“We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination
The hypothesis of cloning human life has always been an imaginative kaleidoscope of ‘posthuman’ possibilities. The development of bioengineering is now making this hypothesis even more palpable, raising more questions. Could man generate life? If so, what ends might justify it? Are extending life ex...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
Università degli Studi di Torino
2016-12-01
|
| Series: | CoSMO |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COSMO/article/view/1802 |
| _version_ | 1818369723343044608 |
|---|---|
| author | Luigi Marfè |
| author_facet | Luigi Marfè |
| author_sort | Luigi Marfè |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The hypothesis of cloning human life has always been an imaginative kaleidoscope of ‘posthuman’ possibilities. The development of bioengineering is now making this hypothesis even more palpable, raising more questions. Could man generate life? If so, what ends might justify it? Are extending life expectancy and eradicating diseases targets that make everything permissible? How far is medical research changing man’s life? Is it still possible to discern what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial’? What are the differences between human beings and human clones? What would it feel like to be a clone? Never Let Me Go (2005) is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro that challenges these questions, imagining a society where clones are used as organ donors to cure people of diseases such as tumours and leukaemia. This article analyses Ishiguro’s novel in the tradition of dystopian fiction, and focuses on his ‘posthuman’ reworking of classical myths, such as that of Orpheus and Eurydice, to describe the metamorphoses of a biotechnological age. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T23:28:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-be89f0d3727643bc9eb6f5201204c988 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2281-6658 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T23:28:22Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | Università degli Studi di Torino |
| record_format | Article |
| series | CoSMO |
| spelling | doaj.art-be89f0d3727643bc9eb6f5201204c9882022-12-21T23:27:29ZdeuUniversità degli Studi di TorinoCoSMO2281-66582016-12-01910.13135/2281-6658/1802“We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman ImaginationLuigi Marfè0Università di TorinoThe hypothesis of cloning human life has always been an imaginative kaleidoscope of ‘posthuman’ possibilities. The development of bioengineering is now making this hypothesis even more palpable, raising more questions. Could man generate life? If so, what ends might justify it? Are extending life expectancy and eradicating diseases targets that make everything permissible? How far is medical research changing man’s life? Is it still possible to discern what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial’? What are the differences between human beings and human clones? What would it feel like to be a clone? Never Let Me Go (2005) is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro that challenges these questions, imagining a society where clones are used as organ donors to cure people of diseases such as tumours and leukaemia. This article analyses Ishiguro’s novel in the tradition of dystopian fiction, and focuses on his ‘posthuman’ reworking of classical myths, such as that of Orpheus and Eurydice, to describe the metamorphoses of a biotechnological age.https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COSMO/article/view/1802biotechnologyclonesposthumanliteraturedystopia |
| spellingShingle | Luigi Marfè “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination CoSMO biotechnology clones posthuman literature dystopia |
| title | “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination |
| title_full | “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination |
| title_fullStr | “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination |
| title_full_unstemmed | “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination |
| title_short | “We All Complete”: Kazuo Ishiguro and the Posthuman Imagination |
| title_sort | we all complete kazuo ishiguro and the posthuman imagination |
| topic | biotechnology clones posthuman literature dystopia |
| url | https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COSMO/article/view/1802 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT luigimarfe weallcompletekazuoishiguroandtheposthumanimagination |