2017年摘下諾貝爾文學桂冠後最新創作
在擁有強大情感力量的小說中,揭露人與世界連結的幻覺底下的深淵。
――諾貝爾文學獎授獎詞
這是一部關於人心的小說,從他方而來,對此時此地的你我切切低語。
真實與奇幻交錯的世界,終究掙脫不了人性的枷鎖。――石黑一雄
人的心,就像是一棟有許多房間的屋子。
我會走遍每個房間,一間間探究,直到它們變成我自己的房間。
克拉拉是最尖端的人工智慧,具敏銳知覺與情感,她的任務是作為孩子的良師益友。她存在的理由,是盡心盡命地陪伴與愛人。
克拉拉對萬千世界充滿好奇,不論是前一刻嘻笑走向櫥窗、下一刻卻臉露哀傷的孩子,還是街角向人乞討的遊民,甚至是奔跑過街急著擁抱彼此的戀人們……她亟欲理解人的喜怒哀樂和離合悲歡。
一天,一個女孩走向坐在窗前的她,她感應到對方告訴她:「有天,我要帶妳回家。」兩人之間的心電交流,像是許下了承諾。但她等了又等,那個女孩都沒再出現。克拉拉慢慢被安排至看不到外面世界的角落,就在某一天,那個女孩又出現了…… 克拉拉與人類家庭的故事隨之展開。然而,人心的種種執念與反覆無常,生命的轉瞬榮枯,是一條暗潮洶湧、在繼續與放手之間拉扯的旅程。
當陪伴是一場精心安排的魔鬼交易,當智能進展引來無情的反挫,克拉拉被賦予如太陽般恆久的希望與愛,是否恰恰凸顯人的冷酷善變?
※本書中文版《克拉拉與太陽》由商周出版。
Klara and the Sun is a magnificent new novel from the Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro--author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day.
Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her.
Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
In its award citation in 2017, the Nobel committee described Ishiguro's books as "novels of great emotional force" and said he has "uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world."