Problems of Identity in Cyberpunk Fiction
Dátum
Szerzők
Folyóirat címe
Folyóirat ISSN
Kötet címe (évfolyam száma)
Kiadó
Absztrakt
The purpose of this paper is to highlight as many aspects as possible of how postmodern cyberpunk fiction presents or deals with the problematic instability of postmodern identity. There have been many attempts from the ancient philosophy to postmodernism, to define - “who am I? What other concern is quite so captivating than dealing with the ongoing, lifelong project of assessing identity and figuring out how one relates to others and the surrounding world” (Gioia 17)? Many philosophers have contemplated the “who am I?” question; as Gioia analysis suggests: Plato saw identity as “a form that exists metaphysically and instantiates differently in each person” (18), while “Aristotle’s portrait of the self provides an early hint of the view that there can be many different identities housed within an individual” (18). However later in the 20th century – still following Gioia’s train of thought – identity was portrayed as a constructed phenomenon or “as a general, if individualized, framework for understanding oneself that is formed and sustained via social interaction”