Date of Award
5-2006
Level of Access Assigned by Author
Campus-Only Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Advisor
Naomi Jacobs
Second Committee Member
Tony Brinkley
Third Committee Member
Burton Hatlen
Abstract
Despite criticism that William Gibson's Neuromancer lacks positive political alternatives, this study charts the ways in which the novel participates in a radical postmodern political project which envisions new cultural and political forms. In response to an increasingly codified world, technology affords Gibson's characters the opportunity to move freely through time and space and actively engage in redefining and recreating themselves and their world. In the novel, technology assists in the construction of alternative models of human consciousness. Free from the limitations of fixed, stable subjectivity, the decentered subjects in Neuromancer suggest the possibilities for radical social formations. With its articulation of postmodern philosophies, the novel decentered subjects in Neurornancer suggest the possibilities for radical social formations. With its articulation of postmodern philosophies, the novel explores the empowering effects of technology to enhance personal fieedom, empower subversive communities, and radically reduce the power of a dominant world order.
Recommended Citation
Griffin, Brent, ""Plagues of the New World Order": Technology and Political Alternatives in William Gibson's Neuromancer" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1111.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/1111