Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction characterized by an anachronistic past with Victorian sensibilities. It may or may not convey the darkness of cyberpunk and can cross the line between fantasy and science fiction. China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station is an example of steampunk.
The term “steampunk” (variously “steam punk”) was originally a slightly sarcastic derivation of “cyberpunk”. Cyberpunk is a flavor of science fiction that is typically set in a dystopian near future, but has overtones of 1940s film noir. The film Bladerunner and Neal Stephenson’s book Snowcrash are essentially cyberpunks.
Steampunk as a descriptive term began to be used in the 1990s to characterize science fiction set in an anachronistic past, where, for example, computers were developed in the Victorian age. Gibson and Sterling’s novel The Difference Engine is an early representative of this class of fiction. The term now embraces fiction that isn’t necessarily set in a variant of our past, but that has a “feel” of Victorian sensibilities about it.
When discussing the difference between science fiction and fantasy, Orson Scott Card (who writes both) is known to have remarked that if it has rivets, it’s science fiction. Now, of course, you don’t even need the rivets, just extruded polymers. I would suggest that if he has rivets and the rivets are highly polished brass, as are the gears and visible dials, then it’s possible you’re in steampunk territory. If all gentlemen wear evening gowns to dinner, you know it. The speculative fiction of HG Wells and Jules Verne has been retroactively classified as steampunk by some.
Steampunk may or may not convey the noir darkness of cyberpunk. Some steampunks exude an air of Victorian innocence and optimism, but they are in the minority. Today, steampunk can even cross the line between fantasy and science fiction.
I would also classify China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station and her later novels set in the world of New Corbuzon as steampunk, although they are set in a world that humans share with other sentient species and magic mixes with technology to create human/machine combinations. I’d put this series in the steampunk category for several reasons: people who have machine parts have been altered as punishment, often for rebelling against the rulers; Government authority is arbitrary and irresponsible; Hydraulics, airships and railways are significant factors; Finally, Mieville’s writing style evokes the sepia tones, crowding and grime of Dickens’ London.
Steampunk is a wonderful subgenre of an already wonderful genre. If you like alternate history sci-fi and a slightly (or very) dark worldview, you’ll probably like steampunk.
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