1st Edition

The Soft Machine Cybernetic Fiction

By David Porush Copyright 1985
258 Pages
by Routledge

258 Pages
by Routledge

258 Pages
by Routledge

The Soft Machine , originally published in 1985, represents a significant contribution to the study of contemporary literature in the larger cultural and scientific context. David Porush shows how the concepts of cybernetics and artificial intelligence that have sparked our present revolution in computer and information technology have also become the source for images and techniques in our most... Read more

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.

Biography

David Porush