From cyberpunk to nanopunk: science-fictional novel “the diamond age: or, a young lady's illustrated primer” by N. Stephenson

Abstract

This   article    discusses   the   thematic    focus   and   problem   characteristics of the science fiction novel “The Diamond   Age:   Or, A   Young   Lady's   Illustrated Primer” by N. Stevenson, that is included in the author's cyclus “The Story of the Future”. The aim of the work is to try to   clarify   the   thematic   dominant   of   the   work   and   emphasize the multidimensionality of the genre nature of this book. The terms such as cyberpunk, postcyberpuk and nanopunk used in defining the genre of the work reveal the cultural sense of the novel. In addition, social fragmentation has a certain value in the work, this is confirmed, for example, by analyzing the compositional characteristics of the text.

In this article, we have come to the conclusion that such phenomena as “cyberpunk”, and later “postcyberpunk” and “nanopunk”, should be considered, first of all, as the literary school of science fiction,   serving   to   emphasize   social   problems   in   the   works   of   this   genre and not as science fiction subgenres. Moreover, they perform a culturological function, if we start from the fact that the concept of “punk” refers us, first of all, to a certain subculture. N. Stevenson uses them as artistic tools to create certain memorable images and plot moves. This work synthesizes a number of harmoniously combined genre features of the novel of upbringing, dystopia, and the science fiction novel of the literary school of “postcyberpunk” or “nanopunk”.