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Riviera's Golem, Haraway's Cyborg: Reading "Neuromancer" as Baudrillard's Simulation of

Crisis
Author(s): Cynthia Davidson
Source: Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 188-198
Published by: SF-TH Inc
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188 SCIENCE-FICTIONSTUDIES, VOLUME 23 (1996)

CynthiaDavidson
Riviera's Golem, Haraway'sCyborg:
ReadingNeuromanceras Baudrillard'sSimulationof Crisis

Baudrillard's"Simulacraand Simulacrum"is a study of the degeneration

of the integrity of the image so far as it is representativeof the real. Early in
the essay, Baudrillarddiscusses the "imperialism"of "present-daysimulators":
Something has disappeared. The sovereign difference between them that was the
abstraction'scharm. For it is the difference which forms the poetry of the map and
the charm of the territory,the magic of the concept and the dreamof the real. This
representationalimaginary, which both culminates in and is engulfed by the
cartographer's mad project of an ideal coextensivity between the map and the
territory, disappearswith simulation, whose operationis nuclearand genetic, and
no longer specularand discursive. With it goes all of metaphysics.No more mirror
of being and appearances, all of the real and its concept; no more imaginary
coextensivity: rather, genetic miniaturizationis the dimension of simulation. The
real is produced from miniaturized units, from matrices, memory banks and
commandmodels-and with these it can be reproducedan infinite numberof times.
It no longer has to be rationalsince it is no longer measuredagainst some ideal or
negative instance. It is nothing more than operational. (167).
The "specularand discursive" traditionof representation,the locus of the
cartographertrying to create a map which exactly representsthe real terrain,
is one of vision, both mental and ocular, one of memory and sight. The map-
maker reproduceswhat he sees and what he knows. Baudrillardconnects this
activity with "magic" and "charm," and specifically states that it is the
difference between the real and the map-which it should be the map-maker's
concern to abolish-that provides this magic and charm. The present-daysimu-
lators are not visionaries; they need neithervision nor memory to create exact
copies of originals. What they do need is a certain technical adeptness-the
ability to effectively operate the machines that produce simulacra;they need
to know the codes that operate the machine's system. This comes to pass in
our own day in the form of a myriad of computerizedartworkwhich can be
reproducedwithoutvariation,each reproductionbeing totallyundistinguishable
from the original.
The traditionalterrain of the artist has been that of the map-maker,one
specular and discursive. The artist's tools have been memory and vision-in
traditionalpainting and sculpture, for example. A moment arrives in William
Gibson's cyberpunkclassic Neuromancerin which the protagonist,Case, ques-
tions the high-resolutionholographicconstructof an old man who is communi-
cating the ideas of a megalithic artificial intelligence known as Wintermute
about the natureof the "unreal"world made of memory into which Case has
been propelled:

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 RIVIERA'SGOLEM,HARAWAY'SCYBORG 189

"What'sout there?New York?Or does it just stop?"

"Well,"said the Finn, "it's like thattree, you know?Fall in the woods,but
maybethere'snobodyto hear it....You can go for a walk, you wanna.It's all
there.Or anywayall the partsof it you ever saw. This is memory,right?I tap
you; sort it out, andfeed it backin."
"Idon'thavethisgooda memory,"Casesaid,lookingaround.He lookeddown
at his hands,turningthemover. He triedto rememberwhatthe lineson his palms
were like, but couldn't.
"Everybodydoes," the Finn said, droppinghis cigaretteand grindingit out
underhis heel, "butnot manyof you canaccessit. Artistscan, mostly,if they're
anygood. If you couldlay thisconstructoverthereality,theFinn'splacein lower
Manhattan,you'd see a difference,but maybe not as much as you'd think.
Memory'sholographic,for you.... I'm different."
"Howdo you mean,holographic?" Thewordmadehimthinkof Riviera.(170)
For this artist, Wintermute(masqueradingas the Finn), the primarytools
of memory and vision are not createdfrom a historic visual generalizationbut
from the machine, or digital level-from the core outward, so to speak. This
is because Wintermuteis a machine.
Case's nickname by bartenderRatz early on is "artiste"(4), a nickname
which is given to him with a degree of irony. Case is from the beginning
strictly a technician, a whiz at learningcodes of operatingsystems. He is one
of those "operational"simulatorsproposed by Baudrillard,who would seem
not to need an imagination. The machines which Case operates perform the
work thatuntil recently would be performedby the specular, discursive imagi-
nation. While Case is spectacularlyadept at what he does, his very adeptness
is hardly dependenton a discursive ability to create in the old artisticway; it
is entirely dependenton his sense of timing, his ability to execute the correct
code at the correct time. When Ratz calls Case "artiste,"he is mocking the
cowboy-on-the-lam as the "artisteof the slightly funny deal," (4), a hustler
whose timing is not quite right, one who's on the road to being replaced.
The "Riviera" mentioned in the quote above is a different sort of artiste,
one in many ways closer to the specular and discursive map-makerdescribed
by Baudrillard.Peter Riviera, the holographicgenius, drug addict, and sexual
pervert who steals many scenes in the second half of Neuromancer, is pos-
sessed of an extraordinaryvisualizing memory and has the ability to turn it
into an effective, if lurid, representationof reality. Granted, Riviera's basic
skills are largely due to technological enhancements,but as Terzi tells Case,
"'Anyone might buy these implants, but this one is most talented"' (90). Riv-
iera's ability to project a multitude of artistic creations shows ability both
specular and discursive, i.e., he can access what he (and perhapsalso others)
had seen and reproduceit at-will, and he can insert these productionsinto the
current scene, or generate new "versions" of reality. Riviera takes delight in
wreakinghavoc on any sort of orderlyprogressionof events, a traitwhich puts
him very much at odds with the order of "operationaladept"representedby
Case and his Wintermute-backedcrew of Molly and Armitage. He is the
ringmasterof his own portablecircus, the archetypeof the performanceartist
who must be viewed as successful if the goal of art is the ensurementof the
participationof the spectator.

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190 SCIENCE-FICTION
STUDIES,VOLUME23 (1996)

Having presented a view of both the traditionalartist/map-makerand the

"present-day"simulatorin the charactersof Case and Riviera, I will use the
rest of this paper to 1) relate these two kinds of charactersto the definitions
of arrestingand generative magic as set forth by William Covino in Magic,
Rhetoric, and Literacy; 2) show how Baudrillard'sfour phases of the image
follows a progression from totally arrestingto totally generativemagic (from
paralysisto chaos); and 3) focus on the pivotal oppositionbetweenRiviera and
Molly as an example of Baudrillard'smanipulatedsimulation of crisis pro-
posed by power (in this case, the artificial intelligences) which ends in Rivi-
era's staged and simulateddeath (his paralysis, i.e., arrestby Molly) and the
purging of his power (the retrieval of his "beautifuleyes" by Neuromancer).
Covino defines arrestingand generative magic in the following manner:
Magicis, in one sense, the impositionby the powerfulfew of bindingconstraints
uponthequestioning many:a programof spellsforarrestingdiscourse.Thisis the
sorceryof autocraticteachersandgovernments; it operatesin manyformsof mass
media, notablyadvertising,and is practicedin some measureby the ostensible
voices of magic, voices of sciencewho attemptto constituteofficialknowledge.
Magic is, in anothersense, the practiceof disruptingand recreatingarticulate
power:a (re)sorceryof spells for generatingmultipleperspectives... .generative
magicis a dialogicalcritiquethatseeksnovelty,originating at a removefromthe
masscultureit wouldinterrogate (Magic8-9).
Case is a cyberspace cowboy, a data thief who practices arresting magic.
He works for establishedpower throughtechnology, the brainchildof science
and corporate power. Riviera's holographs, on the other hand, recreate and
disrupt the established flow of events as they are generatedby the articulate
powers aroundhim, a generative magic. (Note that these labels are not used
to passjudgmentof good or evil usage of power, or even effectiveness/ineffec-
tiveness. In Neuromancer, both Case and Riviera are alternatelyeffective and
ineffective at what they do.) By bringing Riviera into "the plan," Wintermute
makes an allowance for the holographer'sfree play, for his very disruptionof
the plan itself.
Covino proposes "thatmagic can be generativeor arresting,a mode of cre-
ating novel possibilities for actionor a mode of constraint"and quotesKenneth
Burke: "all magic is a strategy calculatedto address a situation 'in the name
of' a certain power" (21). Case practices arrestingmagic in the sense that his
goals are unambiguous(at least until the run for Wintermute,which has no
unambiguousgoal) and his methods of obtainingthese goals-in his work as
a cyberspace cowboy or corporatedata thief-are extremely focused, arrested
on a singularity, executed by his precise knowledge of commands. Riviera
practices a generative magic because his strategy is consistently less focused
on singulargoals, even thoughlike Case he may be employed to use his magic
in the service of others who have such goals, such as the Turkishsecret po-
lice. For Riviera, the achievementor arrestof a goal seems not to be so much
the point as the fun of getting there, the spinning of holographicwebs which
produce awe or fright or disgust in a spectator. Such reactions may be either
integral or incidental to the achievement of any final goal. As we see in the

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 RIVIERA'S GOLEM, HARAWAY'S CYBORG 191

scenes in Freeside, Riviera is not above tossing aside all achievementstoward

a goal-one that never was his to begin with-for the sheer thrill of the per-
verse, and for the shocked reaction of whatever audiencehappens to occupy
his moment.

Baudrillard's four successive phases of the image can be said to mark a

movement from arrestingto generative magic:
1) It is the reflection of a basic reality. [The reality is one with the image; they are
arrested. There is little sense of constraintbecause the image is at ease with the
reality. Example: A box with a picture of a doughnuton it encases an identical
item.]
2) It masks and perverts a basic reality. [The image differs from the reality. It can
be seen as that which it is not. Here the image is most constrainedand the most
tension occurs. Example: "Victoria"removes her wig onstage to reveal that she is
in reality "Victor."]
3) It masks the absence of a basic reality. [The image can representmany things,
which are not necessarily related to each other. The image gradually ceases to
constrain and provides a forum for the generation of multiple personas and/or
meanings. Example: An illusionist who is known by many names and identities;
a shape-shifter.]
4) It bears no relationto any reality whatever; it is its own pure simulacrum.[The
image is its own truth. It representsnothing of substance-or maybe the image is
substance enough. The image exists simply to generate a plethoraof personas or
meanings-generative magic. Example: television signals, which seem to consist
of little or no substance, except for their effect] (170).

In Neuromancer, these four stages relate, albeit ratherroughly, to various

characters:Case and Linda, to stage one; Molly and Riviera, to stage two;
Armitage/Corto to stage three; Neuromancer, Wintermute, and Riviera's
projections to stage four. These are very rough approximations,as certainly
Case is not strictly "paralyzed"any more than the AIs are "chaotic"in their
activities.
Essentially, Case's image is not hiding anythingthat is divorced from his
larger nature. He is so simple in this way that he even baffles Riviera's
imagination;as described in the scene of the holographictriptych: "Here, it
was as if Riviera.. .had been able to find anything worthy of parody. The
figure that slouched there was a fair approximationof the one he glimpsed
daily in mirrors"(Gibson 209). The stage four generativeability of the AIs is
limited by their divided nature, their "bicamerality"to use an organic term;
when they join together, it is implied, these limitationswill be overcome. In
fact, it is the AI's apparentdesire to combine and achieve the full generative
magical potential of the matrix that propels "the plan" instilled by Marie-
France Tessier-Ashpool. This magical potential, of course, is not necessarily
chaos. By the end of the novel, as the constructof the Finn announces "I'm
the matrix" and "Things are things" (269-70), it would seem that the suppo-
sedly fully generative magician of the matrix is not especially interested in
disruptingthe status quo at all.
Through the four progressive stages of Baudrillard,since the image re-

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192 SCIENCE-FICTION
STUDIES,VOLUME23 (1996)

mains intact, there is no apparentprogressionfrom arrestingparalysisto gen-

erative chaos. Wintermutecan generate forms which approximatehuman fa-
miliarity and hide the fact that it is a machine. It appears to people as a
familiar, if not necessarily "safe," personality:Lonny Zone, the Finn, Armi-
tage's general, for example. When presented as itself, a set of sparks and
parts, the machine is viewed as a kind of chaos, a non-entityby human stan-
dards. It needs to hide the fact that it is a mere machine, that "it is nothing
more than operational," that it obliterates "the magic of the concept and the
charm of the real" (Baudrillard167). Wintermuteis aware of its limitations,
as in the scene where it attemptsto communicateto Case througha construct
of Linda Lee and fails (Gibson 111). His "otherhalf," Neuromancer,seems
to overcome this limitation, appropriatingthe image throughmetaphoriclan-
guage: ""I call up the dead. But no, my friend...I am the dead, and their
land"' (244). Some time later, he obliteratesthe differencebetweenthatwhich
he creates and that which was created by other, establishedforces: "'To live
here is to live. There is no difference"' (258). The fourth stage of simulacra
is asserted, throughthis appropriatingprocess of metaphor,to be the first, as
Neuromancerpractices arrestingmagic, claiming thathis images are one with
the real.
Both AIs focus their generative power through the image of their names,
Wintermuteand Neuromancer.Wintermutemutesthe realityof the "machine"
behind the image so that it can communicatewith or "charm"its human con-
tact. In its initial contacts with humanity,the image announces, in a variety of
ways, its falseness to the contact; it seems to be able to appearonly as author-
ity figures or other people for whom the human contact had little affection-
when Wintermutetries to appearto Case as Linda, his lover, it fails. In other
words, Wintermuteseems only to be able to appearas the Alien: a humanim-
age, but one which is cold as winter and which mutes the ordinary, safe, fa-
miliar human discourse which it strives to mimic. (It pays to recall that Win-
termute originally contacted Lady 3Jane Tessier-Ashpool, youngest member
of a cryogenically preservedfamily, througha computer-terminalmade of gold
encrusted with jewels-a brittle symbolic rendering of the family itself.)
Neuromancer, whose name combines necromancy (one who commands the
spirits of the dead to do his bidding) and neuro (nerves) translatesroughly to
one who commandsthe nerves to do his bidding. The small boy whose image
graces Case's communicationswith this Al also known as Rio (a warm place;
to be set apartfrom Berne, the Germanplace-nameof Wintermute)forces the
human contact to accept its productionsas reality, or at least as no different
than reality. Neuromancer's images of Linda Lee impel Case to accept that
there is an impermeabledifference between what his memory tells him-that
Linda is dead-and what his nerves tell him-that she is present, not just on
a screen, but in his arms, not just an alien somethingthat appearsto be Linda.
It is Neuromancerwho thaws cyberspace's icy alienness, who disallows the
cranky malaise of the Tessier-Ashpoolsto favor something quicker, warmer,
less obviously necro and more neuro.
One can study this difference between Wintermuteand Neuromancerby

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 RIVIERA'SGOLEM,HARAWAY'SCYBORG 193

using two images from ScottButkatman'sTerminal Identity, a study of the

virtual subject in post-modem science fiction. The first, which pertains to
Wintermute,is generatedby Baudrillardand William S. Burroughs:
...as a finalescapefromthe controllersof the language/self,Burroughs advocates
the use of the SilenceVirus,whichcan be partiallyregardedas a retreatintothe
unwritable... .Transcendencemightinvolveescapefromthe text or mediumover
whichthe subjecthas no control....Baudrillard also writesof terroristactivityas
theproduction of a meaningless,thatis to say a silent,speech.ForbothBurroughs
andBaudrillard, then,a spectacularsilenceconstitutes onepossible-butultimately
inadequate-formof resistanceto the spectacular order(79).
Given Wintermute'sinvolvement with various terroristactivities and acti-
vists-the Modems, even Riviera-the name may be seen to denote a silent
speech bom of resistance to the spectacularorder developed as part of the
Tessier-Ashpool empire. Neuromancer, on the other hand, recalls nothing
more vividly than McLuhan's "mass man":
...what is involvedis a projectionor transmissionof the humanintothe "infinite
datascape" andthe concurrentconstructionof a specialsimulacrumof the invisible
circulationof information.These narrativesliteralizedMcLuhan'svision of a
prostheticextensionof the humannervoussysteminto new fields of electronic
environment,grantingthe process an importantspatialitywhich representsa
simultaneous groundinganddislocatingof a humanbodilyexperience(118).
The "narratives"in which Case plays a role at Neuromancer'sbidding or
direction-it's not certain what sort of will the AIs exhibit-seem to be of this
sort, especially Case's experience at the novel's end of seeing the man (him-
self), woman (Linda), and child (Neuromancer)runningacross a beach in the
sky.
So much for the extreme (first and fourth) stages of simulacra. The third,
representedby Armitage/Corto, shows an image carefully created to mask a
disintegratingassemblage of personalityparts. Corto's schizophrenia,created
by the traumasand twists of ScreamingFist, destroyedthe originalpersonality
and arrestedit, in true Freudianfashion, at the primal scene of its dissolution.
Wintermutecreated a new image-Armitage, a prepackagedpersonalitythat
Wintermuteattemptsto managethroughordersand manipulativecues. Eventu-
ally the original arrested personality attempts to regain control, bursting
through the simulated self, but it cannot regain control because it no longer
lives in real time and has forfeited its place as a part of the real. It is the
simulated self, Armitage, who lives in the real, while it (Corto) is doomed,
like the victim of some "Twilight Zone" horror, to live in the bubble of its
own past. Unlike Neuromancer, who nourishes Case's more apparentneeds
at their root, Wintermutedoes nothing to resolve the basic needs of Corto,
who destroys both real self and simulacrum.
The most dynamic of Baudrillard'sstages may be, however, the second
stage. In this, a basic reality is merely pervertedby an image. This, it seems
to me, is the true stage of sex and politics, of theaterand intrigue, of religion
after the miracles have been performedand the childrenhave been put to bed.
Into this category I place Molly and Peter Riviera. Both are essentially at the

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194 SCIENCE-FICTIONSTUDIES, VOLUME 23 (1996)

same stage of development. Both Peter and Molly pervert expectations

generated by their initial appearances. Molly sports external technological
enhancements-her lenses and razor-nails-which distorther natural(organic)
appearance,makingher appearboldly transgressive.She also appearsto tran-
scend, or transgress, all gender expectations in her line of work as hired
"muscle."
In the course of the story, however, we find that, at least given the novel's
cosmos, Molly has fairly conventional standards.She works for established
corporate power; she doesn't ask her employers too many questions if the
money is good; she likes expensive technologicaltoys; she likes her sex fairly
straightand is outragedto violence when she finds she's been used as a snuff-
puppet; she has been in love. Molly's conventionalityis one which bows to
technology as a source of power and then uses that power to carve her own
identity. Physically and psychologically she is a cyborg, the subjectof Donna
Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto", which Covino summarizes:
Harawaysees thattherehasbeena shiftin thiscenturyfroman identifiable "White
CapitalistPatriarchy" to a morefaceless"Informaticsof Domination," a movement
from"anorganic,industrialsocietyto a polymorphous information system-from
all workto all play"(161). Sherecognizesthattheplayethiccan informa "deadly
game,"in whichthe "managers" of "communications engineering" dominatethose
whocannotplayon the integrated circuitas they.At the sametime,the infomatics
of dominationis the only gamein town, andHaraway'sadviceis not to resistit,
but rather,to code it. Thatis, becometechnologically literateenoughto become
an "oppositional cyborg"who will rewritethe dominating textsof the culturein
fusionwith its enablingtechnology.As she says, "Cyborgwritingis aboutthe
powerto survive,noton thebasisof originalinnocence,buton thebasisof seizing
the tools to markthe workthatmarked[thewriter]as other"(175). ("Grammars"
20-21).
Molly "code[s] it," like Case, by being an operationaladept. As he obeys
the codes of cyberspace, so she obeys the codes of the street. Never pleading
innocence, she is fully preparedto admit that she knew how she was being
exploited as a "meatpuppet," but kept on because the money was good (Gib-
son 148). However, her buried rage about this event is both what allows her
to hate the misogynistic exploits of Riviera and what allows Riviera to
manipulateher.
Riviera's image is nearly opposite of Molly's. He looks organicallynatural,
with a classically "beautiful"appearanceand riveting blue-gray eyes (97 ).
However, this calm demeanor masks seething and contradictoryimpulses
exercised with a gleeful disdain for their effect on humanity,which sets Molly
on edge before she ever meets him:
"Whatdo we wantout of thatRiviera?"[Case]asked,hopingto changethe
subject.
She spatintothe pond."Godknows.I'd as soonkill himas lookat him. I saw
his profile. He's a kind of compulsiveJudas.Can't get off sexuallyunlesshe
knowshe's betrayingthe objectof desire.That'swhatthefile says. Andtheyhave
to love him first. Maybehe loves themtoo....if he foundone he reallywanted,
he'd makesureshe'dturnpolitical....He's got a personalitylike a Modern'ssuit.

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 RIVIERA'SGOLEM,HARAWAY'SCYBORG 195

The profilesaidit was a very raretype, estimatedone in a coupleof million....I

thinkI'm goingto haveto buy myselfsomespecialinsuranceon thatPeter."(96)
Peter's "personalitylike a Modem's suit" is one that generatesforms, like
a chameleon, to fit any context on its way to committingpleasurableterrorist
acts. (This perhaps explains his alliance with Wintermute,if you will recall
Burroughs' assessment of terrorism as "silent speech.") Riviera's first con-
frontationwith Molly occurs when he creates her holographicdouble in a cab-
aret act called "The Doll." Here Riviera tells and acts out (holographically)
the story of a fantasized woman (Molly) who turns against its creator during
sexual intercourseand rips him to shreds with her razor-nails.Riviera creates
the doll in the fashion of a Cabalisticgolem1piece by piece, with mock-pious
concentration. "'I don't know when I first began to dream of her,' he said,
'but I do remember that at first she was only a haze, a shadow... .I decided
that if I could visualize some part of her, only a small part, if I could see that
part perfectly, in the most perfect detail...."' (139). Later, Case realizes this
is "Molly's body... .But it wasn't Molly; it was Molly as Riviera imagined
her" (140). Riviera creates his golem in the "magic" map-maker'sfashion,
using memory and imagination for the satisfaction, presumably, of his own
lust, and for the satisfaction and/or irritationof his audience-especially the
two women to which the piece is dedicated, 3Jane and Molly. Visualizing
Molly as a dream/nightmarelover leads Riviera to act as if the real Molly as
well as the holographic Molly are products of his own creation. In Baudril-
lard's definitionof the hyperreal,the model precedes the real, which is simply
the readout of the generative simulacrum (Csicsery-Ronay 390). Riviera's
relationshipwith the simulacrumMolly precedes and configures the outcome
of his adventureswith the real Molly.
This sets the stage for the showdown between Riviera and Molly-who, of
course, are both supposed to be working for Wintermute.This would seem to
be a conflict of interests, but not accordingto Baudrillard:
For the Right itself also spontaneouslydoes the work of the Left. All the
hypothesesof manipulation arereversiblein anendlesswhirligig.Formanipulation
is a floatingcausalitywherepositivityand negativityengenderandoverlapwith
one another;wherethereis no longerany activeor passive.It is by puttingan
arbitrarystopto this revolvingcausalitythata principleor politicalrealitycanbe
saved.It is by the simulationof a conventional,restrictedperspectivefield, where
the premisesandconsequencesof any act or eventare calculable,thata political
credibilitycanbe maintained (including,of course,"objective" analysis,struggle,
etc.) But if the entirecycle of any act or event is envisagedin a systemwhere
linearcontinuityand dialecticalpolarityno longerexist, in a field unhingedby
simulation,everyact terminatesat the endof the cycle havingbenefitedeveryone
andbeen scatteredin all directions(174).
The conflict between Molly and Riviera can be read as staged by the AIs,
a simulation of crisis which benefits the final goal-the totally generative
magical fulfillmentof Wintermuteand Neuromancer.It seems likely thatWin-
termutesensed the conflict thatwould occur between Molly and Riviera. Win-
termuterealizes that Case would become devoted to Molly and that Riviera's
treatmentof her-as viewed by Case throughher eyes, in the simstim rig-

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196 SCIENCE-FICTIONSTUDIES, VOLUME 23 (1996)

would motivateCase to work harder.Riviera'sperversionsarouseMolly's

anger,motivatingher to go afterhim as well as 3Jane,andbecomea source
of fascinationfor 3Jane,promptingher to let him into her homein the first
place. Afterhis treatmentof Molly provokes3Janeto unleashher ninjaon
him, Rivieraseemsto havebroughtmisfortuneuponhimselfin a fairlydra-
maticmanner.However,it soon becomesclearthathis "death"is not at all
spontaneous,but carefullypremeditated by Molly, with 3Jane'sassistance,
followingWintermute's orders:"'Ipoisonedhis shitforhim,' she said. 'Con-
dition'slike Parkinson'sdisease,sortof... .Speededup the reactiontimeswith
highertemperatures-N-methyl-4-phenyl-1236,' shesang,like a childreciting
the steps of a sidewalkgame, 'tetra-hydro-pyridene"' (252-253).Rivierais
madeto "'freezeup. Won'tbe ableto move, his eyes is all'" (252). Molly's
playfulglee at recitingthis "code"is thatof Haraway'scyborg,who masters
the master'stools andknowsthe rightwordsto empowerherself,butwho, as
WilliamCovinoshows,is stillnot reallyworkingfor herself,whenone looks
at the big picture:"Thecyborg-governedas she is by a technologicallan-
guagethatprecededher emergence-mustuttera preciseandpiousgrammar
to get anyplaceat all" ("Grammars" 25). Butshe doescomeouton topof this
smallerscaleconflict;happilypaid,perhapsshehasno reasonto confrontthe
"masters"any further.
Riviera,however,is thoroughlyarrested.Baudrillard states,"Everyform
of power,everysituationspeaksof itselfby denialin orderto attemptescape,
by simulationof death,its realagony.Powercan stageits own murderto re-
discovera glimmerof existenceandlegitimacy"(177). Rivierais paralyzed
butnotkilled;his "beautiful" eyes canmove,indicatingthathis consciousness
apparentlysurvives.Symbolically,andimportantly, the animateeyes are all
thatsurviveof Riviera's"vision." Thetalentwhichgenerateshis productions
of unresolvedhungersandlusts,of strictlypersonalneed,of addiction,is used
by Wintermute andthendisposedof. Riviera'spower,whichhasbeendefined
as one of visualizingimagination,is retrievedby Wintermute'sself-styled
"brother,"Neuromancer:
"You've got Riviera's eyes," Case said.
Therewas a flash of white teeth, long pink gums. "Butnot his craziness.
Because they are beautiful to me." He shrugged. "I need no mask to speak with
you. Unlikemy brother.I createmy ownpersonality.Personality
is my medium."
(Gibson259).
Neuromancer receivesRiviera's"beautiful" eyes, his powerto visualize,
as a resultof thepurgingof Rivieraby via Wintermute-thegoal-oriented half
of the AI duowho only neededRivierato get intothe Tessier-Ashpool home-
stead,andthensaw fit to disposeof him. It is Neuromancer who valuesRivi-
era'seyes, the symbolof creativevisionwhichis not practical,whichhas no
cleargoal in mind,whichgeneratesan endlessvariation.As Baudrillard says,
"Everything is metamorphosedinto its inverseorderto be perpetuated in its
purgedform"(177). Riviera'sinverse,Molly, is able to purgethe powerof
its agonybut retainits beauty.After this purging,Neuromancer is free to
claim artisticvision as his own, devoid of any connotationsof insanityor
perversitythatRivieramighthavebroughtto it.

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 RIVIERA'S
GOLEM,
HARAWAY'S
CYBORG 197

Riviera'spersonalpartin his demisecomesfromthe factthathe confuses

the real Molly with the simulacrum,the "golem"he had createdin his act.
Since RivieraenjoysMolly'spresenceas an extension,or perhapseven (he
thinks)as a resultof his fantasiesandprojections,she is embodiedfor him as
a complexmeatpuppetwho performsto fit his whim,story,or versionof re-
ality. Of course,Mollyis not a golem,buta cyborg.LikeHaraway'scyborg,
she is "a self within a field of selves, a mobile operativewho traverses
culturesandcountercultures .... Thecyborg...repelsthegolem:whilethegolem
is the productof andthe testamentto perfectlanguage,the cyborgmodelsthe
corruptgrammarof spareparts"(Covino"Grammars" 22). Hervery cyborg
natureallows for the simstimunit which allows Case to work with her in
cyberspace,a unitRivieramissesdetectingin his driveto satisfyhis addiction.
NorbertWeinersays in Godand Golem,Inc. that"boththe creationand
use of cyberneticmachinesmustnot attemptto pre-empta non-human perfect
intelligencethatcontainsthe lexiconof all possiblecontingenciesanddeter-
minesgoodandevil"(Covino"Grammars" 17). Defyingsucha warning,Riv-
iera receives a variationon the ancientpunishmentof transgressivegolem
makers:he is unwrittenby the creationhe thoughthe created(Molly, who
dismantleshim with the languageof his own pharmacology) andturnedinto
a lump of clay, waitingto be resurrectedin a form more favorableto his
creator.
NOTES
1. A golem is an artificial humanoid said to have been magically created by
Cabalistic initiates. Traditionally, a golem is created by recitation of the Hebrew
alphabetin all of its possible permutationsand combinations,a process which is said
to take up to nearly two days. In some traditions, the golem is said to be a spiritual
entity, but in others a physical being is created from clay. Portions of the body form
piece by piece during the process (hence I liken Riviera's creation of the holographic
Molly to the creation of a golem). If the initiates make a mistake, or are not in a state
of grace during the recitation, the mistake turns on the speaker and deforms him in a
mannerappropriateto the error (i.e., a mistakemade while creatingthe legs will affect
the legs of the speaker in some way). At least by analogy-and perhapsby more-this
is what happens to Riviera, who generates forms which wrest power from others and
ends by being paralyzed, unable to exercise his own power which is taken away by
Neuromancer. Case, whose talent is in executing the right command (word, code) at
the correct time is closer to the sounder spirit of CabalisticcreativitythanRiviera with
his corruptactivities.
For a historicaldiscussion of golemmaking,see GershomScholem, On the Kabbalah
and Its Symbolism. New York: Schoken Books, 1960. 158-204.

WORKS CITED
Baudrillard,Jean. "Simulacraand Simulacrum."Selected Writings.Ed. Mark Poster.
Stanford: StanfordUP, 1988. 166-184.
Bukatman, Scott. Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Post-Modern Science
Fiction. Durham: Duke UP, 1993.
Covino, William. "Grammarsof Transgression: Golems, Cyborgs, and Mutants."
Forthcoming in Rhetoric Review, 1996.
. Magic, Rhetoric, and Literacy: An Eccentric History of the Composing
Imagination. NY: SUNY, 1994.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
198 SCIENCE-FICTIONSTUDIES, VOLUME 23 (1996)

Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., Istvan. "The SF of Theory: Baudrillardand Haraway." SFS

18:387-404, #55, Nov 1991.
Haraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto:Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism
in the Late Twentieth Century." Simians, Cyborgs, and Women:The Reinvention
of Nature. NY: Routledge, 1991. 149-181.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. NY: Ace Books, 1984.

ABSTRACT
In Gibson's Neuromancer, Riviera and Case serve as examples of two creators con-
trasted by Jean Baudrillardin "Simulacraand Simulacrum":the specular, discursive
representationalartist, and the operationaladept who efficiently codes the machines
which perform work that until recently would have been performedby the specular,
discursive imagination.Case and Rivieracan be categorized, respectively, as magicians
who practice what William Covino has called arrestingand generative magic. Case is
a cyberspace cowboy who steals or "arrests"data, working for establishedpower by
operatingtechnology, the brainchildof science and corporatepower-two voices which
constituteofficial knowledge. Riviera's holographicdisplays, on the other hand, recre-
ate and disrupt the established flow of events as they are generated by the articulate
powers around him. Baudrillard'sfour phases of the image mark a movement from
arrestingto generative magic, the most dynamic of these being the second, ripe for a
simulationof crisis. The conflict between Molly and Riviera can be read as this kind,
staged by the AIs, benefiting their final goal of unifying to become the matrix, that
most adeptof all generative magicians. Molly "arrests"Riviera's power by paralyzing
him with poison-a simulated death. (CD)

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