METAMODERN MYTHMAKING IN WILLIAM GIBSON’S NEUROMANCER, COUNT ZERO, AND MONA LISA OVERDRIVE

Tez Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Amerikan Kültürü Ve Edebiyatı Bölümü, Türkiye

Tez Danışmanı: Cem Kiliçarslan

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2027

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

This thesis explores William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy as a literary embodiment of metamodern mythopoesis, focusing on how myth, mysticism, and spirituality are reconstructed through cyberpunk aesthetics. It is possible to argue that Gibson’s works oscillate between modernist faith in progress and postmodern skepticism, reflecting a metamodern sensibility that negotiates transcendence through informed naivety. Drawing on theoretical frameworks by Vermeulen and van den Akker, Brendan Dempsey, and Raoul Eshelman, among others, this study positions the trilogy within a cultural logic that foregrounds historicity, affect, and depth. Each chapter analyzes the trilogy through one of these axes: the first investigates mythic structures in relation to historioplasticity and the return of craftsmanship; the second explores emotional resonance through post-ironic and autofictional elements; and the third addresses depth via performatism, curated authenticity, and mythopoeic reconstruction. The thesis contends that Gibson's portrayal of cyberspace as a symbolic and spiritual atopos—neither fully real nor entirely fictional—creates a contemporary mythos rooted in the digital and the divine. Ultimately, it may be suggested that Gibson’s narratives reflect a metamodern shift in science fiction, synthesizing technological realism with mythic imagination. This transformation not only reinvigorates the genre but also provides a lens to understand the changing human condition in the face of evolving artificial intelligence, digital transcendence, and socio-cultural ambiguity.

Keywords: metamodernism, mythopoeia, cyberpunk, science fiction, William Gibson, spirituality, digital transcendence