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Cyberpunk fiction

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Thesaurus/term listlcgft
Genre/Form termCyberpunk fiction
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Variant(s)Cyberprep fiction
Cyberpunk science fiction
Post-cyberpunk fiction
Postcyberpunk fiction
See alsoScience fiction
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Scope noteScience fiction that depicts the relationship between human beings and the rapid advancement and omnipresence of technology, which leads to a radical change in the social order.
Found inBaldick, C. Oxford dictionary of literary terms, c2008 (Cyberpunk: phase of American science fiction in the 1980s and 1990s most often associated with William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (1984) and its sequels, and with the work of Bruce Sterling, who edited Mirrorshades: the cyberpunk anthology (1986). By contrast with earlier mainstream science fiction, which commonly implied a utopian confidence in technological progress, cyberpunk fiction is influenced by the gloomier world of hard-boiled detective fiction and by film noir thrillers; it foresees a near future in which sinister multinational corporations dominate the 'cyberspace' (that is, the world computerized information network) upon which an impoverished metropolitan populace depends.)
Henry, L. The fiction dictionary, c1995 (Cyberpunk: a type of science fiction especially prevalent in the 1980s usually set in the near future and focusing on the relationships among human beings and computers and other forms of advanced technology; human beings who have been physically altered by new technology is a typical cyberpunk theme; cyberpunk protagonists tend to be isolated, rebellious male anti-heros from the margins of society (the 'punk' part of the word), drifting through a kind of meaningless, shattered world. The tone tends to be cool, calculatedly anti-sentimental.)
Person, L. Notes toward a postcyberpunk manifesto, via WWW, July 17, 2012 ("Arguably, science fiction entered the postcyberpunk era in 1988 with the publication of Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net. Just as Sterling's The Artificial Kid encapsulated many of cyber-punk's themes before the movement had a name, Islands in the Net prefigured a growing body of work that can (at least until someone comes up with a better name) be labeled postcyberpunk. ... Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datsphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body. ... Postcyberpunk uses the same immersive world-building technique, but features different characters, settings, and, most importantly, makes fundamentally different assumptions about the future. Far from being alienated loners, postcyberpunk characters are frequently integral members of society (i.e., they have jobs). They live in futures that are not necessarily dystopic (indeed, they are often suffused with an optimism that ranges from cautious to exuberant), but their everyday lives are still impacted by rapid technological change and an omnipresent computerized infrastructure. Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age is perhaps the most popular postcyberpunk novel")