Artificial Friends News Today

Annalisa Quinn is a contributing writer, reporter, and literary critic for NPR. She created NPR's Book News column and covers literature and culture for NPR.

The novels in the run in for this year’s literary prize meditate on how people grapple with the past

Share Looking for a good book or two to round out your bookshelf this summer? We asked the University’s deans to share titles they were digging into this summer, and they did not disappoint. Shop Amazon, the Campus Store or your favorite local bookseller for these reads, or better yet check them out from your local library! “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America” by John Lewis “The late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis continues to inspire...

Why the prospect of loving machines is so sad

Updated: May 07, 2021 12:10 IST In this centenary year of the invention of the term ‘robot,’ Kazuo Ishiguro presents in his latest novel an Artificial Friend, created to provide companionship to a possible race of forsaken humans Share Article AAA In this centenary year of the invention of the term ‘robot,’ Kazuo Ishiguro presents in his latest novel an Artificial Friend, created to provide companionship to a possible race of forsaken humans A 100 years ago, a play debuted at the Nation...

(iStock) When I was a senior in high school, I decided on a whim to pick up Kazuo Ishiguro’s science fiction masterpiece Never Let Me Go. At the time, I had no idea what utter misery was waiting for me in Kathy, Tommy and Ruth’s boarding school adventures—nor could I have predicted the many months Never Let Me Go would spend in my mind after I finished reading it. Knopf, 320p $28 That first encounter with Ishiguro’s writing cemented his place as one of my favorite authors. Now I find ...

Why does his new novel serve up its big questions so explicitly?

In his latest novel, an Artificial Friend named Klara is a robot powered by AI. She's there to provide companionship to a child, if someone buys her — and she becomes a character of both naivete and piercing insight.

Rating: About halfway through Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel, which is set in the near future, I happened to tune in to the radio news. ‘People will soon be allowed to meet one other person outside,’ announced the newscaster. Had I heard such a thing 12 months ago, I would have automatically assumed I was listening to a bit of science fiction. But nowadays the world of science fiction seems commonplace, perhaps even slightly old-fashioned. Klara’s language is flat, basic, pedantic and ever...

Kazuo Ishiguro, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist whose works include The Remains Of The Day and Never Let Me Go, could be talking about a number of his characters, but in this case hes describing the main character in his new novel Klara And The Sun. Klara, the books first-person narrator, is not actually a person but an AF - an Artificial Friend, for sale in a shop window in a not-too-distant future society. She sits, hoping for sunlight and for a child to catch her eye and, maybe, take her...