Abstract

In Information Multiplicity, Johnston describes how fractalized realism has redefined thought itself - from the High Modernist "stream of consciousness" into what the machine philosopher Daniel Dennett refers to as "multiple drafts" or "circuits" operating concurrently in the human brain. In a series of close readings, Johnston traces how such a viral influx of information into human consciousness has been replicated in works by Thomas Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland), Joseph McElroy (Lookout Cartridge), William Gaddis (JR), Don DeLillo (Libra), and William Gibson (Neuromancer).