I investigate some of the conceptual paradigms that have emerged from posthuman studies, such as the body and subjectivity, the human and the machine, and genetic engineering. Focusing on the fundamental distinction between the subject and the non-subject, I show how the new perspective of recent times involves a reconceptualisation of what it means to be human and of the body as prosthesis. That is, as Hayles observes, 'the posthuman view sees the body as the original prosthesis that we all learn to manipulate, so that the extension or replacement of the body with other prostheses becomes a continuation of a process that began before we were born'. In line with some twentieth and twenty-first century theories, I will try to show how Kazuo Ishiguro depicts the complex relationship between the human and the post-human. His novels show what it means to be human in the future, when the world has evolved to be characterised by advanced biogenetics or technology. In this perspective, I will focus on "Never Let Me Go" and "Klara and the Sun", in which Ishiguro tries to demonstrate the plausibility of posthuman "subjectivity" and shows how clones and androids, like cyborgs, become "creatures in a postgendered world".
Beyond a “Body Without Organs”: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun
Paola Partenza
2022-01-01
Abstract
I investigate some of the conceptual paradigms that have emerged from posthuman studies, such as the body and subjectivity, the human and the machine, and genetic engineering. Focusing on the fundamental distinction between the subject and the non-subject, I show how the new perspective of recent times involves a reconceptualisation of what it means to be human and of the body as prosthesis. That is, as Hayles observes, 'the posthuman view sees the body as the original prosthesis that we all learn to manipulate, so that the extension or replacement of the body with other prostheses becomes a continuation of a process that began before we were born'. In line with some twentieth and twenty-first century theories, I will try to show how Kazuo Ishiguro depicts the complex relationship between the human and the post-human. His novels show what it means to be human in the future, when the world has evolved to be characterised by advanced biogenetics or technology. In this perspective, I will focus on "Never Let Me Go" and "Klara and the Sun", in which Ishiguro tries to demonstrate the plausibility of posthuman "subjectivity" and shows how clones and androids, like cyborgs, become "creatures in a postgendered world".I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
