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The Cultural Influences of William Gibson, the Father of Cyberpunk Science Fiction.
| Author: | Yoke, Carl B. and Carol L. Robinson | |
| Year: | 2007 | |
| Pages: | 356 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-5467-5 978-0-7734-5467-5 | |
| Price: | $239.95 | |
William Gibson (b 1948), since the publication of his first, award-winning novel, Neuromancer (1984), has been celebrated as a breath of fresh air in the realm of science fiction. This anthology of essays is an attempt to analyze Gibsons literary technique, his sustained critique of emerging technologies, and the nature of how fiction writing in general is continually categorized and canonized in the Postmodern Age.
Reviews
“Gibson has deserved this kind of concentrated attention for some time, and readers of The Cultural Influences of William Gibson will come away with a better understanding of how he has helped shape the concerns and style of modern science fiction.” - Dr. Joe Sanders, Professor Emeritus of English, Lakeland Community College
“Overall, this collection forcibly argues that Gibson’s work is focused, not on the dystopian futures that are frequently its settings, but on the anxieties and neuroses of the present - often represented through these fictitious futures as being the products of a society that has no real values and, more specifically, of the dehumanization that may result not only from a generally sick society but also from our individual and collective relationships to emerging technologies that are also very much with us already; thus, Gibson’s fiction is presented here as being both cautionary and ironically conservative.” - Dr. Donald Palumbo, Professor of English, East Carolina University
“Overall, this collection forcibly argues that Gibson’s work is focused, not on the dystopian futures that are frequently its settings, but on the anxieties and neuroses of the present - often represented through these fictitious futures as being the products of a society that has no real values and, more specifically, of the dehumanization that may result not only from a generally sick society but also from our individual and collective relationships to emerging technologies that are also very much with us already; thus, Gibson’s fiction is presented here as being both cautionary and ironically conservative.” - Dr. Donald Palumbo, Professor of English, East Carolina University
Table of Contents
Preface: The Magical Wardrobe - Carl B. Yoke
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Map for This Territory - Carol L. Robinson
1 Virtual Poltergeists and Memory: The Question of Ahistoricism in William Gibson’s Necromancer - Amy Novak
2 William Gibson on the Knife-Edge of a Specious Moment - Donald Morse
3 Improbable Impossibilities: The Difference Engine in Historical, Bureaucratic, and Mathematical Contexts - Scott P. Randby
4 The Brain Is a Video Game: Communication Concepts and Gibson’s Mad, Bad Video Game World - Carol L. Robinson
5 Fogging “Johnny Mnemonic” - Carl B. Yoke
6 The Splinter in William Gibson’s Mind: How the Wachowski Brothers Re-envisioned “Johnny Mnemonic” - James Canacci
7 The Body as Data in an Information Economy: Multiple Levels of Discourse in “Johnny Mnemonic” - Joe Dudley
8 William Gibson’s Virtual Light: The Conversational Construction of Chevette Washington - Amy Eoff
9 “Disability” as Insight: The Body as Default Application in William Gibson’s Idoru - Jennifer L. Nelson
10 Hollow Voices, Haunted Spaces, and the Birth of the Rock Star Bride: Reassessing the Role of the Body in William Gibson’s Cyberpunk Fiction - Lisa Swanstrom
11 Cyber Babes and Byte Dudes: Neomedieval and Postmodern Matrices for the Environment and Body as Fluid Media for Sexual and Gender Identity - Carol L. Robinson
12 Straylight: William Gibson’s Gothic Mansion - William A. Senior
13 Postmodern Neoprimitivism: Anthropological Text as Horror Vacui in Count Zero - Don Riggs
14 The Antiheroes of Gibson’s “Sprawl” Stories - Carl B. Yoke
15 Fragments of a Hologram Rose for Emily: William Gibson, Southern Writer - F. Brett Cox
16 Boys Gone Wild: Necromancer as a Book of the Dead - Joseph A. Nazare
William Gibson’s Works to Date
Selected Bibliography
Selected Internet Sources
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Map for This Territory - Carol L. Robinson
1 Virtual Poltergeists and Memory: The Question of Ahistoricism in William Gibson’s Necromancer - Amy Novak
2 William Gibson on the Knife-Edge of a Specious Moment - Donald Morse
3 Improbable Impossibilities: The Difference Engine in Historical, Bureaucratic, and Mathematical Contexts - Scott P. Randby
4 The Brain Is a Video Game: Communication Concepts and Gibson’s Mad, Bad Video Game World - Carol L. Robinson
5 Fogging “Johnny Mnemonic” - Carl B. Yoke
6 The Splinter in William Gibson’s Mind: How the Wachowski Brothers Re-envisioned “Johnny Mnemonic” - James Canacci
7 The Body as Data in an Information Economy: Multiple Levels of Discourse in “Johnny Mnemonic” - Joe Dudley
8 William Gibson’s Virtual Light: The Conversational Construction of Chevette Washington - Amy Eoff
9 “Disability” as Insight: The Body as Default Application in William Gibson’s Idoru - Jennifer L. Nelson
10 Hollow Voices, Haunted Spaces, and the Birth of the Rock Star Bride: Reassessing the Role of the Body in William Gibson’s Cyberpunk Fiction - Lisa Swanstrom
11 Cyber Babes and Byte Dudes: Neomedieval and Postmodern Matrices for the Environment and Body as Fluid Media for Sexual and Gender Identity - Carol L. Robinson
12 Straylight: William Gibson’s Gothic Mansion - William A. Senior
13 Postmodern Neoprimitivism: Anthropological Text as Horror Vacui in Count Zero - Don Riggs
14 The Antiheroes of Gibson’s “Sprawl” Stories - Carl B. Yoke
15 Fragments of a Hologram Rose for Emily: William Gibson, Southern Writer - F. Brett Cox
16 Boys Gone Wild: Necromancer as a Book of the Dead - Joseph A. Nazare
William Gibson’s Works to Date
Selected Bibliography
Selected Internet Sources
Index