Alienation in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Fiction

Description

This study examines Kazuo Ishiguro’s fiction through the framework of alienation, demonstrating how his novels explore the profound effects of memory, identity, political upheaval, and social change on the individual. Spanning A Pale View of Hills (1982), An Artist of the Floating World (1986), The Remains of the Day (1989), The Unconsoled (1995), When We Were Orphans (2000), Never Let Me Go (2005), and Klara and the Sun (2021), it traces the evolution of alienation across Ishiguro's oeuvre, from post-war Japan and England to dystopian and posthuman futures. By analysing characters who struggle with guilt, memory, displacement, and belonging, this book argues that alienation functions as a unifying lens through which Ishiguro examines the complexities of the human condition and the enduring impact of historical, social, and technological transformation.