Comments on: To a Delightful Weekend in the Country: the New Generation of British SF http://futurismic.com/2009/02/04/to-a-delightful-weekend-in-the-country-the-new-generation-of-british-sf/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Sat, 19 May 2012 23:03:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jonathan M http://futurismic.com/2009/02/04/to-a-delightful-weekend-in-the-country-the-new-generation-of-british-sf/comment-page-1/#comment-19224 Jonathan M Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:04:00 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=5925#comment-19224 That's a very good point Martin. I don't remember the Cornelius I've read well enough to respond to you in any kind of detail (tbh I didn't enjoy it all that much) but that certainly bears some excavation on my part. *tip of the hat* That’s a very good point Martin.

I don’t remember the Cornelius I’ve read well enough to respond to you in any kind of detail (tbh I didn’t enjoy it all that much) but that certainly bears some excavation on my part.

*tip of the hat*

]]> By: Martin Wisse http://futurismic.com/2009/02/04/to-a-delightful-weekend-in-the-country-the-new-generation-of-british-sf/comment-page-1/#comment-18894 Martin Wisse Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:19:44 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=5925#comment-18894 <i>As yet, nobody has unearthed any short stories or novels that serve as precursors to the Barleypunk phenomenon.</i> Let me attempt to suggest one possible precursor, partially based in what you say about Gibson in that link to your definition of Barleypunk: <i> his books featured enough brand names and referenced enough forms of music and art to make his works exude a distinctive whiff of verisimilitude. While Cyberpunk was ostensibly a reaction to the hypercommercialisation that began in the 1980s, Gibson wrote about the process having absorbed its mores and values Rereading Michael Moorcock's <i>Jerry Cornelius Quartet</i> I was struck with the way he uses brandnames to establish mood and verisimilitude as well with how Moorcock is both rejecting and seduced by sixties/seventies consumer culture. Cornelius does his best to create chaos and end the old world, but is at the same time careful to keep his creature comforts. It is of course not quite the same, but it has the kind of frustration with modern society and nostalgia for a simpler, more honest past while still fascinated with the gadgets and artifacts of modern life. As yet, nobody has unearthed any short stories or novels that serve as precursors to the Barleypunk phenomenon.

Let me attempt to suggest one possible precursor, partially based in what you say about Gibson in that link to your definition of Barleypunk: his books featured enough brand names and referenced enough forms of music and art to make his works exude a distinctive whiff of verisimilitude. While Cyberpunk was ostensibly a reaction to the hypercommercialisation that began in the 1980s, Gibson wrote about the process having absorbed its mores and values

Rereading Michael Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius Quartet I was struck with the way he uses brandnames to establish mood and verisimilitude as well with how Moorcock is both rejecting and seduced by sixties/seventies consumer culture. Cornelius does his best to create chaos and end the old world, but is at the same time careful to keep his creature comforts.

It is of course not quite the same, but it has the kind of frustration with modern society and nostalgia for a simpler, more honest past while still fascinated with the gadgets and artifacts of modern life.

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