http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Mon, 25 Jul 2005 15:34:53 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/25/153453.php Amy WelbornThe new Michael Bay film, The Island is a tale in the tradition of Frankenstein, giving us a dehumanized dystopia in which science makes its own rules, beholden to no higher values outside itself. Dramatic stuff.A similar subject, far less theatrically told, is the subject of Kazuo Ishiguro's recent novel, Never Let Me Go. No explosions or vivid escapes here, but the result is no less frightening and probably, not surprisingly, far more thought-provoking.Ishiguro sets his novel in England in the late 90's. Parts of the landscape are recognizable, but hints abound&#8212in unfamiliar terminology, in odd social norms&#8212that the children in whose lives we are immersed are living in a world not quite like ours. The narrator, Kathy, introduces herself as a 31-year-old "carer," and from that point plunges into reminiscence and an obsessive, but oddly casual self-scrutiny. One memory leads to another as she takes us back into her childhood at an isolated, elite boarding school named Halisham. Kathy and her friends, Tommy and Ruth, live with other children and, not teachers, but "guardians." They are constantly told how special they are and how important it is for them to take excellent care of themselves. Their classes seem to focus primarily on the arts, the fruits of which are occasionally collected by a mysterious woman from the outside known to them only as Madame. Kathy's recollections of rivalries, bullying and peer pressure are the stuff of many school memoirs, but here they are suffused with mystery. Why, indeed, are these children so special? For what are they being prepared? As the story proceeds, we begin to understand, slowly, and with a growing sense of horror. (SPOILER: Stop reading here if you do not want to know why. I really don't think your appreciation of the book will be diminished by knowing, however.) The children are, to put it, bluntly, clones, created for the express purpose of providing organ donations. They will grow into young adulthood, and most will spend some time, as Kathy is doing, as a carer&#8212a support person for donors&#8212her fellow students who have been called, to donate, one by one, vital organs. Usually, after the fourth donation, a student will complete&#8212that is, die. And eventually, the carer will become a donor, as well. Despite what the bare bones of the plot might lead you to believe, Never Let Me Go is not a science-fiction tale. The process that defines these young people's lives is never directly described or shown, and aspects of it remain shrouded in mystery throughout the book. The reason for that, of course, is that Ishiguro's real subject is not the process, but the people&#8212the victims, you might say, of the most utilitarian evil, made all the more horrific because it is presented from the unquestioning point of view of a rather ordinary young woman. The novel is suffused with a sadness that is almost unbearable at times. The young people are either engineered or rendered surgically sterile, and are told from early on that they can't have babies, that sex is fine, but they must be careful to understand that others do not see sex the same way they do. As a young girl, Kathy finds a tape of a song with a refrain of "...never let me go, baby, baby.." and she imagines it is about a woman who's been told she can't have a baby, but finally does. The students engage in fantasies about their "possibles"&#8212the parents from whom they were cloned. They discuss their futures&#8212not donation, but rather, futures that exist only in their imaginations, seem banal to us, but are terribly exciting to them: working in a proper office, driving a truck. Never Let Me Go is partly a meditation on what it means to be human. It moves us to think of our own limits, of what we are desperately seeking, as we ponder our own pasts and plan our own futures, up against the sureness of death. But there is more, of course. It's not just about being human, but about using human beings. Created to be harvested, nurtured to unquestioningly submit, taught, in fact, to be grateful for their great good fortune, Kathy and her friends are wistful, yearning putty in the hands of their creators, with only a bit of imagination separating them from the very real cloned embryos eagerly nurtured, at this moment, in laboratories in South Korea and, ironically, England. Why not? many ask, enthused at the prospect of progress. Why not? Is the question Kazuo Ishiguro answers, ever so indirectly, in this quietly moving novel that reveals the harsh limits of life for those we would seek to use to dissolve the limits of our own. Edited: PC Sci/Tech33106@blogcritics.org Mon, 25 Jul 2005 15:34:53 EDT