Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go takes place in an alternative "England, late 1990s". While some elements of setting are richly imagined, there is little connection to the places and events of the "real world." This timeline invites us to explore historical events that might have informed Ishiguro's writing or our interpretation of Never Let Me Go.In 1942, French-Algerian philosopher and writer Albert Camus published The Myth of Sisyphus, a landmark essay that helped ignite the existentialist movement. The work grapples with the absurdity of human life and asks whether, in a meaningless world, we should even bother continuing to live. Camus concludes that the struggle to live with meaning, even without clear answers, is what gives life dignity. His ideas became central to 20th century existentialism, influencing literature, art, and ethics for decades. I have been working closely and familiarizing myself with this concept for another project, and I think the reflection of how individuals must act and create meaning in a universe that gives them none is perfectly cotangent with Never Let Me Go. The clones’ quiet acceptance of their fate echoes Camus’s idea of the absurd: they know death is inevitable, and yet they still form relationships, remember joy, and try to love. Kathy’s reflections closely mirror an existential debate that life can be meaningful even without freedom or escape. While reading a little about what influences Ishiguro’s work, I noticed that he often writes about memory, and people living within quiet, heartbreaking realizations. It's an unfortunate perspective, but it blends naturally with existentialist ideas, making Never Let Me Go feel less like a dystopia and more like a meditation on what it means to live meaningfully, even when the ending is already written. This interpretation helps readers shift focus away from the science-fiction elements of the novel and instead see it as a deeply human story about navigating their mere existence with quiet dignity. A story of endurance.
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. 1942.
plato.stanford.edu/archIves/sp…
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