On Tue, 20 May 1997, David Silver wrote:
> I teach a course called "Cyberworlds" to unsophisticated students. It is
> essentially a course in cyberpunk fiction, Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream
> of Electronic Sheep, etc. I have decided, at my daughter's instigation, to
> introduce a feminist cyberpunk novel into the course and I have chosen
> Melissa Scott's, Trouble and her Friends. The problem is that I have no
> idea how to analyze it from a feminist perspective. My reading is that it
> is a typical Gibson type novel with the protagonists being female. I am
> sure there is considerable subtext that is eluding me. If someone would
> take the trouble to reply directly to me with some hints as to how to
> approach/discuss it, I would be extremely grateful, and so would my students.
Gibson-type? I think not.
Tell me, why do the characters in Gibson's novels do what they do?
I might say that they do what they do to survive, for greed, etc. I see
Gibson's worlds as being very chaotic and in the "state of nature" (All
an oversimplification but there you have it.)
Now tell me why the characters in _Trouble and Her Friends_ do what they
do?
I might say that they do what they do out of pride, rebellion against a
system that marginalized them, and even love. Trouble and her friends
were oppressed. They were honorable rebels fighting against not just an
unfair system that marginalized them but against the dishonorable crooks
sharing their marginal world. Trouble was the best (or close to it) in
part because she had to be (much the way women (and homosexuals) must be
today). I found her to be a particularly exciting character to become
because I could feel her righteousness and intrinsic power. That is
something that I can say of no Gibson character I have read.
Just my reading,
-- Joel VanLaven
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