(August 2014)
The best laid plans, eh? I’ve been doing a
fair bit of domestic travel this summer for seminars and the like, and figured
that getting a stack of reading lined up would be a good way to eat up all
those hours on the shinkansen. I’d finally got hold of a Harper Voyager edition
of Count Zero, and what with it being
Neuromancer’s 30th
anniversary it seemed like a good idea to read straight through the entire
Sprawl Trilogy and stick up one huge megapost at the end of the month.
So I’m going to cheat a bit and make some
comparisons anyway. What I’d forgotten about Neuromancer was the sheer verve and energy with which Gibson
addresses his subjects and story. More specifically, and in comparison with the
Bigend books especially, there’s a much greater focus on the play of ideas and
concepts rather than the continual and slightly wearying search for the
bleeding edge of cool. I think I prefer it that way, to be honest. That said,
there are definitely signs of a fairly standard plot-template emerging: shadowy
puppet master engages kickass female and/or socially inept male (who may or may
not having slightly improbable sex with each other) to undertake a wild
macguffin hunt and so allow exploration of various aspects of post-modernity
and futuricity. If that’s a word. Case is essentially a cipher and Molly is,
er, cool but not exactly without problems; frankly I could have done without the
prostitution/rape backstory. Still, product of (or to be fair,
in many ways ahead) of its time and all that. I shall, hopefully, have more to
say once I’ve visited the Lost and Found office.
There's no there, there.
ReplyDeleteGroundbreaking, but now dated (a few megabytes of RAM on dry ice? WRF?). Yes, you can tell that Gibson wrote this on a typewriter because he really didn't own a computer. However, I really loved these books- corporate haves and disenfranchised have nots, truely visionary.
Lost all my respect for him after I read a Wired interview where he fell for the 'Japan is the future' myth hook, line, and sinker.
Actually, I enjoyed the much nearer future series he did right after that, 'the bridge trilogy', but hate 'the blue ant trilogy', which is set so close to today, it could be this afternoon. Gibson admitted that he never visits the places he writes about, using travel guides, and that he 'lifts' characters from interviews in other magazines. Having tracked down and read those sources for Zero History, I have to conclude that Gibson is now just phoning it in. Very lazy 'visionary'.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that you're the same Anon for both posts, I simultaneously agree with you and think you might be being a tad harsh. There are posts on books from both the Bridge and Blue Ant trilogies elsewhere on this blog (I'm fairly sure) and I'd certainly agree that the latter is weaker then the former. But at the same time I can't help but feel that the almost instant obsolescence of his more recent stuff is deliberate; a kind of metacommentary on the disposable society, or something. Now, whether it's deliberate or not doesn't necessarily make it good, of course...
DeleteI read this too late, not when published but a year ago, so stank of: "the continual and slightly wearying search for the bleeding edge of cool." He lost me at the first of these rather unsexy scenes: "kickass female and/or socially inept male... having slightly improbable sex with each other". Still, that first sentence still describes Kanto: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
ReplyDeleteIt certainly iconic as opening lines go, eh?
DeleteI can't remember when I first read it; it certainly wasn't too close to publication, but it was one of my earlier experiences with SF and it was definitely an eye-opener for me back then. I can see that coming to it 'too late' might not do it any favours though.
Have to admit that I love archetypal cyberpunk in a deep and probably indecent way. Must be something about growing up with an IBM PC-XT in the 80s and playing text adventures. I'm torn on reading Neuromancer again for fear that it won't be nearly as mind blowing and hypnotic as the first time around, but have enjoyed everything else he's done, save The Difference Engine. Apparently the new book is far future, big idea SF, or so I have heard. I really hope so.
ReplyDeleteI'd echo that hope. As I said, the more 'near future' stuff got a little tiresome, so a return to some more hi-concept stuff is certainly promising. Got Count Zero back, so maybe now I'll be able to finish this trilogy before that comes out :)
Delete