A Study On An Artist Of The Floating World From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the most celebrated contemporary Japanese British writers,having received four Booker Prize nominations,and winning the 1989 Book Award for his novel The Remains of the Day.He,together with Salman Rushdie and V.S.Naipaul,is regarded as one of "The Three Best British Immigrant Writers".The Times ranks Ishiguro on the list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".As Ishiguro’s second novel,An Artist of the Floating World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction and won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1986.Moreover,Observer reviews it as an exquisite novel.The story is set in post-World War II Japan and is narrated by a former artist Masuji Ono,following the main line of the marriage of Ono’s second daughter and focusing on Ono who looks back over his life and career.The story also epitomizes Japanese national attitudes and social atmosphere before,during and after the War.Compared with other writings by Ishiguro,this novel shows Japanese characteristics to the most extent.As the defeated nation,Japan is greatly affected by the destructive war,and most Japanese get physical trauma and psychological trauma in different degrees.And these traumas are subtly and skillfully represented by Ishiguro.Therefore,this thesis is aimed at exploring three topics about trauma mentioned in this novel,including the traumatic events,representations of traumatized individuals and factors for healing from trauma.The first chapter studies traumatic events at three different levels.Traumatic events are the main sources of physical and mental trauma.At the familial level,authoritarian fathers repress the individual autonomy and the desire of their children,and negate the capacity and the value of their children.Behaviors of the tyrant father reoccur in Ono’s mind and cause psychological trauma to Ono,and the psychological trauma transforms Ono into an authoritarian father.Ono’s arbitrary acts further have impact on the temperaments of his daughters.Thus,family trauma completes the intergenerational transmission.At the historical level,the destructive Second World War causes deaths,injuries and mental problems to individuals and groups,and causes indelible scars to the whole nation.At the social level,Japanese society and the social value have changed tremendously after the War.The changes of society cause the inadaptability of some individuals and the transition of social value pushes Japanese to reflect on the War.Some people choose to isolate themselves or commit suicide to escape from the trauma caused by the inadaptability and the guilt from the reflection on the War.The second chapter explores the representations of traumatized individuals from three aspects.The first aspect mentions that traumatic memories are ambiguous and lingering.Because of the belated appearance and the destructive power of traumatic experiences,traumatized individuals are unable and unwilling to have accurate memories.However,they are constantly intruded by traumatic memories with the feature of compulsive repetition.The second aspect means that traumatized ones prefer taking evasive attitudes towards traumatic memories and the reality,and the evasive attitudes can be considered as a mental defense mechanism launched by unconsciousness.The third aspect refers to unreliability and incoherence in narratives.Since this novel is written in the first-person narration,owning to the ambiguous memories and the function of defense mechanism,the narrator cannot talk about certain events honestly.And the narration is also frequently interrupted by traumatic memories.Therefore,the narration becomes fragmental.The third chapter analyzes three factors shown in this novel for healing from psychological trauma.One belongs to the social factor which is improvement of the external environment.Postwar reconstruction is beneficial to restore the familiar surroundings,and changes of collective values are conductive to lessen the inner guilt.The other two belong to the individual factors which include reestablishment of contact with the outside world and narration about traumatic events.The reestablishment of contact helps traumatized individuals to face up to the past and adapt themselves to the new society.And narration provides a way for traumatized ones to transform traumatic memories into normal memories and release mental pressures.Based on trauma theory and analysis of the text,this thesis discusses the causes of trauma,the performances of traumatized individuals and the conditions for healing from trauma,which brings forth a new perspective to study this novel.Through thoughtful consideration about some social problems,Ishiguro criticizes the man-made traumatic events and exhorts traumatic victimizers to reflect on their faults.He also shows his empathy and sympathy to traumatized individuals and groups,and proposes approaches to recovering from trauma and survival predicament.He suggests that with joint efforts,the incidence and the destructive power of man-made traumatic events can be reduced.