Post/Humanity and the Interstitial: A Glorification of Possibility in Gibson's Bridge Sequence.
William Gibson's "All Tomorrow's Parties" (1999), a novel completing the Bridge sequence that includes "Virtual Light" (1993) and "Idoru" (1996), provides the opportunity to break a pervasive silence by critically engaging Gibson's post-"Neuromancer" fiction. This essay demonstrates that Gibson's co...
| Publicado en: | Science Fiction Studies Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 72 - 91 |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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University of California Press
Mar2003
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=9253791&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 9253791 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00917729 SFS jtl: Science Fiction Studies issn: 00917729 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2003 vid: 30 iid: 1 pid: 414 pub: University of California Press artinfo: ui: 9253791 10.1525/sfs.30.1.0072 ppf: 72 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 15.9MB tig: atl: Post/Humanity and the Interstitial: A Glorification of Possibility in Gibson's Bridge Sequence. aug: au: Murphy, Graham su: Gibson, William, 1948- All Tomorrow's Parties (Book) Mass media Literary style sug: subj: Gibson, William, 1948- All Tomorrow's Parties (Book) Mass media Literary style ab: William Gibson's "All Tomorrow's Parties" (1999), a novel completing the Bridge sequence that includes "Virtual Light" (1993) and "Idoru" (1996), provides the opportunity to break a pervasive silence by critically engaging Gibson's post-"Neuromancer" fiction. This essay demonstrates that Gibson's complex Bridge sequence explores such notions as simulation, virtuality, presence, and pattern, tracking their impact upon the ongoing emergence of the post/human. Contrasts between the digital celebrity of Rei Toei and such corporate icons as "Slitscan," rock-star Rez, mogul Cody Harwood, and contemporary digital celebrities Kyoko Date and Lara Croft establish and define the dichotomies of presence/pattern and simulation/virtuality that are foundational to Gibson's work. Through such terminologies, Gibson charts the evolution of the digital figure into the post/human, a growth from simulation to virtuality that simultaneously disrupts the presence/pattern dialectic. The corporeal emergence of Rei Toei that concludes "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a post/human figuration of information theory, the complexity of the digital pattern enwrapped in the presence of analogue flesh. Enabling this post/human emergence, however, is the importance Gibson places upon the digital Walled City of "Idoru" and the San Francisco Bay Bridge of "Virtual Light" and "All Tomorrow's Parties." These interstitial locales are further embodiments of information theory whereby the randomness and complexity of Toei's post/humanity is projected on a larger communal scale. At the same time, Gibson wages a conflict between the molecular (Walled City; the Bridge) and the molar (multinational corporations; DatAmerica), the independence of the former struggling against the homogeneity of the latter. As a whole, Gibson's recent sequence positions the molecular as central to ushering in new potentialities, manifest as the post/human emergence of Toei and/or the foundation of autonomous communities. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Science Fiction Studies is the property of University of California Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Science Fiction Studies holder: University of California Press dt: @attributes: year: 2003 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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