On The Body In Neuromancer

The body has been the focus of a great deal of research in various fields since the latter half of the twentieth century.The body is an organic existence;its border is the skin.However,this boundary is less distinct when the body serves as a cultural image.The tension between the material body and the dematerialized body has driven vigorous research in postmodern cultural studies.The body plays an important role in the study of its relationship with technology.The cyberpunk science fiction novel,Neuromancer is set against a background of high tech and low life to explore the nature of human existence of the near future,and examines the technological influence on the body.The first chapter of the paper explores the technological constructing of the body.Such development of the body enhances its functions,but the overuse of technology results in a state of unbalance,causing a discontinuity in bodily experience and the loss its characteristics.Then,technology breeds a digitalized manifestation of the body which possesses a sense of perception.This digitalized manifestation of the body can be regarded as a metaphor,and it nonetheless is associated with a lack of creativity.Because the development of the body depends on external programming,and the body loses its ability for self-adjustment.Technology enhances the body's performance,but also puts the body into an uncoordinated,fractured state.The breaking of time makes the body experience the eternal present,which leads to the disappearance of its sense of history.In building its own experience,the body is deprived of the continuity of its own experience,resulting in the production of the schizophrenic body.With further development of technology,the body is immersed in simulations,which cause the real and the fake to blur.The body is an important entity in an environment of simulations,because it functions as a medium of virtual reality and a reminder of the real world.This thesis is grounded theoretically on Fredric Jameson's postmodern cultural theory and Jean Baudrillard's simulation theory,with a textual analysis of the body as portrayed in William Gibson's Neuromahcer.Technology is a double-edged sword.On the one hand,technology enhances the function of the body and alters its form of being;on the other hand,the abuse of technology spoils its characteristics and continuity.What's more,the body serves as a link point to the real world in a postmodern world filled with simulations.As a bearer of culture,the body exemplifies three characteristics of postmodern culture:the disappearance of the subject,the disappearance of a sense of history and the disappearance of distance.Most importantly,the body is irreplaceable,and technology should be applied properly to transform it,allowing the body to better handle the challenges of postmodern society.