Technological artificiality as a model of “screenification” of reality in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Klara and the Sun”

Abstract

The article explores the phenomenon of technological artificiality as a model of transformation (“screenification”) of reality in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Klara and the Sun”. The aim of the research is to establish how artificial intelligence in the work forms a special, “screenified” perception of reality and affects reader empathy. The research is original in that it is the first one to reveal the specificity of the algorithmic consciousness of Ishiguro’s character as a mechanism that generates the effect of “unstable” empathy in the reader. The research findings showed that the technological environment not only models reality but actively changes the perception of the world and human feelings, blurring the boundaries between natural and simulated emotionality. It was found that in the novel, the perception of reality through the “camera-like gaze” of the artificial heroine transforms the reader’s sense of the truthfulness of emotions. Such a “screenified” representation of reality evokes an effect of defamiliarization, prompting the reader to rethink familiar ideas about the authenticity of emotional experience and the genuineness of human relationships. In the novel, the heroine’s empathy is not a natural feeling but the result of a program algorithm, which raises the question of the authenticity of the emotional response evoked by an artificial subject.

Research materials

1. Исигуро К. Клара и Солнце / пер. с англ. Л. Мотылева. М.: Inspiria, 2021.
2. Юзефович Г. «Клара и Солнце» – камерная и чистая сказка нобелевского лауреата Кадзуо Исигуро // Meduza. 2021. https://meduza.io/feature/2021/04/17/klara-i-solntse-kamernaya-i-chistaya-skazka-nobelevskogo-laureata-kadzuo-isiguro
3. Gates B. A thought-provoking tale of friendship and robots // GatesNotes. 2021. gatesnotes.com/work/science-fiction/reader/klara-and-the-sun#:~:text=One of the most striking,she may seem at times

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: June 23, 2025.
• Published: July 24, 2025.

Keywords

• технологическая искусственность
• роман «Клара и Солнце»
• К. Исигуро
• экранизированное восприятие действительности
• читательская эмпатия
• technological artificiality
• novel “Klara and the Sun”
• K. Ishiguro
• screenified perception of reality
• reader empathy

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