Donets Paul
State Institution “South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky”, Odessa, Ukraine
E-mail: dp85@ukr.net
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000–0001–6759–0920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24195/2616-5317-2019-28-7
Key words: immortalism, cyberpunk, cyberspace, posthuman, science fiction, transhumanism.
The article examines stylistic devices in which American-Canadian writer William Gibson expresses transhumanist ideas. The author is famous for being one of the pioneers and brightest representatives of science fiction subgenre, known as cyberpunk. His debut trilogy “Sprawl”, which touches upon social, moral and ethical issues of using advanced technologies, has been chosen as an object to be studied. It is found out that the message translated by the author is controversial: while having some obvious transhumanist indications, it also has various alarmist traits, which can be observed at stylistic and lexical level. In its simplest form, this is manifested in the special use of epithets, metaphors, similes, hyperbolas and other stylistic means. In some cases the series rather opposes transhumanism than reproduces its techno-optimistic discourse. It follows the warning trends of modern English-language science fiction, relying on such classic dichotomies as “natural / artificial” and “human / non-human”. The tropes and figures of speech used by the author are in most cases emotionally expressive, that is, they contain elements of value (both positive and negative).
REFERENCES
1. Baeva, L. V. E-Homo sapiens: virtual’nyj mikrokosm i global’naya sreda obitaniya / L. V. Baeva, I. YU. Alekseeva // Filosofskie problemy informacionnyh tekhnologij i kiberprostranstva. — Pyatigorsk: PGLU, 2014. — № 1. — S. 86–97.
2. Voronkova, V. G. Koncepcii vzaimosvyazi cheloveka, soznaniya, razuma v kontekste virtual’no-informacionnogo prostranstva / V. G. Voronkova // Filosofiya i kosmologiya. — Poltava: Poltavs’ky’j literator, 2013. — S. 170–182.
3. Delyoz, Zh. Anti-Edip. Kapitalizm i shizofreniya / Zh. Delyoz, F. Gvattari. — еkaterinburg: U-Faktoriya, 2008. — 672 s.
4. Cheklecov, V. V. Chuvstvo planety. Internet Veshchej i sleduyushchaya tekhnologicheskaya revolyuciya / V. V. CHeklecov. — M.: Rossijskij issledovatel’skij centr po Internetu Veshchej, 2013. — 130 s.
5. Enciklopediya fantastiki. Kto est’ kto / Sost. Vl. Gakov. — Mn.: Galaksias, 1995. — 694 s.
6. Alvarado, R. C. Science Fiction as Myth: Cultural Logic in Gibson’s Neuromancer / R. C. Alvarado // Science Fiction and Computing: Essays on Interlinked Domains. — Jefferson: McFarland, 2011. — pp. 205–213.
7. Benedikt, M. Cyberspace: Some Proposals / M. Benedikt // Cyberspace: First Steps. — Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992. — pp. 119–224.
8. Brians, E. The ’Virtual’ Body and the Strange Persistence of the Flesh: Deleuze, Cyberspace and the Posthuman / E. Brians // Deleuze and the Body. — Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. — pp. 117–143.
9. Carr, J. The Dirty Joke of Cyberpunk or the Humanism of Posthumanism in the Cyberpunk Tradition: Epigenetic Memory and Technology in Gibson’s Neuromancer and Stephenson’s Snow Crash / J. Carr. — Tempe: Arizona State University, 2013. — 60 p.
10. Clark, A. Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence / A. Clark. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. — 229 p.
11. Graham, E. L. Representations of the Post/human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture / E. L. Graham. — Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. — 259 p.
12. Hayles, N. K. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics / N. K. Hayles. — Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. — 350 p.
13. Kellner, D. Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics between the Modern and the Postmodern / D. Kellner. — London: Routledge, 1994. — 368 p.
14. Roberts, A. Science Fiction / A. Roberts. — London: Routledge, 2006. — 159 p.
15. Thomas, D. Old Rituals for New Space: Rites de Passage and William Gibson’s Cultural Model of Cyberspace / D. Thomas // Cyberspace: First Steps. — Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991. — pp. 30–48.
16. Young, S. Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto / S. Young. — Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2006. — 417 p.