He became famous for the fact that his debut novel was the most successful in its category and immediately sold over six million copies worldwide. He was nicknamed the father of the style of science fiction (cyberpunk), and it was his pen who owned the term "cyberspace", although he strongly rejects this title and does not seek to uphold the primacy of this idea. That's all he is - William Gibson.
Life Essays
Born March 17, 1948 in the town of Conway, in the state of South Carolina, in an ordinary American family. Not to say that the boy wanted to follow in the footsteps of his parents and work all his life for the state, which barely noticed their pathetic attempts to break out into people. He studied well and easily entered the University of British Columbia at the Faculty of Philology. This did not happen at the call of the heart, the young man simply did not want to work or serve in the army, and his studies solved all his problems at once. In addition, he had good innate inclinations, and objects were given to him easily and did not require serious expenditures of time and effort to master them. Later, in 1968, he moved to Canada and settled in the city of Toronto. William Gibson himself explains his departure by the fact that he did not want to participate in the Vietnam War. Four years later, the future writer finally determines his place of residence. He chose Vancouver - a picturesque city on the Pacific coast. It was here that inspiration came to him and under the splash of waves and the sound of the wind on the tops of pines, a twenty-four-year-old man begins to write fiction.
Early work
The first works that the author submitted to the public were short fantastic stories full of obscure terms that describe the symbiosis of cybernetics and human life, telling about how virtual reality has changed people's lives. The earliest story was called “The Shards of the Holographic Rose,” dated 1977.
New direction
Critics unanimously claim that William Gibson is the ancestor of the literary style of cyberpunk, although the author himself categorically rejects this. Curious is the fact that William himself owned computer literacy at a very primitive level. The stories typical for this trend are considered to be the 1981 Johnny-Mnemonic and 1982 Burning Chrome, published in 1981.
Neuromancer
Two years later, one of his most famous novels, Neuromancer, is released. William Gibson was able to combine in it everything that he considered canonical for the style he had invented. The book was the first in a series entitled Cyberspace. It also included the novels "Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive." Partially they were co-written with Bruce Sterling.
The basis of the new style
William Gibson, whose books were full of descriptions of all kinds of gadgets and technical innovations, preferred the plot and the relationship of the characters, believing that paraphernalia is not the most important thing. Having a higher literary education, the writer was skeptical of him.
The model of the future in which events unfold is not a very pleasant place in Gibson's view. Spheres of influence are divided between the owners of megacorporations, which are among themselves continuous hostility. The central place among all countries in this new world is Japan, although the author himself was not at that time. He extrapolated American realities to oriental scenery, and so the town of Chiba turned out, for example. Many of the knowledge of the Land of the Rising Sun, William Gibson gleaned from communication with tourists.
Label tearing
A lot of fantastic literature came out from under his pen. These are such novels as “Virtual Light”, “Idor”, “Land of Ghosts”, “Machine of Differences”. William Gibson wrote both alone and co-authored, but always adhered to a developed style. Although he rejects the label of “the inventor of cyberpunk” in every possible way, because he considers this to be detrimental to creativity. When a person is associated with only one particular genre, this makes it very difficult to reveal fully as a writer. And the reader gets used to seeing his idol exclusively in such a role and refuses to perceive something else.
For example, the plays of William Gibson, which few have heard of. There is no mention of them even on the writer's official website, because it would never occur to anyone that a science fiction writer will spend his time on dramatic works, if you can write another fascinating story from the life of people of the future.
Films and awards
William Gibson won the Hugo and Nebula Awards and received the Philip C. Dick Award in 1995. At the same time, albeit with a small interval, two films are released based on the stories of the hero of our story: “Johnny Mnemonic” with Keanu Reeves in the title role and “New Rose Hotel”.
But the main novel still remains Neuromancer. William Gibson was surprised at such an interest in this particular period of his work, because the few stories that were already published did not cause a stir. Of course, the readers were somewhat surprised by the unusual situation, but then, in the late eighties and early nineties, when the belief in the limitless possibilities of man on the Internet had already captured immature young minds, this came in handy. Teenagers dreamed of becoming hackers, it seemed to them that understanding the intricacies of the World Wide Web, cracking secret codes and writing programs was fun and unusual. Then, in fact, was the most suitable time for this kind of literature.
Now interest in her has cooled a bit. Children are more savvy about the capabilities of modern technology, it is difficult to really surprise them with something. Therefore, fantasy with an abundance of colorful characters, a huge selection of races for every taste and color, as well as magical abilities is gaining popularity again. The younger generation wants to leave this reality by all available means. And literature is no worse, or maybe even better.
Probably, in order to attach the mass audience to cyberpunk again, a serious technical breakthrough is needed, which will attract the attention of the general public and will resonate with the contents of Gibson's books.