The American as Mono No Aware in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Cellists”

Abstract

This paper sets out to study Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Cellists” by shedding light on the Japanese concept of Mono No Aware and its textual implications for Tibor who is the main character of the short story. Being a traditional notion in Japanese traditional literary criticism Mono No Aware serves as a transience that has a potential of producing lifelong implications. In “Cellists” the primary agent to mediate this transience is the American character Eloise who through symbolizing certain stereotypes leads one to reflect on the dilemma of talent versus hard work. Furthermore, Ishiguro brilliantly touches upon the orphanhood of man when it comes to finding functional mentorship and emotional guidance in life. Thus, in his short story Kazuo Ishiguro underscores the importance of acting on one’s talent by constructing characters who use music as a form of art to communicate and self-reflect in a background of Mono No Aware.

Keywords

• Mono No Aware
• American Stereotype
• talent
• music
• transience

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