The Soft Machine

Cybernetic Fiction

David Porush

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English

Routledge
06 May 2020

Literary studies: from c 1900 -; Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers; Cybernetics & systems theory

Series: Routledge Library Editions: Artificial Intelligence

"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 highly sophisticated literature, postmodern fiction by Barthelme, Barth, Pynchon, Beckett, Burroughs, Vonnegut and others.

With considerable skill, Porush traces the growth of ""the metaphor of the machine"" as it evolves both technologically and in literature of the twentieth century. He describes the birth of cybernetics, gives one of the clearest accounts for a lay audience of its major concepts and shows the growth of philosophical resistance to the mechanical model for human intelligence and communication which cybernetics promotes, a model that had grown increasingly influential in the previous decade. The Soft Machine shows postmodern fiction synthesizing the inviting metaphors and concepts of cybernetics with the ideals of art, a synthesis that results in what Porush calls ""cybernetic fiction"" alive to the myths and images of a cybernetic age."

By: David Porush
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9780815355670
ISBN 10: 081535567X
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Artificial Intelligence
Pages: 258
Publication Date: 06 May 2020
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

"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."

David Porush