Entanglements:
Journal of Posthumanities
E-ISSN: 3107-488X

(Article) ‐ Volume 2, Issue 2 (Open Issue)
Hypercapacity and Human Redundancy in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun.
Authored By — Emily Reiff

Abstract

This article explores discourses of sickness and health, as well as the range of embodiments that extend from disability to normativity and into the realm of what Samuel Yates terms "hypercapacity." The concept of hypercapacity influences the social construction of disability, which informs and reflects ableist ideologies which elevate what Rosemary Garland-Thomson describes as "normate" identities. This "preference for able-bodiedness" can define "the baseline by which" one is determined to be human and, for the purpose of this analysis, grievable (Siebers). Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun (2021) highlights dangers inherent to overvaluing genetically enhanced bodies, leading to new generations of children who are forced into conditions of non-normative embodiment and diminishing life value. The narrative challenges the idea of "normative" bodies, which are socially and economically desirable, as bioengineering ("lifting") creates children that Yates would describe as hypercapacitated due to their purportedly advanced intellectual capabilities. The text also depicts a society in which human beings are becoming increasingly redundant and replaceable in the labor market. The social drive for perfection is coupled with human replaceability, which extends to a child who has been debilitated by bioengineering. She experiences diminished cultural valuation due to the textual implication that disability has so diminished her status as a grievable subject that she may be replaced by a highly advanced android that can mimic the child and "continue" her in a healthier state. I argue Ishiguro's novel explores the potential for economic and philosophical deterioration of life value in a world where everyone and everything is upgradeable.

Keywords

Genetic Modification, Social Construction of Disability, Ableism, Posthuman, Grievability, Hypercapacity.

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