Biopolitics in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let me Go

The concept of “biopolitics” combines biological life and politics, interpreting human life within an ordered community. A combination of Foucauldian biopower, theories of genetic engineering and genetic modification leads to a pessimistic view of society. In Never Let Me Go Ishiguro shows the effects of genetic engineering on human beings. The subordination of the individual and the utilitarian transformation of bodies suggest the distortion of human nature by science. Ishiguro's description of a world of power and manipulation and his querying of the legitimacy of gene engineering critique science’s treatment of the human body as an object in a society that creates “serial beings.” Within the theoretical context of Foucault and Baudrillard, the aim of this chapter is to reflect on the misuse of science in Never Let Me Go and consider how the novel explores the subjection of human life to “mechanisms of power” that devalue it.