Boundaries in cyberpunk fiction : William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix, and Neal Stephenson's Snow crash

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Cyberpunk literature explores the effects that developments in technology will have onthe lives of individuals in the future. Technology is seen as having the potential to be ofbenefit to society, but it is also seen as a dangerous tool that can be used to severely limithumanity's freedom. Most of the characters in the texts I examine wish to perpetuate theboundaries that contain them in a desperate search for stability. Only a few individualsmanage to move beyond the boundaries created by multinational corporations that usetechnology, drugs or religion for their own benefit.This thesis will provide a definition of cyberpunk and explore its development fromscience fiction and postmodern writing. The influence of postmodern thinking oncyberpunk literature can be seen in its move from stability to fluidity, and in its insistenceon the impossibility of creating fixed boundaries. Cyberpunk does not see the future ofhumanity as stable, and argues that it will be necessary for humanity to move beyond theboundaries that contain it. The novels I discuss present different views concerning thenature of humanity's merging with technology. One view is that humanity is movingtowards a posthuman future, while some argue that humanity is not discarded, but thatthese characters have merely evolved to the next step in the natural development ofhumankind. Both these views deal with constant change, a notion advocated by bothpostmodernism and cyberpunk.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University