Marie Brissett's Elysium

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“Elysium, land of the heroic dead.” (213) The social construction of identity – and history – take on new meaning and importance in Jennifer Marie Brissett’s captivating novel Elysium as the theoretical becomes concretized in startling and compelling ways. What is so tantalizing – to the very edge of frustration at some points – was the briefest of hints the author gives of this ongoing creation, mostly through the intervention/interruption of the computer programming which is re/telling the story of Adrian/ne and Antoin/nette, with Hector/Helen and Dr./Protector Tommy floating in and out for support . This is a plot-twisting story that rewards the readers’ patience with numerous hidden treasures (literary Easter eggs, as it were) dipped in psychological and sociological insights . Although I felt the need to shift perspectives (and therefore genders and …show more content…
The latter might be even tickled to find cognitive estrangement at work here as life/reality/existence here has been fashioned into a startling and startlingly effective novum. And, given the synthesis of machine and body (to the point where the protagonists have literally become ‘ghosts in the machine’) a satisfied Sterling might also readily categorize this work as postmodern cyberpunk .
But the real question here is if Freud would be pleased. The answer is – perhaps? Brissett utilizes his concept of repetition compulsion to some insightful effect, from recycling character names to crafting similar scenarios and even repeating key phrasing (e.g. – description of The Twelve). That repetition compulsion is most often seen in the aftermath of trauma offers critical insight into the psychology of the colonized, a key understanding that is highlighted by the book’s

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