Abstract
ABSTRACT Kazuo Ishiguro’s second novel, An Artist of the Floating World (1986), explores the social atmosphere of Japan after the 1948 abolition of the Imperial Rescript on Education, which was the basis of the nationalist, totalitarian education before and during World War II. Focusing on Ishiguro’s engagement with the theme of education, this essay examines the symbolic link between the ‘double bind’ situation in pre-war society caused by the Imperial Rescript, or the Emperor’s ambiguous but ‘divine’ words to his subjects, and the fictional art masters’ mysterious and authoritative attitudes toward their younger pupils in the novel. From this perspective, I will seek to reveal the way in which Ishiguro’s work dramatises the transformation of Japanese society and educational policies in the post-Rescript years.
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