Genre of Anti-utopia in the Works of Kazuo Ishiguro: Traditions and Innovations

Abstract

The aim of the study is to explore the specificity of the anti-utopian genre in the works of the English writer Kazuo Ishiguro. Comparative, historical, literary, and hermeneutical methods were used to achieve this goal. The article analyzes the state of studying dystopia as a literary model, attention is focused on the scientific research of domestic and foreign literary critics who studied the dystopian novels of K. Ishiguro. The analysis of K. Ishiguro's works "Never let me go" and "Klara and The Sun" in the article is carried out in constant comparison with the dystopias of half of the XX – The Works of E. Zamyatin, O. Huxley, J. Orwell, R. Bradbury etc. Among the peculiarities of Ishiguro's anti-utopias are noted unconventional characters. Somewhat unrealistic characters (cloned human donors, android robots with artificial intelligence) reflect the complex processes of society's development against the background of scientific and technological progress. Such a choice of characters makes it possible to raise important moral, ethical and social problems, and the protagonists themselves become a means of testing society for humanity. The specifics of female images in the works of K. Ishiguro are studied from the standpoint of gender roles in society and literature. It is concluded that the change in the role of women in modern society, the development of the feminist movement is reflected in a certain way in the figurative system of dystopias of the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century. In K. Ishiguro's dystopias, women become not only the main characters, but also storytellers.In the context of the peculiarities of narrative style in the studied works, the influence on the novels of K. Ishiguro literature of a new sincerity is traced, which is distinguished by a confessional character, the presence of a diegetic narrator, a powerful intimate component, the specificity of the problems discussed, increased emotionality, etc. Thus, according to the narrative style, K. Ishiguro's works can be attributed to a new type of dystopia. The study of the main conflict and problems of these works allows us to draw conclusions about the absence of conflict of the personality with the totalitarian system, which is present in classical dystopias, but there is a shift in emphasis from purely social aspects to the sphere of morality, the complication of moral and social conflict. The leading problem in K. Ishiguro's novels is the dehumanization of the modern world.