«JAPANESE» CONTEXT OF KAZUO ISHIGURO’S NOVELS

Abstract

The literary-artistic world of the novels of a British novelist of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro in the context of Eastern culture and Japanese literary traditions has been analyzed in the article. The features of Japanese culture that have been reflected in the writer’s works have been considered; the historical conditions of formation and development of the mentality of the Japanese have been studied; the differences between the Western and Eastern worldviews have been identified; the psychological portraiture of the characters and existential motives in the works of the author have been analyzed. The relevance and perspective of the study is determined by insufficient study and coverage of the literary-artistic world of Ishiguro’s novels through the prism of Japanese culture within Ukrainian literary criticism. The writer is one of the outstanding representatives of cross-cultural literature, and the national component is very important for him. Despite the «international» character of his novels, the presence of «Japanese accent» is obvious even if nothing resembles Japan at first sight. In his works Ishiguro combines East and West, Western European and Japanese worldview systems and literary traditions. The author’s first two novels, «A Pale View of Hills» and «An Artist of the Floating World», refer to the so-called «Japanese» prose. They reflect the image of Japan and the Japanese, confirming the stereotypes that have formed in the minds of people in the West. The influence of the Eastern literary tradition is vividly noticeable in other novels of K. Ishiguro as well. The Japanese element of the image of the characters – their way of thinking, doings and feelings – is manifested appealing to the philosophy of Confucianism and Buddhism and the implementation of the basic principles of the samurai code of honour. The «Japanese» themes of loneliness, obligation, service and willingness to sacrifice are dominant in the works of the author. At the same time, Ishiguro managed to create a generalized metaphor for human life and to show universal values – devotion, kindness, the right to express one’s own personality – that are manifested regardless of external circumstances, nationality, age or social status of the characters.