| Michael Wojcik 2005-03-23, 3:55 am |
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In article <sqa_d.1610157$Zm5.248970@news.easynews.com>, "William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> writes:
> As someone who has always enjoyed science fiction - and who now
> listens to such on cassettes, I was wondering if others in the group
> have ever "read" (any format) the book "Snow Crash" by Neal
> Stephenson?
Stephenson isn't to everyone's taste, but he's a fine writer (not
many people can get away with present-tense narration, for example)
and _Snow Crash_ is one of his most accessible books. _Zodiac_ is
another. I liked _The Diamond Age_, but it's somewhat more baroque
and might appeal to a smaller audience. _Cryptonomicon_ is as much a
historical and political novel, and an introduction to cryptography,
as it is SF - again, I quite liked it, but apparently it failed to
win the Hugo or Nebula because it wasn't sufficiently SF. I haven't
read the new ones (which are even longer) yet.
_Snow Crash_ is quite funny in places, between Stephenson's irreverent
style ("Hiro Protagonist" indeed) and his colorful characters. I
wouldn't call it a "comedy" as Howard did (and I'm not convinced that
the Chomskian thesis is meant as a joke, though I don't think
Stephenson *believes* it) - the tone is complex and some elements
(such as the balkanized US with discontinuous, corporatized states
and a lag-behind Federal government) I think Stephenson does treat as
a possible future, if not necessarily plausible.
When _Snow Crash_ appeared it was heralded by some academics (in SF
studies and the like - I remember discussions from the Technoculture
listserv) as the novel that "redeemed" cyberpunk. Stephenson's
engineering background really shows; in contrast to Gibson's work, in
particular, the computer stuff is much less absurd. (In Gibson's
world, they've apparently forgotten how fuses work: "oh dear, this
malware is frying my brain!". In Stephenson's, VR is a fun place for
entertainment and chatting with friends, but for writing code we still
use the keyboard and screen, because language is still a hell of a lot
more expressive than Legos.)
--
Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com
"Well, we're not getting a girl," said Marilla, as if poisoning wells were
a purely feminine accomplishment and not to be dreaded in the case of a boy.
-- L. M. Montgomery, _Anne of Green Gables_
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