8.18.2009

above earth

Poetry as the language of the floating world.

3 comments:

Andrew Shields said...

Am I right to read "the floating world" as a reference to Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Artist of the Floating World"?

JforJames said...

I've not read that book, but I was thinking of the Ukiyo-e art of Japan.

From Wiki, illustrated, so to speak, by this sentiment:

The contemporary novelist Asai Ryōi, in his Ukiyo monogatari (浮世物語, "Tales of the Floating World", c. 1661?), provides some insight into the concept of the floating world:

... Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; ... refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world...

Andrew Shields said...

Now that you mention it, I think Ishiguro refers to the same art, at least in passing!