Cyberpunk and Frye's Theory of Literature
Fitting the Cyberpunk in
If cyberpunks are "half anti-heroes," what comprises the other half of their being? If cyberpunks don't exactly fit into any of Frye's five categories, then exactly where do they go? The key to this notion is something Frye suggests as he discusses the anti-heroic stage of literature, also named the "ironic mode"; what Frye means by irony is the key to placing the cyberpunk among these other types of literature. Frye tells us that " [i]rony descends from the low mimetic; it begins in realism and dispassionate observation. But as it does so, it moves steadily towards myth, and dim outlines of sacrificial rituals and dying gods begin to reappear in it." Frye then points out that in his theory of literature, the "five modes evidently go around in a circle. This [is a] reappearance of myth in the ironic... " (42). Frye's categories of literature are not linear, but cyclical. Charting these stages around a circle, then, allows us to see the development of literature according to Frye's theory, and the relationships between the characters of each stage.
As the chart below indicates, literature (according to Frye) begins with myth and the divine, and descends through the stages of the heroic, high mimetic, low mimetic, and anti-heroic. Listed on the chart are the various qualities of each stage suggested by Frye, which I have discussed above. Also listed, in all capital letters, are the various "settings" which are attributed to the various stages. For instance, the divine character is commonly found in some sort of heaven above the world, whereas the romantic hero is found in a paradise full of fairies, magic, and unicorns. High mimetic characters, being typically noble, are commonly found in castles, and low mimetic heroes, average men, live in quite average houses. The subhuman anti-hero, the last of these, is often the nomad without home, the permanent apartment-dweller, or the man of the street, the slum, and the broken-down home. Outside the chart are the names of the various stages The last stage, the ironic, suggests a movement back towards myth. It does not represent myth in itself, nor does it directly link with myth; Frye is clear that the movement is only a suggestion, and we only get "hints" and inklings of myth in ironic fiction. It is this notion of a return to myth which explains the inability to place cyberpunks on this chart. Cyberpunks simply don't fit on the chart as Frye appears to leave it. Rather, they need a new "slice" for themselves.
In order to show where they fit and why, we must look at the characteristics of the cyberpunk character, and the relationship of those characteristics with the other types of characters Frye talks about. Cyberpunks, as I've already demonstrated, do have some definite characteristics that can be defined using Frye's terms, even if we cannot fit them into his "timeline" of literature. Cyberpunks are superior to other men in kind because of their augmentation of the human body. They are superior in degree because of their heightened abilities, but are decidedly inferior when it comes to rank and societal influence. They are superior to their environment, as their destruction of the environment and their creation of a virtual reality cyberspace will attest to. It would be possible to label cyberpunks divine: they are superior to men and the environment, it seems. Yet we know that cyberpunks are not gods; they are human, greater than anti-heroes and less than gods. It is easy to fill in the "missing" piece in Frye's circle:
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As the cycle nears completion, we can see that the setting or residence of the character decreases in attractiveness. The divine gods live in heaven, and the anti-hero lives without a home, as in the case of the wandering nomad or outcast, or within a run-down house, something subhuman. The cyberpunk character, it would seem, must reside in a setting even less appealing than that of the anti-hero, and yet at the same time nearing the realm of the divine. The divine realm, as represented in cyberpunk fiction, is fairly easy to pin down - this is the realm of cyberspace, the virtual heaven that the cyberpunks create for themselves. In cyberspace, a console cowboy can approach god, and can even approximate god, but can never wholly become a god; this is, it seems, an approach to some sort of heaven. The setting of a cyberpunk novel, in a godless world blasted by fire and pollution, is as close an approximation of hell as one might desire. We have thus named the qualities of the cyberpunk, and we've shown where he lives and where he fits into Frye's timeline of literature, but one thing yet remains. Our cyberpunk needs a name.