Artists of the Floating World

This work analyzes the fiction of four contemporary multicultural writers who render a 'floating world' in which cultures converge or collide in unexpected, exciting, and dangerous ways. The novels and short stories of Kazuo Ishiguro, Bessie Head, Bharati Mukherjee, and Salman Rushdie explore a literal and metaphorical floating world (adapted from the Japanese concept of 'ukiyo'-a still-point between briefly-held earthly pleasures and spiritual immutability) where the characters, like their authors, are poised between conflicting worlds, cultures, and traditions. The manner in which these four authors articulate such a 'floating' experience, Burton argues, enriches our understanding and appreciation of the increasingly interconnected world around us.