Bruce Jensen (b. 1962)
Bantam Spectra
signed and dated '© JENSEN 1994'
mixed media assemblage
30 x 26in. (76.2 x 66cm.)
executed in 1994

The original dust-jacket artwork for the first edition of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age.

The Diamond Age, published in 1995, is an influential work in the post-cyberpunk genre, blending themes of nanotechnology, social class, education, ethnicity and the nature of artificial intelligence. Epic, prophetic, and deeply influential, it won both the Hugo and Locus awards in 1996 and is regarded as a major cornerstone of modern science fiction. It concerns the story of Nell, a girl who is gifted an interactive, electronic book known as A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, which is designed to teach her all that she needs to know and which adapts to her as she grows. Neal Stephenson writes:

The idea came to me when I saw a mobile designed to hang above a crib, with cards that could be swapped out for more complex designs as the baby's visual system developed. I thought, why not create an educational book that would tell the same stories with increasing complexity as the child grew up? The genesis of this book was as simple as that. A little girl finds a magic book that changes her life. One of the girls in the story, Fiona, later became the namesake of early Kindle development efforts, and her name now graces an office building at Amazon.com.

The present artwork illustrated the dust-jacket for the first edition, and is recognisable also as the artwork selected for numerous later editions including the French and German translations. Jensen’s work brilliantly captures the novel's fusion of dystopian futurism and neo-Victorianism, and seems to explore the question of 'conformity or rebellion?' which runs through Stephenson’s narrative. Its striking portrayal of a partial female face at the centre, set against a futuristic backdrop of complex geometries and offset by the rusted metallic browns of the foreground, provides an inspired combination of the post-cyberpunk and steampunk elements which define the novel. The artwork not only complements the complex narrative of The Diamond Age, but has itself become iconic, embodying the visual identity of one of the most influential works in modern science fiction.