Abstract

Anna McFarlane, Graham J. Murphy, and Lars Schmeink argue in this brief introduction that cyberpunk as a cultural mode speaks specifically to our contemporary quotidian reality in myriad ways. Drawing on science fiction scholars including Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Fredric Jameson, and Thomas Foster, the editors show that the ideas popularized by core cyberpunk texts (including William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the Wachowskis’s The Matrix, and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner) are now everywhere in society, meaning that cyberpunk is usefully characterized as a ‘cultural formation’ or a ‘mode’ rather than a genre of science fiction. The editors explore the rationale for this concept, one that permeates the entire collection, and provide an introduction to the organization of The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture.