Digital Culture in Contemporary Fiction

What does it mean to be human in a world increasingly determined by algorithms? How can fiction articulate identity and subjectivity in the face of technology which seeks to reduce us to raw data? These questions drive a growing body of fiction about our contemporary moment, written by authors whose interests extend beyond simply writing about digital culture on a surface level but who seek to delve into the computational constructs which underpin it. Through readings of novels by Joshua Cohen, Nicola Barker, and Neal Stephenson, and a visual novel developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, Digital Culture in Contemporary Fiction offers the first analysis of the representation of computational algorithms and their cultural consequences in twenty-first-century fiction. Harrison theorizes a new cultural moment in which he places these authors, one characterized by a turn in software development towards incorporating models derived from behavioural psychology, and vitally fuelled by an abundance of data.