Gibson’s fiction both embraces the potential of technology for undermining traditional categories and, at the same time, encodes a nostalgic longing for the stable identities produced by these very categories. This study will show how William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy blends high-tech and myth in order to articulate an oxymoronic tension between possessed and possessive individualism. This oxymoronic tension is expressed through Gibson's literary production of two particular technologies: the cyborg and the net. This study will interrogate these two literary constructs in Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy in order to show how they impinge on ideas of signification, subjectivity, and identity.
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 TECHNOLOGICAL MYTHS AND MYTHICAL TECHNOLOGIES
1.2 MYTHS OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL SUBJECT: THE CYBORG AND THE NET
2. VIRTUAL REALITIES AND MYTHS OF THE HUMAN SUBJECT
2.1 POSSESSED INDIVIDUALS AND POSSESSIVE TECHNOLOGIES
2.2 THREE FACETS OF ONE NET: HOLOGRAPHY, SIMSTIM, AND THE MATRIX
3. CYBORGS AS POSSESSED OR POSSESSIVE INDIVIDUALS?
4. CONCLUSION
Research Objectives and Themes
This dissertation examines the intersection of technology and mythology in William Gibson’s "Sprawl Trilogy." It investigates how the literary construction of the cyborg and the matrix creates an oxymoronic tension between "possessed" and "possessive" individualism, reflecting a postmodern struggle between the loss of stable identity and the nostalgic desire for it.
- The role of the cyborg as a site of corporeal and technological fusion.
- The function of the matrix as a virtualized symbolic order that maps human subjectivity.
- The dialectical relationship between human agency and autonomous technological systems.
- The critique of postmodern hyperreality through the lens of Lacanian and Baudrillardian theory.
- The exploration of genre hybridity, blending science fiction with Gothic horror and detective narratives.
Excerpt from the Book
Three Facets of one Net: Holography, Simstim, and the Matrix
What these three technologies seem to share is that in representing different aspects of virtual reality they all partake of the figure of the net. Moreover, the fictional landscape comprised of these technologies constitutes the ‘backdrop’ (to the extent that a background/foreground distinction still holds in a world where narratives, objects, and bodys are all part of one nexus) against which the tension between the possessed and the possessive individual is enacted.
Holography creates powerful visual hallucinations that blend the imaginary and the symbolic. Gibson’s narratives show various applications of holography, for instance Bobby Newmark’s “holoporn unit” in Count Zero:
His holoporn unit lit as he stepped in, half a dozen girls seemed to be standing beyond the walls of the room in hazy vistas of powder blue space, their white smiles and taut young bodies bright as neon. Two of them edged forward and began to touch themselves. [...] You could talk to them and get them do things with themselves and each other. Bobby remembered being thirteen and in love with Brandi, the one with the blue rubber pants. Now he valued the projections mainly for the illusion of space they could provide in his makeshift bedroom (Gibson 1995b:47-48).
The “illusion of space” provided by Bobby’s holographic unit is perhaps indicative of a longing for actual space in a world that is overcrowded and where open spaces only exist in a digitized virtual form – especially for Bobby who lives with his mother in a tiny condo in Barrytown, one of the BAMA (Boston-Atlanta-Metropolitan Axis) housing estates (Gibson 1995b:31-33).
Summary of Chapters
INTRODUCTION: This chapter establishes the theoretical framework, utilizing Lacan and Baudrillard to analyze how Gibson’s fiction blurs the distinctions between technology and mythology.
VIRTUAL REALITIES AND MYTHS OF THE HUMAN SUBJECT: This section explores how Cartesian influences and the concept of the "possessed individual" are manifest in virtual environments like simstim and the matrix.
CYBORGS AS POSSESSED OR POSSESSIVE INDIVIDUALS?: The final chapter investigates the body as a commodity and the hybrid nature of the cyborg as both a subversion of and a submission to technological power structures.
CONCLUSION: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, arguing that Gibson’s narrative structure embodies an unresolved oxymoronic tension between the rational genre of science fiction and the irrationality of horror.
Keywords
William Gibson, Sprawl Trilogy, Cyberpunk, Cyborg, Matrix, Virtual Reality, Subjectivity, Possessed Individualism, Possessive Individualism, Lacan, Baudrillard, Technology, Mythology, Simulacra, Posthumanism
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this dissertation?
The work explores how William Gibson’s novels articulate the tension between human identity and technological encroachment by analyzing the figures of the cyborg and the matrix.
Which central thematic concepts are discussed?
The dissertation centers on the opposition between "possessed" and "possessive" individualism, highlighting the conflict between autonomous human agency and control by technological and corporate forces.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to demonstrate how Gibson uses the literary construction of high-tech myths to navigate the shift from modern to postmodern subjectivity.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses critical literary theory, specifically incorporating psychoanalytic readings (Slavoj Žižek) and postmodern cultural critiques (Jean Baudrillard) to interpret literary texts.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The main body treats specific technologies—holography, simstim, and the matrix—as narrative tools that reconfigure the human body and consciousness within the symbolic order.
How would you characterize the work’s keywords?
The keywords reflect a blend of literary analysis, technological discourse, and psychoanalytic terminology, emphasizing the intersection of "cyberspace," "the posthuman," and "mythology."
How does the author define the "possessed individual"?
The "possessed individual" is defined as a person who has lost agency to technological systems and the symbolic order, contrasting with the "possessive individual" who maintains a sense of mastery.
How does Gibson’s use of the "pov" (point of view) function as a technology?
The "pov" is analyzed as a narrative technology that detaches the observer from the body, transforming human consciousness into a temporal entity within an interactive datascape.
Why are AIs in the Sprawl Trilogy described as "mythical"?
Artificial Intelligences in the trilogy act as god-like figures that operate beyond human understanding, tapping into ancient fears of demons and entities that exert power over their creators.
- Quote paper
- M.A. Markus Kienscherf (Author), 2004, Myth, Technology, and the (Post)Human Subject in William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/47020
