is to study the diverse landscape description in this novel and discuss his consideration of culture,power and spiritual crisis.This thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter gives a general introduction,namely,to Kazuo Ishiguro and his works,and the spatial criticism,followed by the research of An Artist of the Floating World both at home and abroad.While the second chapter,centered on the physical space,renders an analysis on the geographical environment in Japan and the houses,the bridge and the villa that appear repeatedly in the novel,with the aim of exploring their abstract meaning or metaphorical connotation,and figuring it out whether the changes of the houses and other buildings have close correlation to the fate of the protagonist.In chapter three,the social space will be thoroughly discussed.On the one hand,the power,discipline,cultural and social factors presented in the novel will be analyzed,on the other hand,the postwar social landscape will be discussed,through this analysis it can be drawn out the Japanese people's reflection for their identity after the war;The fourth chapter is themed on the spiritual space,analyzing the changing attitude the Japanese held towards the war as well as their postwar reflection.Describe the spiritual landscape of Japanese society after the war and explore the issues of ideological change and spiritual crisis brought about by the war.The fifth chapter is a conclusion of the entire thesis:the physical space reflects the identity and ideology of the protagonist,and the change of space is closely related to the changing fate of the protagonist;the social space reveals that the power relationship is the root cause of identity and ideology change;and the psychological space uncovers the confused spiritual world triggered by the Second World War.It can be noticed that the fates of the characters in this novel are closely connected with the space mentioned above.From the perspective of space criticism,as is shown in the thesis,analyzing An Artist of the Floating World can not only deeply probe the factors hidden behind the novel,such as culture,power,and identity,etc.,explain the spatial connotation of the novel to obtain a further understanding,but also profoundly perceive the reflection of Kazuo Ishiguro on the postwar survival situation of the Japanese and on the War itself as well.