ARTICLE

DYSTOPIC SIMULACRA VIRTUAL IDENTITIES AND CULTURAL IMPLOSION IN SHTEYNGARTS SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY

12 Pages : 116-124

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gsr.2022(VII-I).12      10.31703/gsr.2022(VII-I).12      Published : Mar 2022

Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story

    This paper offers a critique of contemporary media culture, virtual identities, and simulacra in the implosion of cultural and human values. The contemporary culture is characterized by media and virtual reality,which reduces the traditional concept of human interaction, language, and culture. The paper interprets Garry Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story in the light of Jameson, Baudrillard and Nicol's concepts of simulacra and media culture. Shteyngart's novel takes the dystopic view of a consumer society where human lives are subject to social media feeds, and human subjectivity is nothing more than an algorithm of credit and ranking. In this dystopic situation, Jameson's aesthetic of cognitive mapping can help to make sense of one's subjectivity and orientation in the culture of simulation and implosion. This paper claims that dystopic simulacra produce virtual identities at the cost of human subjectivity and language, which causes cultural and social implosion.

    Acronyms, Body, Cognitive Mapping, Consumerism, Cultural Implosion, Depthlessness, Dystopic, Language, Postmodernity, Simulacra, Subjectivity
    (1) Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad Shaheen
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government Sadiq Egerton Graduate College, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
    (2) Sohail Ahmad Saeed
    Assistant Professor, Department of English Literature, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Ahmad Naeem
    Lecturer, Department of English Language and Literature Gomal University, D.I.Khan, KP, Pakistan
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Cite this article

    APA : Shaheen, M. M. A., Saeed, S. A., & Naeem, A. (2022). Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story. Global Sociological Review, VII(I), 116-124. https://doi.org/10.31703/gsr.2022(VII-I).12
    CHICAGO : Shaheen, Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad, Sohail Ahmad Saeed, and Ahmad Naeem. 2022. "Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story." Global Sociological Review, VII (I): 116-124 doi: 10.31703/gsr.2022(VII-I).12
    HARVARD : SHAHEEN, M. M. A., SAEED, S. A. & NAEEM, A. 2022. Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story. Global Sociological Review, VII, 116-124.
    MHRA : Shaheen, Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad, Sohail Ahmad Saeed, and Ahmad Naeem. 2022. "Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story." Global Sociological Review, VII: 116-124
    MLA : Shaheen, Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad, Sohail Ahmad Saeed, and Ahmad Naeem. "Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story." Global Sociological Review, VII.I (2022): 116-124 Print.
    OXFORD : Shaheen, Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad, Saeed, Sohail Ahmad, and Naeem, Ahmad (2022), "Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story", Global Sociological Review, VII (I), 116-124
    TURABIAN : Shaheen, Muhammad Mahmood Ahmad, Sohail Ahmad Saeed, and Ahmad Naeem. "Dystopic Simulacra, Virtual Identities and Cultural Implosion in Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story." Global Sociological Review VII, no. I (2022): 116-124. https://doi.org/10.31703/gsr.2022(VII-I).12