‘The Shame of Being on the Wrong Side of History’: Defeat and the Failures of Masculinities in An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day

An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day follow the lives of two characters, Masuji Ono and Mr Stevens, both of whom end up being ‘on the wrong side of history’ (Amit Chaudhuri). Focusing on Ono’s and Stevens’ deprivation of the right to reclaim a morally responsible ground they believe was solid before WWII, Shin refers first to what the late Japanese critic Norihiro Kato termed the ‘imagination of the defeated’ and then explores Ishiguro’s unique ‘post-defeat imagination’, disclosing the failure of these protagonists’ masculinities, their consequent shames, and their political link to the waning of nationalism in post-war Japan or Britain. Uncovering the fact that Ishiguro read numerous historical and autobiographical books before writing these novels, Shin further provides extensive evidence for their influence on the characterisation of these protagonists.