Postmodernism And Cyberpunk

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÃ"NOMA DE MÉXICO FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÃA Y LETRAS Letras Modernas Final Essay Sandra Manzanares Cantú Thesis Statement: "Burning Chrome" by William Gibson and "The Undefeated" by Irvine Welsh share characteristics that highlight the close relationship of the literary trends they belong to (Cyberpunk and Postmodernism.) OUTLINE 1. DESCRIPTION OF POSTMODERNISM 1.1 Main characteristics.

1.2 How "The Undefeated" belongs to this literary trend.

2. DESCRIPTION OF CYBERPUNK 2.1 Main characteristics.

2.1 How Burning Chrome belongs to this literary trend.

3. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOTH SHORTSTORIES 3.1 The time in which action develops.

3.2 Technology and fantasy (different approaches.) 4. SIMILARITIES 4.1 The arbitrariness of language.

4.1.2 The use of different types of letters (bold, capital or italics) as an expressive means.

4.2 The rejection of society.

4.2.1 Apathy and the lack of motivation.

4.2.2 The need of creating reasons.

4.3 Marginality in both settings.

4.3.1 Pubs and drugs.

4.3.2 Moral ambiguety.

Irvine Welsh (b. 1958), Scottish novelist

Portrait of author William Gibson taken on his 60t...

Picture of Cyberpunk auhor William Gibson at a rea...

5.CONCLUSION (the relationship of both literary trends shown by the similarity of both shortstories.) THE RELATOINSHIP BETWEEN POSTMODERNISM AND CYBERPUNK (A COMPARISON OF "BURNING CHROME" AND THE "UNDEFEATED") "Burning Chrome" by William Gibson and "The Undefeated" by Irvine Welsh share some characteristics in terms of language, setting and characters, which highlights the close relationship of the literary trends they belong to, that is Cyberpunk and Postmodernism. Under the light of this idea, Cyberpunk can be seen as a sort of postmodernism that involves Science Fiction, an has been produced and influenced by the technological proliferation that has come with the end of the century. Cyberpunk confronts the advantages and commodities brought by technology to the individual, with the circumstance of virtual reality, media and simulacrum taking the place of reality, and manipulating the invividual's thought and perception of the world. Yet, it such a confrontation depicts...