Pattern Recognition by William Gibson: A Postmodern Novel

Pattern Recognition Pattern recognition, by William Gibson, in relation to our class as whole throughout the course of the semester has many interesting ties. Throughout the course, we have discussed topics such as knowledge and the self and both of these topics were ones that were hit upon when reading Pattern Recognition. These topics were hit on through various points in the book and they were touched upon in various ways through different characters. Although Pattern Recognition is a postmodern novel, both knowledge and the self both have been discussed in modern and postmodern ways throughout this book. William Gibson, a postmodern writer, is known for combining punk with technology to form a genre of writing that became known as “cyberpunk.” Gibson has written nine total books, with that consisting of three trilogies with three books in each trilogy. His three trilogies were the Sprawl trilogy, the Bridge trilogy, and the Bigend trilogy, which Pattern Recognition comes out of. Gibson’s first book, Neuromancer, which was part of the Sprawl trilogy, won the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick award, and the Hugo award. These three awards are known as three of the most highly regarded awards in the science fiction writing genre.

It can also be said that Gibson is a futuristic writer in the fact that many of his books have elements and things happening in the books that actually end up happening at some point in the world during real life. This can be seen in many of his trilogies, but one could argue that most recently Gibson has been shifting his writing style to a more present style. This new style can be seen in the fact that Pattern Recognition and the entire Bigend trilogy is written purely in our present with events that have actually happened to us.
A prime example of this would be in Pattern Recognition when Gibson references the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. An interesting fact about this is that Gibson actually had the