Stylistic Analysis Of Ishigu-Ro's An Artist Of The Floating World
3. Stylistic Analysis
As long as a language is produced from a human being, it inevitably reflects its speaker’s background (e.g., their birth, their generation, or their social class). Even if they use the same language such as English, Asians may hardly speak or write in the way British do. That being so, given the exceptional roots of Ishiguro as an English-language writer, it seems fairly understandable for many critics to assume that this idiosyncrasy (i.e., some remnants of Japan), more or less, affects his style of writing. For instance, when Ishigu-ro’s second novel, An Artist of the Floating World, won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1986, Edward Behr, a British journalist, remarked in Newsweek that, “He is certainly a unique Whitbread …show more content…
3. 2. Ishiguro’s Japanese and English
In regard to a Japanese command, Ishiguro has evaluated it just as that of five-year-old boy, in an array of interviews (Bigsby 17; Sexton 27; Mason 336; Swaim 92). Yet, even after the emigration of his family, he kept speaking Japanese at home, and occasionally his way of thinking also switches to Japanese. He once told:
If I’m back with my parents for a number of days my thought patterns are actually in Japanese. If I bang my toe a Japanese exclamation goes through my head rather than an English one. (Sexton 28)
As of 2015, he revealed that he still spoke in Japanese with his family (Jordison n.p.). Actually, this retention of Japanese ability seems noteworthy, considering that he had never lived in Japan since he was five, and neither had his family. On the other hand, regarding English, he has admitted that it is the “stronger” language of his, and that he is much more competent with it (Swaim 92-3). Nevertheless, at the same time, he does not equate himself with other native English speakers. Indeed, being asked about the influence of his first language, Japanese, on his prose style in 2015, he
As long as a language is produced from a human being, it inevitably reflects its speaker’s background (e.g., their birth, their generation, or their social class). Even if they use the same language such as English, Asians may hardly speak or write in the way British do. That being so, given the exceptional roots of Ishiguro as an English-language writer, it seems fairly understandable for many critics to assume that this idiosyncrasy (i.e., some remnants of Japan), more or less, affects his style of writing. For instance, when Ishigu-ro’s second novel, An Artist of the Floating World, won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1986, Edward Behr, a British journalist, remarked in Newsweek that, “He is certainly a unique Whitbread …show more content…
3. 2. Ishiguro’s Japanese and English
In regard to a Japanese command, Ishiguro has evaluated it just as that of five-year-old boy, in an array of interviews (Bigsby 17; Sexton 27; Mason 336; Swaim 92). Yet, even after the emigration of his family, he kept speaking Japanese at home, and occasionally his way of thinking also switches to Japanese. He once told:
If I’m back with my parents for a number of days my thought patterns are actually in Japanese. If I bang my toe a Japanese exclamation goes through my head rather than an English one. (Sexton 28)
As of 2015, he revealed that he still spoke in Japanese with his family (Jordison n.p.). Actually, this retention of Japanese ability seems noteworthy, considering that he had never lived in Japan since he was five, and neither had his family. On the other hand, regarding English, he has admitted that it is the “stronger” language of his, and that he is much more competent with it (Swaim 92-3). Nevertheless, at the same time, he does not equate himself with other native English speakers. Indeed, being asked about the influence of his first language, Japanese, on his prose style in 2015, he