A Postmodernist/Posthumanist Reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s, Never Let Me Go Using Fredric Jameson’s Theory of Postmodernism and Late Capitalism.
A Postmodernist/Posthumanist reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s, Never Let Me Go using Fredric Jameson’s theory of Postmodernism and Late Capitalism.
Posthumanism neologism is used to describe what comes after humanism and the question of what it means to be human. It is often and most frequently used to describe a dystopian life form that is created and crafted by humans themselves. Posthumanism is not to be confused with postmodernism, although their paths do cross intrinsically throughout this essay. The concept of posthumanism is not as modern as one may think and is displayed in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein as a window into the advanced discoveries of nineteenth century science, and what can result from trying to play the role of God. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go, the posthuman characters or ‘clones’ as they are later known, differ to the normal conventions seen in the posthuman genre. The typical view of a posthuman creature is one of homogeneous negativity and blatant danger to the human race if allowed out of our control. There are elements of this in Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, but yet they are subtle and overall ambiguous, almost acting as a rejection of posthumanism in order for the reader to focus on and empathise with, the actual human qualities the clones possess.
I have decided to explore posthumanism in Never Let Me Go via Fredric Jameson’s The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Jameson explains the necessity of postmodernism as “The case for its existence depends on the hypothesis of some radical break or coupure, generally traced back to the end of the 1950s or the early 1960s." Never Let Me Go is set in an alternate 1970s-1990s era, and its time frame is parallel to what Jameson states about the break away from modern movement, rise in existentialist philosophy and the final forms of representation in the novel. In the late 60s early 70s in Britain, new things were happening such as Pop art and pop music, making the whole
Posthumanism neologism is used to describe what comes after humanism and the question of what it means to be human. It is often and most frequently used to describe a dystopian life form that is created and crafted by humans themselves. Posthumanism is not to be confused with postmodernism, although their paths do cross intrinsically throughout this essay. The concept of posthumanism is not as modern as one may think and is displayed in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein as a window into the advanced discoveries of nineteenth century science, and what can result from trying to play the role of God. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go, the posthuman characters or ‘clones’ as they are later known, differ to the normal conventions seen in the posthuman genre. The typical view of a posthuman creature is one of homogeneous negativity and blatant danger to the human race if allowed out of our control. There are elements of this in Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, but yet they are subtle and overall ambiguous, almost acting as a rejection of posthumanism in order for the reader to focus on and empathise with, the actual human qualities the clones possess.
I have decided to explore posthumanism in Never Let Me Go via Fredric Jameson’s The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Jameson explains the necessity of postmodernism as “The case for its existence depends on the hypothesis of some radical break or coupure, generally traced back to the end of the 1950s or the early 1960s." Never Let Me Go is set in an alternate 1970s-1990s era, and its time frame is parallel to what Jameson states about the break away from modern movement, rise in existentialist philosophy and the final forms of representation in the novel. In the late 60s early 70s in Britain, new things were happening such as Pop art and pop music, making the whole
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