A Study Of Spatial Narrative In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara And The Sun

Kazuo Ishiguro,the acclaimed Japanese-born British novelist and winner of Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize,enjoys a high reputation in contemporary literary world.Klara and the Sun is Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel,which was published in 2021 and in the same year was included in the longlist for Booker Prize.Set in the future,an artificial intelligence robot named Klara narrates the story of herself and human beings.Klara has extraordinary power of observation,a strong sense of curiosity and a great empathic ability,but her matrix perspective of the world and her selflessness are different from humans.In Klara’s cognitive process,the seemingly ordinary spatial scenes in contemporary life are transformed and reorganized repeatedly,providing considerable traces for understanding the role of spatial narrative in promoting narrative progression,enhancing characterization and presenting the characters’psychological activities.Guided by Henri Lefebvre’s theory of space,this paper discusses the multidimensional types,various functions and moral implications of spatial narration in Klara and the Sun.The main body of the dissertation consists of three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the text from three spatial narrative types:physical space,social space and psychological space.More specifically,this chapter elaborates on Klara’s pursuit of home in physical space,her construction of friendship in social space and her reflection on the self-identity dilemma in psychological space.It can be seen through analysis of these three spaces that Klara’s understanding of human beings is gradually deepened,but she still maintains her original loyalty and selflessness to humans.The second chapter explores the specific functions of spatial narrative in the novel,i.e.,how spatial narrative helps to enrich the characterization,highlight the relationship between characters and contribute to the narrative progression of the whole novel,as well as increase the readers’emotional involvement,aiming to give a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the positive effect of spatial narrative on the elements of the novel.The third chapter addresses the textual space in reading process and discusses the moral implications of spatial narrative in the novel.Specifically,the moral significance of spatial narrative lies in that it helps to highlight some fundamental issues about humans:self-examination,construction of personal value and weaknesses in human nature.On the one hand,the story develops around the question of whether robots can replace humans through learning,which actually reveals the author’s anxiety about the continuous development of information technology.On the other hand,with the help of spatial narrative,the story presents a sharp contrast between Klara’s loyalty and humans’ selfishness,and thus invites the readers to think about the eternal moral question of what is love.In the last part,the dissertation reaches its conclusion based on previous analysis and argumentation:spatial narrative studies provide an effective perspective to interpret Klara and the Sun,revealing the artistic charm implied in the configuration of various spatial dimensions and demonstrating the universal human concern conveyed through the spatialization,prompting people to rethink such fundamental ideas as love,faith and humanity in an age of burgeoning AI.