Open AccessPosthuman Biopredicament: A Study of Biodystopia in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
Author(s) -
Kai Yang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
theory and practice in language studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-0692
pISSN - 1799-2591
DOI - 10.17507/tpls.0905.15
Subject(s) - posthuman , metaphor , narrative , theme (computing) , power (physics) , perspective (graphical) , posthumanism , aesthetics , dimension (graph theory) , human life , philosophy , literature , psychoanalysis , sociology , art , psychology , computer science , visual arts , linguistics , theology , humanity , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics , operating system
Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is a novel that depicts a typical biodystopia. By recollecting the clones’ tragic experience of organ donation for the benefit of humankind, it discusses the bleak posthuman prospects of science, the double manipulation of life by power, and the metaphorical dimension of posthuman lifewriting. Ishiguro approaches the theme from the clones’ perspective, taking the clones as a metaphor to demonstrate the actual circumstances of human life, therefore the novel could be seen as a parable about human nature. This paper proposes to analyze, from the aspects of science, power and metaphorical lifewriting, Ishiguro’s unique art in creating a biodystopian narrative that reflects universal human conditions and reveals the posthuman biopredicament.