Revue de Recherches et Etudes Scientifiques
Volume 18, Numéro 1, Pages 902-916
2024-01-14
Navigating Kazuo Ishiguro’s Critical-posthumanist Imaginary Of The Anthropomorphized Nonhuman As A Subversive Agent In Klara And The Sun (2021)
Authors : Bentahar Soumia .
Abstract
In Klara and the Sun (2021), Kazuo Ishiguro’s futuristic America harbors a post-anthropocentric society floundering in environmental crisis, emotional dryness and moral futility. From harnessing the power of technology to subjugate children to genetic tampering, to designing AF robots to compensate them for the emotional void wrought by the absence of human relations and affection, technology seems to profoundly infiltrate Ishiguro’s imaginative America, yet still deemed an anxiety-provoking entity that can never be truly embraced. Hence, this article argues that to challenge such apprehension, Ishiguro’s novel stages an act of criticism instigated by a posthuman imagination that calls into question humanity’s negligence towards the Earth, the far-reaching impact of their activities, and their misuse of technology. Rivetingly, the author chooses to deliver his critique through the narrative gaze of a nonhuman agent: the humanoid robot Klara, whose consciousness and empathy prove agentive in the sense that they are pitched to posit readers to ponder moral conundrums afflicting technologically advanced societies. Drawing upon an array of theoretical insights belonging mainly to critical posthumanism the present article seeks to grapple with a fundamental question: How does Klara’s savvy critique of a society that is plunged into environmental crisis and moral decay inform about Ishiguro’s post-anthropocentric imaginary of the anthropomorphized nonhuman as a subversive agent?
Keywords
anthropomorphized nonhuman ; critical posthumanism ; klara and the sun ; post-anthropocentrism ; subversive agency
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