Oracles of the Internet: Gibson, Stephenson, and the Elevation of Cyberpunk Literature

Bryce Nolan

doi:10.21061/vtuhr.v9i0.1

Abstract

The world of science fiction, from its inception in the early 1920s, had always been something of an embarrassment to the established literary community. Traditional literary elites regarded it as a genre of cheap hacks and overused clichés. Not until the publication of such works as <em>Neuromancer</em> by William Gibson and <em>Snow Crash</em> by Neal Stephenson did critics and the public at large begin looking more favorably at the world of science fiction. This change occurred due to the literary and futuristic ambitions of the aforementioned authors. The common themes and aesthetic of their work pioneered a new subgenre that would come to be called “Cyberpunk.” Reviewers and other writers began to accept, celebrate, and analyze these authors and their works. Newspapers identified the influence of these works and their authors in both the arts, particularly film, and society at large in the form of the nascent internet. This was the first instance of science fiction being treated as anything other than a novelty by the general public, bringing science fiction to the forefront of literary fiction and cementing it as a worthy branch of literature. Therefore, it can be said that newspapers were instrumental in establishing this newfound acclaim. Furthermore, the works of these two authors were responsible for integrating science fiction into the modern literary canon.

Highlights

Reviewers and other writers began to accept, celebrate, and analyze these authors and their works
While it is fair to say that the earliest writings of science fiction were by no means high quality literature, not until the 1980s did the genre come to the forefront of the public consciousness. This decades-long phase of genre obscurity was the result of a tacit understanding among the general readership that, for all its good traits, science fiction writing was generally poor and its writers were hardly professional stylists. Publishers such as Hugo Gernsback bore the brunt of this critique
The stigma followed science fiction all the way to the publication of the novels of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, who were two of the first science fiction authors recognized as literary talents beyond the world of science fiction itself

Summary

Introduction

Reviewers and other writers began to accept, celebrate, and analyze these authors and their works. Not until the publication of such works as Neuromancer by William Gibson and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson did critics and the public at large begin looking more favorably at the world of science fiction.

Results

Conclusion