emergence and education
little brother and tomorrow
As we have remarked Little Brother is about tomorrow. There are no futuristic technologies to speak of. Yes, it's a world that's more techie than the one we live in, but it could be tomorrow. Doctorow brings together quite strongly the important cyberpunk themes of technology, ideology, and human agency. In effect he shows us a near-future where the struggle for freedom will occur through networks, information, and surveillance. In this future, encryption is one of the most important tools. It is the primary means of ensuring privacy.
I think this issue is an integral theme to the art of the novel. The novel is primarily an art form of the industrial era. It comes to age with the urbanization of society and the slow globalization of economies. It is during this time that notions of public and private spaces develop. The novel develops particularly as an art form for exploring that most private of spaces that develops during this period: one's consciousness. I realize that sounds a little strange, but what I mean is that the idea of our psychic interiority really develops during this time, in conjunction with the novel.
Cyberpunk shows us a world where the divisions of public and private no longer function. Privacy still exists, if you can secure it, but it is fragmented spatially. Our interior conscious is now splayed open and distributed across a global network.
Of course these things didn't happen overnight. During the Modernist era we could already see the fragmentation of consciousness and space in Joyce or Picasso or Eisenstein or Dos Passos and so on. Back then it was technological too: the film camera, the typewriter, the gramophone, the automobile, etc.
Literature has long played a role in helping us understand these experiences. Sometimes, as with Little Brother, it does so in a very deliberate, up-front way. The introduction to Doctorow's book (part of the PDF; I'm not sure if it's in the hard copy you have) makes these claims quite clear.
He writes
In short, Doctorow wants to inspire you to action. Is he effective?
I think this issue is an integral theme to the art of the novel. The novel is primarily an art form of the industrial era. It comes to age with the urbanization of society and the slow globalization of economies. It is during this time that notions of public and private spaces develop. The novel develops particularly as an art form for exploring that most private of spaces that develops during this period: one's consciousness. I realize that sounds a little strange, but what I mean is that the idea of our psychic interiority really develops during this time, in conjunction with the novel.
Cyberpunk shows us a world where the divisions of public and private no longer function. Privacy still exists, if you can secure it, but it is fragmented spatially. Our interior conscious is now splayed open and distributed across a global network.
Of course these things didn't happen overnight. During the Modernist era we could already see the fragmentation of consciousness and space in Joyce or Picasso or Eisenstein or Dos Passos and so on. Back then it was technological too: the film camera, the typewriter, the gramophone, the automobile, etc.
Literature has long played a role in helping us understand these experiences. Sometimes, as with Little Brother, it does so in a very deliberate, up-front way. The introduction to Doctorow's book (part of the PDF; I'm not sure if it's in the hard copy you have) makes these claims quite clear.
He writes
If you love freedom, if you think the human condition is dignified by privacy, by the right to be left alone, by the right to explore your weird ideas provided you don't hurt others, then you have common cause with the kids whose webbrowsers and cell phones are being used to lock them up and follow them around.
In short, Doctorow wants to inspire you to action. Is he effective?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nicole Brady on -
Hey. A 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 foot hole was just created in the Tappan Zee Bridge where you could see down to the water below. We drove over it last night and it was VERY frightening. What if she's right? But you are right-we cannot live in fear all the time because it does give others control.
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