An Intellectual History of Cyberpunk Criticism

The Future Virtual: An Intellectual History of Cyberpunk Criticism. Simon Ayling, BA (Hons), University of Western Australia. This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia. Submitted through the School of Humanities, Discipline of History, in 2012. Abstract This dissertation is an intellectual history of cyberpunk criticism. Looking through the lens of the history of ideas, it examines cyberpunk critique for academic trends, and for critical successes and absences. In the course of its analysis, this dissertation examines key themes in the genre criticism. These include the influence of posthumanist philosophy on cyberpunk criticism; the idea of the posthuman and its place in the critical literature; the key role of feminist criticism in the formation of the cyberpunk critical discourse; interpretations of spaces in the cyberpunk genre; and, lastly, the role of history and the idea of historicity in cyberpunk fiction and critique. It finds that the majority of cyberpunk critics analyse the genre using the critical tools provided by postmodernism. It also observes that the philosophical leanings of the cyberpunk critical discourse tend to be overwhelmingly posthumanist. While it acknowledges the significant and intellectually important criticism provided by the discourse constructed upon these twin pillars, it concludes that the lack of consideration of alternative critical resources, particularly those which could have been provided by humanism, has created lacunae within the genre discourse. Ultimately, it finds that, although a lively community of criticism has grown up around cyberpunk, it is a critical community which is marked as much by its silences as its vigorous discussions. Table of Contents 1. Introduction. pp. 1-37. 2. ‘Posthumanism With a Vengeance’: Cyberpunk and Posthumanism. pp. 38-84. 3. ‘But it Ain’t No Way Human’: Cyberpunk and Theories of the Posthuman. pp. 85-127. 4. The ‘Other’ Spaces of Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk and Spatiality. pp. 128-161. 5. Women, Men and Machines: Feminist Cyberpunk Criticism. pp. 162-202. 6. A Future Without a Past: Cyberpunk and History. pp. 203-247. 7. Conclusion. pp. 248-254. i Preface This project began through a serendipitous coincidence. Had I not been reading a certain novel, on a particular day, in a specific place, it would never have come to be. That being said, the germ of the idea for this thesis quickly took hold in my consciousness. It has allowed me to combine my academic passions in a single space. I have loved science fiction literature since I was a child, and cyberpunk has held a fascination for me since I first read Gibson’s Neuromancer. I wrote a joint Honours degree in History and Philosophy, and this project has allowed me to continue an involvement in both disciplines. Indeed, without my undergraduate training in philosophy I suspect much of the literature which has formed the basis for this study would have been very difficult for me to comprehend. Similarly, the understanding granted by training in History of Ideas has been a key part of this dissertation. The combination of both philosophical and historical understandings has allowed me to pursue the key themes of cyberpunk critique to places which I could not have imagined six years ago, when my study began. A question which may be asked is ‘Why cyberpunk? What is it that makes cyberpunk an attractive prospect for one to write about, both as a critic and as an intellectual historian?’ I have several answers to this question, and they provide different inspirations for me to write about cyberpunk, and about cyberpunk criticism. Firstly, I enjoy reading cyberpunk. I first read Gibson’s Neuromancer at 16, when a friend lent me his copy. I bought my own copy part way through my reading, because I knew I was going to want to read it again and ii again. Secondly, cyberpunk is thematically strong. At its best, cyberpunk raises deep philosophical questions in ethics, ontology and epistemology. Analysing cyberpunk, and the critical literature which has been written about it, enables me to explore these themes, whilst retaining the connection to the literature which I enjoy. Lastly, and importantly for me as a historian, cyberpunk is strongly temporally determined. It is literature which is indicative of a certain cultural moment, one which has always fascinated me. The political, economic and intellectual milieu of the cyberpunk oeuvre is a time of change and, to some degree, crisis. Cyberpunk is the literature of that crisis, and allows us a vision of the time which is both enthralling and apposite. Similarly, the critical literature written about cyberpunk allows a continuing view of the ways in which scholars have read that vision of crisis, allowing a survey of critical thought across time. Teasing out the threads of our time's intellectual dynamic is a project which I find enthralling, and the opportunity to pursue this enterprise with cyberpunk criticism was one which I could not pass up. It will rapidly become obvious to anyone reading this thesis that, despite my passion for cyberpunk, and indeed my great respect for the critical discourse which has grown up about it, I have certain intellectual filiations which, at times, elicit my concerns. It has become a standard part of historical practice to confess to one’s biases prior to the commencement of a study, and this is no bad thing. We can no longer pretend (if indeed ‘we’, meaning historians, ever really did pretend) to pursue a purely ‘objective’ history. History is an interpretive process, and of course the personality, passion and biases of the interpreter will come iii through in the work. The majority of the cyberpunk critical discourse is conducted by academics who would identify as postmodernist and/or posthumanist; I, on the other hand, am both a modernist and a humanist. Since I first read Habermas, I have been convinced by his argument that the project of Enlightenment that is modernity is incomplete; I am to some degree sustained in my intellectual pursuits by the idea that it may be completed. Perhaps this is simply a product of my own subject position; I am, after all, a well educated, white, middle-class male. However, my belief in modernity is a belief not that I particularly deserved the privileges which have come to me, but that everyone does, and that the project of the Enlightenment, ultimately, is about the extension of opportunity to all. This is why I find the future imagined in cyberpunk both compelling and disturbing; it is at once an entirely plausible extrapolation from our present circumstances, and a future which I find truly terrifying. In contemporary historical theory, it is taken as a given that we all have intellectual affiliations which inflect our work. With that in mind, it is perhaps best to outline, in brief, the philosophical and political underpinnings of this dissertation. I am both a Marxist and a humanist, and as will become obvious as the argument progresses, a commitment to these systems of thought provides a guide for both the historical and the critical components of this thesis. However (and despite the occasionally combative tone of my dissertation) I do not believe that a commitment to humanist ideals precludes a meaningful dialogue with posthumanists, nor that a commitment to Marxism implies a dismissal of Marxism’s political alternatives. On the contrary, Marxism and humanism remain vital by absorbing critiques and recognising the need for change. I hope iv that my genuine desire to participate in that process is obvious throughout this thesis. I imagine there are always many accrued debts in the construction of a doctoral dissertation. Certainly I would have been unable to complete, or even begin, my project without the assistance of the people and institutions outlined below. The University of Western Australia provided me with first a Postgraduate Award scholarship, and then in the concluding stages of the project with a completion grant. To my supervisors, Doctor Chantal Bourgault de Coudray and Associate Professor Rob Stuart, I owe an immense debt. Doctor Bourgault provided key criticisms early in the project, and Professor Stuart has been a source of criticism, encouragement and mentoring throughout its duration. He has read each and every draft of my work with a keen eye, and if this dissertation is cogent and concise, then much of the credit for that must go to his careful editing. Of course, any errors, omissions and infelicities in the text remain entirely my own. Lastly, without the support offered by my friends and particularly my parents, this dissertation would never have seen the light of day. 1 The Future Virtual: Cyberpunk, Postmodernism and Critique. Chapter One: Introduction. This thesis will examine the ways in which cyberpunk science fiction, scholarly critiques written about it, philosophy (particularly postmodern philosophy) and culture intertwine and affect each other. It will argue that, through the lens of genre critique, the social and intellectual trends of the time, both the times of the primary works and of the critical texts, can be observed and analysed. Cyberpunk is a primary site for study of the culture of the 1980s.1 Frederic Jameson has described this sub-genre as the ‘supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism, then of late capitalism itself.’2 In order to establish that the investigation of the intellectual history of cyberpunk criticism is both a possible and fruitful line of enquiry, however, certain underlying issues must be addressed. In this first chapter, it will first be argued that the history of ideas, with a method substantially different from that of literary theory, provides insight into the formation of the critical literature on cyberpunk. Following from this, the relationship between science fiction and philosophy will be examined.

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