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Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature - Mar 2010
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The Gernsback Continuum
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gernsback_Continuum
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1988/1/1988_1_34.shtml
I read the 'synopsis' on wikipedia after I finished the story and I grok'd the plot a bit differently. I also had just drank two beers so my comprehension could've been off a smidge.
I found this story interesting, to say the least. It's been a while since I've read Gibson, and I do enjoy his writing style greatly.
What struck me was, how did his friend, Kihn, know what to do so suddenly. It made me wonder, was Parker the only one experiencing these hallucinations?
What also fascinated me about this story is the cyberpunk element was cemented in the real world, not the future. It presented us with an image of what could have been, a future imagined by World's Fairs with flying cars and zepplins. Instead, Parker is faced with the dystopic reality of what is, which is our own reality. So, is Gibson saying we are living in a cyberpunk environment?
I like that while it's one of the first 'cyberpunk' works, it resonates very strongly with overlord Bruce's current pet project #atemporality. Official soundtrack has got to be Donald Fagen, I.G.Y.
*edit - imo response to Avi's questions;
Gibson wouldn't have been saying anything about a 'cyberpunk' environment per se as the term hadn't been invented yet and got stuck on him as a label much later. In fact when you see him being interviewed about it generally seems more bemused/amused than enthused.
I think the story is cynically using the contrasting imagery to ask the evangelists of modernism where hell their promised future went. Parkers world isn't really dystopic, it's just kind of the way things have turned out. Whether or not that counts as a cyberpunk environment I guess is more up to your working definition than anything else.
Parker can't have been the only one experiencing some kind of anguish or feeling of displacement caused by visions of the future conflicting with reality, just as Gibson wasn't the only person trying to explore it in their art at the time. His case was probably more pronounced than others though, having had to immerse himself in the alternate timeline for his work.
Kihn probably knew what to do because it's no big secret. Consuming shitty media is a great way to take your mind off of any deeper issues that you otherwise may find yourself confronted with if you're left alone with your thoughts.
I really, really liked this story, but someone will need to explain to me what makes it cyberpunk?
I agree that Parker's reality isn't really dystopic, certainly not in a way that I would normally associate with my vision of cyberpunk (but then I'm very much new to the genre, and not really a cyberpunk myself). Judging by Parker's preference for this reality and his fearful response towards the Gernsback "future that could have been" I'd hardly consider the 1980 of the story to be dystopic at all. I thought Parker's fear of the Gernsback reality was quite odd (but that's because I've eagerly been waiting for hovercars and robot slaves to enter pop culture myself. If I entered the Gernsback Continuum I probably would want to hang out for a while!). At any rate, I don't see the 'cyber' element really, and only a hint of 'punk' (Kihn seems punk to me, no?)
My impression of Kihn (and correct me if I'm off-base) is that he's a kind of fringe researcher who talks to people who see UFOs and the likes on a regular basis, so he probably formed his semiotic ghost theory long before Parker ever spoke to him about. I love the idea that consuming bad media is the "cure" to an overactive imagination- think this was a prediction of reality t.v. perhaps? ;)
Anyway, my initial understanding, prior to reading the wiki summary, was that the alternate future was not so much a reality Parker was witnessing through a crack in spacetime, but the power of his own perception (via collective unconscious, as mentioned by Kihn) to materialize these semiotic ghost visions.
Sorry I couldn't make the group chat, is there anyone else that can't make that time or am I the only one?
Agree with both Janine and Sjef on the aspect of the present portrayed in Gernsback Continuum not being necessarily cyberpunk. The alternation between the two realities rather makes the "ideal" one utopic.
But then again, maybe it's exactly the idea of consuming media we would regard as "banal" as a cure that makes this present cyberpunk-ish.
What I failed to understand so well was why he rejected this alternate world. If it was a parallel universe and he somehow got access to it by a temporal opening , why wouldn't he pass over? ...
"The Gernsback Continuum," is seen as a manifesto for the future cyberpunk movement, according to http://web.mit.edu/m-i-t/science_fiction/jenkins/jenkins_5.html
Check also http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/style_that_defines_cyberpunk.html
[Actually both this story and the movie (A.I....) could be argued upon how cyberpunk they are, I chose them on purpose to make the assignment interesting, give material to question it, otherwise we would get into "Q: What is cyberpunk? A: Blade Runner" .]
@Laurian
You can easily make the argument that Bladerunner isn't cyberpunk either.
I agree that TGC sets the tone for the new movement in Science Fiction that was coming up at the time, but if you're going to judge the work based on it's place within literature and not on cosmetic features doesn't that disqualify A.I. entirely? The story it's based on isn't cyberpunk. Sure the movie has a bunch of androids in it, but that isn't necessarily cyberpunk, robots have been around for like a century. Nobody seems to have the net seeing as they have to hitchhike into town in order to consult the most retarded oracle ever instead of just interfacing with some data realm in order to obtain the info they need...
Must not start rant. Man I hate that movie.
Bladerunner gets a pass for being FREAKING AMAZING and really setting the visual tone for the genre at its genesis, but A.I. is just weaksauce imo.
@Dana...He probably wouldn't pass over out of sheer terror. The devil we know is almost always preferable to the one we don't, right?
@Dorene: agreed, it might be safer for him in the present, flawed by pollution and porn movies :))
Regarding the "Continuum" - I see it as a space-time continuum, a parallel universe if you will, which coexists with the present and somehow offers a gate for those who see to pass. The main character is also a photographer, an art creator. These guys are supposed to rather feel flowing boundaries to reality than the rest of us slobs :))
@Laur: I had found the same link (from the Russian project you told us about presumably). Very cool analysis which points out some of the main feats of cyberpunk:
- flawed, but mechanized present (pollution referred to - I see a first parallel to AI)
- nostalgia for an idealized future-to-be
- sexual language / references (Nazi Love Motel)
- tech references (tech description of the wannabe Tucson city)
PS: Just as a curiosity, a handout on Klein's alleged "child pornography" campaign referenced in the above quoted Gernsback review: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/eth...
Like others, I saw The Gernsback Continuum pointing out the contrasts between past imagined utopias of the "future" and the tarnished realities those imagined futures developed into.
"Continuum" implies that the mere imagining and fantasizing about such a future, created it at least on another plane of existence. A continuum birthed from the fantasies of souls from the past suffering through their own dystopian present.
As humans, we live with hope for the future and put a great deal of energy into planning how we want our future to look. Usually our plans are built on the shortcomings or struggles of our current existence. In our constant quest from improvement, we dream. Dreams can be powerful things...What if they actually did have the ability to manifest themselves into a collective alternate reality?