The narrative structure of Kazuo Ishiguro’s never let me go

The article illustrates how the idea of the absence of the strict border between human and nonhuman is expressed in the narrative structure of the novel. The tragic essence of Never Let Me Go is generated by the contrast between the human nature of the main characters (clones born to donate their organs) and the inhumanity of their destiny. The central «voice» of the narration belongs to the woman who is officially considered non-human, soulless biological material. This opposition reveals at the genre structure of the novel that combines characteristics of Bildungsroman, distopian novel and memoir-novel. In Never Let Me Go the elements of memoir-novel and Bildungsroman focusing on the development of a person are connected with the inner space of the narrator 's memory. But characters' maturation as individuals seems to be crossed out in the outer space of the society constructed as dystopian. In the narrative structure of the novel the elements of Bildungsroman contradict with those of distopian novel. Breaking the boundaries of novelistic genres and creating genre amalgamation Kazuo Ishiguro strengthens the dramatic tension of Never Let Me Go.