Virtual Geographies

Cyberpunk at the Intersection of the Postmodern and Science Fiction
Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-90-420-0986-8
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 34, 257 Seiten, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 517 g

Reihe: Postmodern Studies

Virtual Geographies is the first detailed study to offer a working definition of cyberpunk within the postmodern force field. Cyberpunk emerges as a new generic cluster within science fiction, one that has spawned many offspring in such domains as film, music, and feminism. Its central features are its adherence to a version of virtual space and a deconstructivist, punk attitude towards (high) culture, modernity, the human body and technology, from computers to prosthetics.

The main proponents of cyberpunk are analyzed in depth along with the virtual landscapes they have created - William Gibson’s Cyberspace, Pat Cadigan’s Mindscapes and Neal Stephenson’s Metaverse. Virtual reality is examined closely in all its aspects, from the characteristic narrative constructions employed to the esthetic implications of the ‘virtual sublime’ and its postmodern potential as a discursive mode.

With its interdisciplinary approach Virtual Geographies opens up fresh perspectives for scholars interested in the interaction between popular culture and mainstream literature. At the same time, the science fiction fan will be taken beyond the conventional boundaries of the genre into such revitalizing domains as postmodern architecture and literature, and into cutting-edge aspects of science and social thought.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Heuser, Sabine

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Medien & Gesellschaft, Medienwirkungsforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
New Final Frontiers: Problems and Aims
The Story So Far
Methodology: Metaphoric Networking
PART I: CONSTRUCTION SITES
1 Introducing Cyberpunk
2 Learning from Architecture
3 Culture Wars: The Postmodem and Popular Culture
PART II: CYBERSPACE: THE NEW FRONTIER
4 William Gibson's Construction of Cyberspace

Über Autor(innen)

Sabine Heuser teaches English and Cultural Studies at Philipps University, Marburg, Germany. She received a BA Hons. in English Literature and Visual Studies from Oxford Polytechnic, England; an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto, Canada; and a doctorate from Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.