Exegesis My Hideous Progeny: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go As An
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RMIT Research Repository Volume Two – Exegesis My Hideous Progeny: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein analysed through the lifecycle of the scientifically created human monster. An exegesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Evelyn Tsitas B.Ed Grad Dip (Media, Communications and Information Technology Law) School of Creative Media Portfolio of Design and Social Context RMIT University March 2008 i Declaration I certify that: • Except where due acknowledgement is made, the work is mine alone; • The work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; • The content of the thesis is the result of the work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; • Any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged. Signed……………………………………………………….Evelyn Tsitas, March 2008 ii Volume One – Exegesis My Hideous Progeny: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein analysed through the lifecycle of the scientifically created human monster. iii Research Question: Is Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and thus a Gothic horror novel? iv CONTENTS CONTENTS V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VII ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION: 2 • Link Between Exegesis And Creative Project 4 • Literature Review 6 • Gothic Horror 11 • The Structure Of The Exegesis 14 CHAPTER ONE: My Hideous Progeny 16 • Motherless 16 • Inhuman Provenance 19 • Rejection By Society 20 • Hideous Wretch 21 • The Unheimlich Clones And Replicants 23 CHAPTER TWO: Identity 27 • Search For Role Models 27 • Meeting Your Maker 31 • Confronting The Guardians 32 • We Shall Be Monsters 34 v • Sex And The Clones 36 • Basic Pleasure Model 37 CHAPTER THREE: An Early Death 39 • Swept Into The Sea 39 • To Complete 41 • More Life 44 CONCLUSION: 47 • Insights Gained By The Analysis To My Project 48 BIBLIOGRAPHY 51 • Critical Sources 51 • Fiction 56 • Film 56 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following people provided editorial assistance with the exegesis: Alison Goodman (senior supervisor), Dr Adam Casey (second supervisor), Dr Ron Gallagher and Antoni Jach. vii Bibliography ABSTRACT This exegesis considers Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go as a contemporary Gothic text which utilises the scientifically created human monster. Through investigating the device of the literary scientifically created human monster, originating with the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I have noted a lifecycle which is unique to these literary monsters. This exegesis explores the monster's lifecycle looking at the replicants in Ridley Scott's movie Blade Runner , the clones in Never Let Me Go, and Frankenstein's creature. In discussions of Gothic literature and the contemporary Gothic, this exegesis considers what happens when science takes over from the maternal. In doing so, I consider the reasons why Never Let Me Go is a reworking and evolution of the Gothic horror novel and Ishiguro's monster-clones are scientifically created human monsters. 8 Volume Two – Exegesis My Hideous Progeny: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein analysed through the lifecycle of the scientifically created human monster. An exegesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Evelyn Tsitas B.Ed Grad Dip (Media, Communications and Information Technology Law) School of Creative Media Portfolio of Design and Social Context RMIT University March 2008 i Declaration I certify that: • Except where due acknowledgement is made, the work is mine alone; • The work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; • The content of the thesis is the result of the work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; • Any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged. Signed……………………………………………………….Evelyn Tsitas, March 2008 ii Volume One – Exegesis My Hideous Progeny: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein analysed through the lifecycle of the scientifically created human monster. iii Research Question: Is Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go an evolution of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and thus a Gothic horror novel? iv CONTENTS CONTENTS V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VII ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION: 2 • Link Between Exegesis And Creative Project 4 • Literature Review 6 • Gothic Horror 11 • The Structure Of The Exegesis 14 CHAPTER ONE: My Hideous Progeny 16 • Motherless 16 • Inhuman Provenance 19 • Rejection By Society 20 • Hideous Wretch 21 • The Unheimlich Clones And Replicants 23 CHAPTER TWO: Identity 27 • Search For Role Models 27 • Meeting Your Maker 31 • Confronting The Guardians 32 • We Shall Be Monsters 34 v • Sex And The Clones 36 • Basic Pleasure Model 37 CHAPTER THREE: An Early Death 39 • Swept Into The Sea 39 • To Complete 41 • More Life 44 CONCLUSION: 47 • Insights Gained By The Analysis To My Project 48 BIBLIOGRAPHY 51 • Critical Sources 51 • Fiction 56 • Film 56 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following people provided editorial assistance with the exegesis: Alison Goodman (senior supervisor), Dr Adam Casey (second supervisor), Dr Ron Gallagher and Antoni Jach. vii ABSTRACT This exegesis considers Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go as a contemporary Gothic text which utilises the scientifically created human monster. Through investigating the device of the literary scientifically created human monster, originating with the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I have noted a lifecycle which is unique to these literary monsters. This exegesis explores the monster's lifecycle looking at the replicants in Ridley Scott's movie Blade Runner , the clones in Never Let Me Go, and Frankenstein's creature. In discussions of Gothic literature and the contemporary Gothic, this exegesis considers what happens when science takes over from the maternal. In doing so, I consider the reasons why Never Let Me Go is a reworking and evolution of the Gothic horror novel and Ishiguro's monster-clones are scientifically created human monsters. 1 Introduction INTRODUCTION Literary monsters fulfill many roles. They scare, shock and blur the distinction between human and other. Literary monsters can take many forms, such as the Chimera of ancient legend, but I am interested in a particular type of monster first developed by Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein: 1 an artificially created human which gave rise to questions about human identity. Shelley captured the zeitgeist of the early nineteenth century when scientific discovery gave rise to the fear that we play God with nature at our own peril. Her scientist, Dr Victor Frankenstein, bypassed the laws of nature and role of woman as creator of life when he animated a creature made from the body parts of the dead. I have coined the term the scientifically created human monster to define a literary monster that is not a spontaneous mutation or figment of mythology, neither is it an animal-human hybrid or a human-machine cyborg. Rather, it has been purposefully created by science from human genetic material and has human physiognomy and intelligence. Sometimes identifying such a monster is straightforward. Mary Shelley's creature was hideous beyond belief. It is much harder when they are the replicants from Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 2 and Ridley Scott's subsequent 1982 movie adaptation Blade Runner,3 who require an empathy test to detect their origins. It is almost impossible to expose the clones from Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go,4 who are so perfectly human one has to know what they are to detect they are monsters. 1 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus 1818 (London: Penguin Classics, 1985). 2 Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968 (London: Orion Publishing, 2002). 3 All references to this film are drawn from Blade Runner, DVD, directed by Ridley Scott (USA: Warner Bros.Pictures, 1982). 4 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2005). 2 Introduction In exploring the human monster in these works, I have identified significant patterns in the way these monsters are depicted in fiction. I have discovered they have a unique lifecycle that sets them apart from humans. It is this lifecycle that I will explore by examining the clones in Ishiguro's novel, Never Let Me Go , and the replicants in Dick's novel and Scott's film against Shelley's Frankenstein , which introduced the human monster 190 years ago. In doing so, I will show that Never Let Me Go is an evolution of Frankenstein and thus a Gothic horror novel. In examining science, genetics and popular culture, Jon Turney writes that the Frankenstein story is "too deeply embedded in our culture now not to leave its traces or raise echoes whenever we discuss our attitude to science and scientists.5 He believes that as the products of biological manipulation become ubiquitous, there is every reason for the grip of the story to strengthen. It is not difficult, then, to create strong parallels between Frankenstein , Blade Runner and Never Let Me Go . While I will be drawing on some examples in Dick's book, for the purposes of this exegesis, I will be predominantly referencing Blade Runner as a Gothic film when I analyse the replicants. In the transfer from the book to the screen, Scott has created a Gothic environment that conveys a sense of darkness that fitted into my Gothic exploration. He also took Dick's replicant and turned it from a cyborg into a human monster, providing an alternative definition of an Android that is more complex and human-like than Dick's "Andys".