Ono lays the groundwork by talking about his father, who destroyed his early paintings to prevent his son from becoming an artist and to force him instead to join the family business. The exact nature of that career occupies much of the space in the novel. Ono believes that Setsuko is politely telling him to find a way to make his past less of a problem, since his career before and during the war has destroyed his reputation. This way he can ensure that, if these acquaintances are interviewed about Ono and his family as part of the negotiation, they will provide positive testimony. In light of a failed marriage negotiation for Noriko a year before, in which the groom’s family mysteriously pulled out at the last minute, Ono’s older daughter Setsuko suggests that he visit various old acquaintances.

In the years after the war, Ono works to negotiate a traditional arranged marriage for his younger daughter, Noriko. Though the narrative leaps in and out of different periods in Ono’s life, from his first job to his childhood to his role working for the government in World-War II era Japan, the strongest linear thread revolves around the marriage of Ono’s daughter. Ono is both protagonist and narrator, and he provides a highly subjective account of the events that shaped his career, family life, and reputation, grappling with his past as he tells his story. Heroic BSoD: The closest Ono comes to this is during the meeting between Noriko's and her suitor's families.An Artist of the Floating Worldtells the story of a former artist named Masuji Ono.

Driven to Suicide: Averted, but heavily implied as one way for Ono to escape the dishonor of his past.

Dirty Coward: Ono regards the Tortoise as this, because he never took the kinds of 'risks' that Ono did.

Greatly suffers (or profits?) from Unreliable Narrator, to the point that this Trope is Lampshaded by Ono himself multiple times. And while Ono is rarely portrayed sympathetically, it seems that he has lost a great deal due to the war.The precise nature of Ono's past is only revealed through a series of reminiscences, framed by the efforts of his youngest daughter, Noriko, to find a husband. Set in Japan during the aftermath of World War II, the book follows the life of Ono, a prideful artist who seems incapable of changing his ways. An Artist of the Floating World is a novel by Japanese-born English writer Kazuo Ishiguro.

An artist of the floating world