The Representation and Criticism of the Three Spaces in Neuromancer

Abstract

Abstract: Neuromancer, the masterpiece of the renowned American-Canadian writer of science fiction William Gibson, is a landmark of cyberpunk science fiction. It creates an imaginary era in the near future, in which, due to the impact of globalization, technology and capital would share the dominant power, resources and information would circulate in high frequency, and metropolitan culture would advance rapidly. Neuromancer mainly explores three particular spaces in this era: first, it depicts a contemporary multi-ethnic and crime-ridden city, refracting its highly realistic “inner city” complexity and high-crime crisis; secondly, it presents a new cyber picture of the “world cities” emphasizing their importance, their distinctive functions, and their latent political potential; thirdly, it delineates the cultivation of the orbital space station, revealing the hidden concern over a possible reoccurrence of the imbalance between the inner city and suburbs in a metropolis on the earth and the enclave-like gated space station communities, and exploring the youthful subculture within the “prefigurative culture.” What the construction and rendering of the multiple spaces in Neuromancer conveys is a strong implication of social criticism.

Key words: Gibson, Neuromancer, cyberpunk science fiction, inner city, world cities

Wang Yiping. The Representation and Criticism of the Three Spaces in Neuromancer[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2021, 43(2): 128-139.

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