The Soft Machine: Cybernetic Fiction

ISBN-13: 9780815355670 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 254 str.

David Porush

Opis

This title, originally published in 1985, represents a significant contribution to the study of contemporary literature in the larger cultural and scientific context. The author shows how the concepts of cybernetics and artificial intelligence have become the source for images and techniques in our most highly sophisticated literature.

Spis treści

Preface.  1. The Metaphor of the Machine  2. Roussel’s Device for the Perfection of Fiction  3. Cybernetics and Literature  4. Counter-statement  5. Cybernetics and Techno-paranoia: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr and William Burroughs  6. Reading in the Servo-mechanical Loop: The Machinery of Metaphor in Pynchon’s Fictions  7. Author as Artificial Intelligence: John Barth’s Computer-generated Texts  8. Deconstructing the Machine: Beckett’s The Lost Ones  9. The Imp in the Machine: Joseph McElroy’s Plus.  Conclusion – In the Black Box: Donald Barthelme’s "The Explanation".  Notes.  Bibliography.  Index.

O autorze

David Porush