가즈오 이시구로의 『클라라와 태양』에 나타난 프로그래밍된 사회적 휴머노이드가 부상하는 시대 속 상호적 관계성 = Reciprocal Relationality in the Emerging Age of Programmed Social Humanoids in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article examines how Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (2021) reconfigures human subjectivity in an era increasingly shaped by social humanoids and artificial intelligence. Departing from essentialist notions of interiority, the novel relocates the question of the human condition from ontological essence toward reciprocal relationality. While Ishiguro’s first-person narration encourages readers to attribute sentient agency to Klara, the novel simultaneously insists on her status as a programmed social humanoid whose interactions with human characters are structurally non-reciprocal. Drawing on posthuman theory and human–robot interaction (HRI) studies, this article argues that Klara and the Sun foregrounds reciprocity as the decisive threshold distinguishing relational simulation from genuine relational participation. Although Klara consistently extends care and attentiveness toward others, she fails to participate in relationships characterized by mutual recognition and vulnerability. Her relationality is thus asymmetrical, paradoxically reinscribing her within a functionalist logic. By staging this structural asymmetry at the core of human-robot interaction, Klara and the Sun not only interrogates the shifting boundaries between humans and nonhumans but also offers a critical reflection on how emerging social humanoids may reshape the foundations of relational life itself.