********************** ETERNAL THINKER ***********************
Alexander TYURIN
FANTASTIC IS NOT BALLET, YOU NEED TO THINK
(homegrown cyberpunk manifesto)
By the time of the death of the USSR, our native science fiction lay in delirium
and alternated convulsions with rigor mortis. As well as other
other sectors and branches of the national economy: industry, agriculture
culture and so on. (All these objects and subjects belonged to
category of ghouls who for many years extensively ate
existing demographic, natural, information resources, leaving
I left behind only piles of feces. Naturally, the ghoul's ancestor
there were exceptions, which we will not list now.) And
Now, as it turned out at the third rooster crow, our “non-
living-undead" own life force. Looking around the expanses
homeland, even with a casual glance, we still see many
frozen deathbeds, around which mourners crowd,
either scavengers or nurses and trying to reanimate the road
these half-corpses, pouring in portions of “fresh” obtained somewhere on the side
blood."
Russian science fiction is in exactly the same state
that the military-industrial complex-agro-industrial complex with their cyclops tractors and tanks. Head over heels in
crap "twice red banner" literature, the one that
populated the Communist Tomorrow with futureimmaculate parties-
people in white robes, worried about the bodily resurrection of the deceased
leaders, as well as the machinations of the galactic bourgeoisie, pawning
various mines under the universal brotherhood-sisterhood-fatherhood-
motherhood, social and all other progress. Didn't save
"twice Soviet" nomenklatura connections, seizure of printing presses
capacities and paper stocks. So she stopped using it
space expanses by three constituent members of Marxism and the beginning
I wanted to adopt some dashing tricks from American video films. At the end
In the end, I even learned how to cook cool booze from all sorts of blasters
shootouts and null-space jumps. However, like
before, does it without adding intelligence and conscience, which he never
The well-known call to “study, study and study” was not spread.
However, few of the opposing branches of Soviet science fiction
easier. It seems that she was not fighting interplanetary pests, but
against, in Aesopian language she branded the dirty underpants of the “great and
mighty" Soviet Union, and also depicted squalor and deceit
and the inoperability of the rusty state machine. Corresponding
was definitely loved by the people for opening up political abscesses and issuing
poured out by social pus. She was given an official name - fantastic
realism, but practically it is “the science fiction of today.”
Much of what she struggled with remained, but became more
more sophisticatedhidden, less amenable to allegory. On vacation
There is no clear anti-beacon from which to swim, and
the science fiction of today began to chatter in an exhausting chatter
current confused reality.
Naturally, this suits few people, and fantastic realism
trying to get out of the crisis by tightening the plot, coarsening
heroes, the squaredness of their lower jaw, the abruptness of the author's
language, the abusiveness of direct speech, the simplicity of fantastic assumptions.
But still, there are no landmarks, no rudder or sail, no swing on the ground...
perspective, no, if you want, socially useful load. Is there
sliding towards the thriller-like mainstream - to the full extent
creation in it without bubbles and sediment.
So, I dare to say that science fiction is strong only when
it reveals a messianic, or at least quasi-messianic
Ansian beginning.
And the time in which we live is completely messianic, because our
the country should be washed by three socio-technological waves, symbolic
the lamas of which are the mass car, the mass computer and
global computer networks. And in these waves we, thanks to the old
to the comrades of the Bolsheviks, they never dived, remaining at the level
1917.
In any case, by the beginning of the next century, the period of the current
the country's savagery will end, the government will settle down, the ruble will strengthen,
Crimea will sail back, and the mass intelligent consciousness will temporarily
gets into troublepost-industrial and post-collectivist society
society. Then a fundamentally different literature will be needed.
An estate gives birth to one writer (and a reader), a communal apartment -
another. Accordingly, a third writer (and reader) requires
itself an artificial environment, a synthesized world consisting of synthetic
shaped sensations, the technosphere, living according to its sophisticated laws
us. Moreover, this upcoming technosphere needs attention already
now. After all, the synthetic world will bring some citizens to the state
controlled or even completely anarchic degenerates, another
some will turn into the coolest supermen (scanners, captains
powers, skywalkers). By the way, there are already enough morons, they
They will explain to you at the famous Gostinki fence that computerization
there is a Jewish heresy (I quote verbatim), and the maiden names of all
programmers - Finkelstein and Kantorovich.
Precisely so that there would be fewer degenerates, and in the population
supermen prevailed numerically, and a "fan" should arise
the tastic of tomorrow." Other genres will, of course, exist.
to create and produce works that are perhaps more significant in es-
tical, humanistic, atavistic and other plans. Only
they will not bring salvation from technosphere horrors.
I designate the science fiction of tomorrow with the word "cyberpunk" for
lack of another suitable term and using the name in
much the sameAmerican current (may anger be replaced by peace)
lest strict cyberpunk scholars). Actually, cyberpunk consists of
two foreign language roots, meaning, respectively, skill (knowledge)
nie) and freedom of expression. Yes, yes, the term “punk” in ancient Hittite
called names to the crowd engaged in democratic expression of will.
Of course, it is impossible to write in Russian with the same ma-
rum that Gibson and Sterling in their English. They don't have tra-
traditions of the literary avant-garde, Platonov, Kharms, Zabolotsky,
Vvedensky, and Sasha Sokolov, we do not have hacker jargon and
New York (Vancouver, Austin) slang. In short, English
Chinese and Russian are, as they say in Odessa, two big differences.
What we have in common with our overseas brothers in mind may be something else - in
an abundance of credible fantastic ideas. This, by the way, is cyberpunk
differs from SF, where, as a rule, there is only one fantasy
ical "axis" around which it revolves, trying to adapt or
break it, ordinary life. [Suffice it to recall "Cities in the Field"
those" of old man Blish - with the help of antigravity they are sent
somewhere on Betelgeuse there are entire steel mills with open-hearth furnace
Vsky furnaces and Bessemer ladles. It’s just a pity that the mauso-
Ilyich’s lei is not flying anywhere.] There are many axes in cyberpunk, they are
they weave, intertwining, the whole fabric of life. Altered psychology
physiology - even to relieve minor need therein a simple way it is impossible,
- a fundamentally different setting, an unusual language of the characters. Unlike
from the current fanrealism, which plays solitaire from the famous
true axioms, familiar shortcuts and ready-made schemes, cyberpunk comes
There is much more to prove and to describe more carefully. Besides
However, he often acts as Jack the Ripper, dismantling the
human nature to the last hormone than other genres
they do not practice carefully so as not to arouse feelings in the public
disgust.
Cyberpunk requires a denser language of the author (which is sometimes
irritates not so much readers as critics and publishers).
This tension is due to a greater information density than in other genres.
richness of the text, which is usually associated with the innovation of the topic
and the fundamental novelty of the created world.
Yes, home-grown cyberpunk still causes hatred so-called
recognized humanists with a capital "Ge", they cut him off, he
they are trying to drown him by lightly pressing on the crown of his head, they are trying to
squeeze out of the writer.
Yes, domestic cyberpunk has not yet pumped up its muscles so much,
to shine with bodybuilding reliefs.
But!..
P.S. Gentlemen critics, despite their humanitarian education,
However, I would still suggest giving at least a little argument for your
arguments. Then, perhaps, there will be a topic for lively debate.
We need reasonable arguments, literary and conceptual analysis,
and notshouts like “it doesn’t fit into any gates at all”, “nonsense”,
“shaking knees”, “Lord”. This kind of style suits us
from Ulyanov-Lenin - whoever doesn’t believe me, please venerate
the writings of the above-mentioned comrade, especially pay attention
for so-called "philosophical" works. However, let's be optimistic
tami. Poor reading, insufficient erudition, narrow cultural
ary associations, lack of logical thinking skills, dogmatic
tism, all these qualities would be very useful for some teachers
for close and fruitful cooperation with Mr. Prokhanov.
Alexander Tyurin, privat-dozen
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