Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
  • List Price: $16.00
  • Save: $4.12 (26%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
An Artist of the Floating... has been added to your Cart
Want it Wednesday, Oct. 19? Order within and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by Clean Earth Books
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: Support Your Planet. Buy CLEAN EARTH BOOKS. Shipping orders swiftly since 2008. A used book that may have some cosmetic wear (i.e. shelf-wear, slightly torn or missing dust jacket, dented corner, pages may include limited notes and highlighting) All text in great shape! Comes with our 100% Money Back Guarantee. Our customer service can't be beat! Tracking included on all orders.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you increase your sales. We invite you to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon .

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

An Artist of the Floating World Paperback – September 19, 1989

by
Kazuo Ishiguro (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Kazuo Ishiguro Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Kazuo Ishiguro (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 110 customer reviews
See all 23 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$4.49
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
$17.95
$9.11 $7.86
Paperback
"Please retry"
$11.88
$3.73 $0.01
Audible, Unabridged
"Please retry"
$0.00
Free with your Audible trial
Mass Market Paperback
"Please retry"
$33.75
$6.14 $2.00
Audio CD, Audiobook
"Please retry"
—
$54.19 —
The Numberlys Best Books of the Year So Far
$11.88 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • An Artist of the Floating World
  • +
  • A Pale View of Hills
  • +
  • The Remains of the Day
Total price: $36.35
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. A Pale View of Hills
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    4.1 out of 5 stars 98
    Paperback
    $14.95 Prime
  2. The Unconsoled
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    3.7 out of 5 stars 198
    Paperback
    $15.95 Prime
  3. When We Were Orphans: A Novel
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    3.3 out of 5 stars 277
    Paperback
    $9.97 Prime
  4. The Remains of the Day
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    4.4 out of 5 stars 598
    Paperback
    $9.52 Prime
  5. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage International)
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    3.5 out of 5 stars 59
    Paperback
    $15.95 Prime
  6. The Buried Giant (Vintage International)
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    3.6 out of 5 stars 880
    Paperback
    $9.52 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
New York Times best sellers
Browse the New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Books and more. See more

Product Details

  • Paperback: 206 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage International; 1st edition (September 19, 1989)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679722661
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679722663
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating Japanese Parallel to "The Remains of the Day"
By Michael Wischmeyer on July 16, 2002
Format: Paperback
I read "An Artist of the Floating World" twice in one week, once in fascination and once more to explore the nuances and subtleties that characterize Kazuo Ishiguro's novels. This short work, Ishiguro's second novel, was short listed for the prestigious Booker Prize. Both a character study and an intriguing glimpse of pre-war Japan, in many ways it is a Japanese parallel to Ishiguro's highly successful third novel, "The Remains of the Day".
Ishiguro enjoys slowly revealing his characters through their recollection of events long past. The memories are often fragmented, sometimes hazy, someimes simply untrustworthy. In "An Artist of the Floating World" the situation is further complicated by the tendency of its protagonist, Masuji Ono, to misinterpret his own memories.
"An Artist of the Floating World" is a portrait as Masuji Ono saw himself, and as he believed that others saw him. It is three years after Japan's defeat and Ono is preoccupied with the negotiations around his younger daughter's proposed marriage. Last year Noriko's marriage negotiations with another young man were unexpectedly treminated by the groom's family. Almost without self-awareness, Ono begins to question whether his artistic support of the imperialistic movement in the thirties and during the war now places his daughter's prospects in jeopardy.
Although Ono sees himself as a modest man, he overstates the impact that his military and patriotic art had in conditioning the Japanese people for the impending imperialistic war effort. It is never quite clear just how popular and widespread his war posters actually were. In contrast, Ono seems incapable of recognizing the magnitude of his crime against his best student, Kuroda, whom he betrayed to the authorities.Read more ›
Comment 61 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsThe sometimes uncomfortable power of art
By Daniel Friedman on May 5, 2004
Format: Paperback
What happens when legitimate art turns into propaganda and can propaganda be considered legitimate art? What happens to the artist who ventures into propaganda when his side loses the political battle? Can he still create art for art's sake?
These are some of the questions explored in An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro's excellent novel of postwar Japan and the musings/fate of a renowned artist who, having served the imperial cause during the war, is now very much suffering for it.
Ishiguro writes with an excellent blend of economy and descriptive language that wastes no words or passages on tangents or irrelevance. He creates postwar Japan so vividly it is a true "you-are-there" read. Very rarely are authors capable of weaving such realism into a non-contemporary setting. It's also a very fast moving story, in spite of the fact that in terms of action there is very little. You come to know and understand the characters so completely that it simply adds to the effect of the realism.
A classic work by a very talented writer.
Comment 48 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA quiet novel about art and war and good intentions
By Zack Davisson HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on December 11, 2003
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
"An Artist of the Floating World" is a beautiful little novel, written in typical Ishiguro style, with the calm surface waters belaying the rapid current that flows beneath. It is an interesting style that attempts to ape classical Japanese literature, infusing it with Ishiguro's innate Brittishness, coming from being born of Japanese parents but raised in Britain.
As with his other novels, and part of his style, a knowledge of historical events is taken for granted on the part of the reader. Allusions are made to once-famous or infamous events and people, and names are dropped with the understanding that everyone is intimately familiar with WWII and the cultures of Japan and England.
The title is a bit misleading, as the "Floating World" is usually associated with the Edo period of Japan, and not with the Fascist era of Showa. Anyone expecting Geishas and Samurai will be disappointed.
A very quick and quiet read, "An Artist of the Floating World" is something than can be read over a weekend with a cup of green tea. It contributes a viewpoint, and a necessary one, to WWII Japan and paints a human face onto a troubled period of history. Love and family and duty are on display here, along with good intentions leading down dark paths, and the righteousness of actions and re-actions.
Like "Remains of the Day," "An Artist of the Floating World" is an intimate, beautiful character sketch. Very much worth the limited time needed to enjoy the book.
Comment 59 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsWitty, arch, real?
By R. Brown on April 9, 2005
Format: Paperback
In An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro serves up a fascinating look at pre- and postwar Japan. The novel is the story of Masuji Ono, an artist and devotee of the "floating world" of Japanese nocturnal pleasures. Prior to the war, however, he was a propagandist for Japan's war effort, and this is in different ways haunting him in the wake of defeat. The war now over, Ono is older and left to reflect on the past and his present. He lost his wife and son in the war, and is now living with one of his daughters. It is a time in which the young blame their elders for the mistakes of the past, and no longer accept the validity of the floating world-which was all but destroyed by 1945. What then is there for Ono?

The novel begins three years after Japan's defeat, and Ono is deeply involved in the negotiations of his younger daughter's proposed marriage. In the previous year his other daughter, Noriko, had her planned marriage abruptly cancelled by the groom's family. Ono now begins to wonder whether his artistic support of Japan's war effort is now putting at risk his second daughter's chances.

The most poignant moment in the book revolves around his relationship with Kuroda, his star art pupil, who was betrayed by Ono to the authorities. Ono attempts to justify the years that Kuroda spent in prison by rationalizing that those years now give him credibility in the new Japan.

Ishiguro, who left Nagasaki at age 5 and moved to Britain, evokes a time and place and feeling with a deft and loving touch. An Artist of the Floating World documents the inner life of one man, and portrays the changing cultural attitudes. Whitbread Prize winner Ishiguro was shortlisted for England's Booker Prize for this work. Ishiguro pulls back layer after layer to reveal memory, or fragments of memory, that have profound meaning. Beautifully written.
1 Comment 32 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel purchased recently for my scheduled book club reading.

Published 24 days ago by Opperdude
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

ok read

Published 2 months ago by S. Watson
2.0 out of 5 starsBoring

Boring. Unconvincing characters. The only redeeming feature is a fictional portrayal of post war Japan.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting insights into the world of post-World War II Japan ...

Interesting insights into the world of post-World War II Japan by an artist and his place in society during time of crisis.

Published 4 months ago by ROBERT C. ANDERSON
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Beautifully written.

Published 5 months ago by Susan Trant Feuer
2.0 out of 5 starsSelf centered ramblings of a man..

who couldn't decide whether to feel pity or admiration for his life's work. Perhaps of interest to a reader curious about the art culture in Japan in the years leading up to WW II. Read more

Published 5 months ago by David Marcus
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

One of my favourite writers.

Published 5 months ago by Irina Langhans
5.0 out of 5 starsLayered book requiring few readings

The nuanced narrative of the book with its vague imageries and uncertain recollections makes the reader form his own conclusion of things. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Chan Wei Siang
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

An interesting perspective of the post war years in japan.

Published 11 months ago by Cynthia
5.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best books I've read this year.

Brilliantly, subtly written.

Published 12 months ago by Ann B. Elwood

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

An Artist of the Floating World
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: An Artist of the Floating World
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.