Title: The Difference Engine
Author: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Date of First Publication: 1990
Place of Publication: Gollancz
Type: Novel
Characters: Lord Byron; Ada Lovelace
Themes: RETRO SF; BYRONIC HERO; RACE/POLITICS; POSTHUMAN
Critical Summary: The Difference Engine takes place in the London of an alternate history in which computers have become a reality in 1800s industrial England, radically changing the politics of nineteenth century England, and beyond. The story primarily follows the character of Dr. Edward Mallory, an English paleontologist that receives programming punch cards for these steam-powered computers by accident. He promises to hold them for a distressed woman accompanied by a Captain Swing at a gambling event. Mallory hides the punch cards in the display of his “Leviathan” dinosaur’s head at a museum, and Captain Swing begins to threaten Mallory and send attackers after him to recover the punch cards. Mallory gathers his brothers and a secret police officer to take care of Captain Swing once and for all during a London riot in which Swing mobilizes the lower class to begin a revolution. After the revolution is stopped, the punch cards are returned to their rightful owner – Ada Lovelace, Byron’s daughter. Lovelace delivers a lecture in France regarding the punch cards and a theorem that she has discovered. The story ends with a computer becoming self-aware. The reader learns that the novel is narrated by a computer from an alternate 1991.
Lord Byron does not play a significant role in the story. He serves primarily as historical background for the novel, and is mentioned in passing as the prime minister of England. But his presence promotes the connection of Ada Lovelace to the Byronic Hero theme. The powerful and independent character of Lovelace draws connections to Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein novel. She is referred to throughout the novel as the “Queen of Engines” and plays the most important role in the development of the steam-powered computers in the novel that eventually achieve self-awareness. The inclusion of a strong female character connects to Mary Shelley’s political radicalism and feminism during the 1800s. Gibson and Sterling also connect the novel back to Frankenstein by setting the story during the Romantic era through the conventions of Steampunk and playing with the societal norms of an alternate Victorian era dominated by computer technology. The self-awareness of the computers ultimately mark the story as Posthuman.
Administrative Notes: Kyle Hicks, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF (editing)