Ishiguro was inspired to write An Artist of the Floating World, after tangentially treating a similar theme in his first novel A Pale View of Hills, which included an old teacher character, who has to rediscover and invent his own morals. Furthermore, his reading of Japanese novels and comics allowed him to stay connected to his Japanese heritage as well as see the differences between Western and Japanese society, influencing his writing through developing a sense of Japanese ideals. Growing up, Ishiguro had a traditionally Japanese mother, who influenced his writing when reflecting on Japan.

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1954, eventually moving to England at the age of five, only to return to Japan twenty-nine years later. Currently, An Artist of the Floating World, has been translated into over 40 languages around the world. It has additionally become an eBook version and is available on most eBook websites such as kindle and iBooks, since 2012. Published by Faber and Faber it is also printed by publishing companies such as Allen and Unwin and Penguin Vintage International. Originally published in 1986, An Artist of the Floating World was named the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is also considered global literature on account of its broad international market and its theme of how the world today is interconnected. It is considered historical fiction on account of its basis in a past that predates the author's own experiences, and it draws from historical facts. The novel is considered as both historical fiction and global literature ( Weltliteratur). The novel also deals with the role of people in a rapidly changing political environment and with the assumption and denial of guilt. The novel ends with the narrator expressing good will for the young white-collar workers on the streets at lunchbreak. The chief conflict deals with Ono's need to accept responsibility for his past actions, rendered politically suspect in the context of post-War Japan. He notices how his once-great reputation has faltered since the war and how attitudes towards him and his paintings have changed. It is set in post- World War II Japan and is narrated by Masuji Ono, an ageing painter, who looks back on his life and how he has lived it. An Artist of the Floating World (1986) is a novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro.

An artist of floating world