Talk:Wk.5 WIKI DISCUSS Style of Writing/@comment-209.242.165.22-20200206041756

WRITING IN NEUROMANCER

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY

ROBERT HOWREY

Gibson's Neuromancer is told in the third person omniscient point of view. Nearly the entire novel is narrated through the experience of the primary protagonist. Science fiction and cyberpunk deal with innovative concepts and advancements in technology which require specific terms as well. Science fiction writers can use information about the advancements in science, but the “fiction” part reveals that the authors deal mostly with possibilities their imaginations can conceive. Therefore, science fiction texts mostly use scientific lexicon without other devices of scientific texts, such as lack of figurative language or use of standard expressions.

In describing the technology they use and the actions they take in and out of cyberspace, the underground “hackers” in the Neuromancer are likely to rely in their pursuits on vocabulary derived from hacker and computer programmer slang, street and computer jargon and idiomatic expressions in their communication with each other. It is safe to presume that, as the concept of cyberspace is reliant on the use of computers, in describing cyberculture, the people, technology and activities connected with cyberspace, and the communication between the characters Gibson’s vocabulary is similar to that used by the subcultures that are most in contact with computers.

William Gibson turned to different cultures and subcultures in search for new vocabulary. Neologisms, slang and jargon are often problematic to translate. Therefore, in the following subchapter, the theoretical approaches to translating neologisms, slang and jargon, with the emphasis on science fiction and cyberpunk as its subgenre, are explored. In the case of Gibson’s novel, the neologisms, slang and jargon is used by characters involved with technology, computers and cyberspace.

Reference

Lass, M. (2012). ''Translating Cyberpunk Vocabulary in William Gibson’s Neuromancer. ''https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/TRANSLATING-CYBERPUNK-VOCABULARY-IN-WILLIAM-Lass/570dcd0c542d8a041b4137b73887f45d742b0307