Cyberpunk is first of all a literary movement of mainly American science fiction writers.

The literary roots of cyberpunk can be traced to the so-called "New Wave" movement of 1960's and 1970's, the previous revolution in science fiction and the early postmodern literature.

Alhthough cyberpunk originated as a counter movement against the apparent failure of the "New Wave" to respond to the contemporary social and technological development, they have more in common with each other than with the so-called mainstream science fiction that has formed the bulk of the genre throughout it's history. The New Wave, represented by writers like Samuel R. Delany and Robert Heinlein was a literarily ambitious movement in science fiction that had previously been associated almost exclusively with popular culture.

It introduced experimentation with the literary form to the genre that had been very conventional in it's use of language. It also marked the beginning of truly socially conscious science fiction. The "New Wave" applied for the first time the "soft", humanist sciences, anthropology, sociology and psychology in science fiction environment and explored themes like gender issues and the relationship between science and religion.

Also cyberpunk was in many ways a turning point in science fiction. Whereas New Wave usually extrapolated from a single idea, cyberpunk took the larger view that things do not develop in isolation. By considering the many factors that could affect our future, cyberpunk led the way towards a more credible speculation. Cyberpunk took at it's starting point the contemporary society and it's likely development trends. They all are extrapolated "30 seconds" into the future resulting in a

Cyberpunk represented to some extent a return to the popular culture roots of science fiction. On the surface level, even the most literarily ambitious cyberpunk fiction follows the postmodern trend of pastiche and using popular culture as a medium. Especially the influence of hard boiled detective fiction is clearly evinent in the genre defining works Neuromancer and Blade Runner.

Cyberpunk narrative tends to be fast-paced and violent and post by information overload. throwing in concepts without explanation.

Before cyberpunk became established as a genre, many of the themes and stylistic devices had already been used by early postmodern writers, some of them writing on the fringe areas of science fiction. Writers like William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick influenced the genre and narrative

Although William Gibson himself has been unwilling to categorize his fiction and has never explicitly referred to it as cyberpunk, it is generally thought to cyberpunk fiction in it's purest literary form. The hard core of the style and themes of what is now thought to constitute cyberpunk in it's purest literary form was defined in William Gibson's Neuromancer and his fiction has been the focus of literary analysis of the genre. The mostly commercial "hardcore" cyberpunk that features the utilises the devices, cybernetics, cyberspace, mega-corporations. The elements are adopted by the mainstream science fiction.

Like punk music, Cyberpunk is in some sense a return to the roots. The Cyberpunks are perhaps the first SF generation to grow up not only within the literary tradition of Science Fiction but in a truly Science Fictional world. For them, the techniques of classical 'hardSF'--extrapolation, technological literacy-- are not just literary tools but an aid to daily life. They are a means of understanding and are highly valued." (Bruce Sterling, 1986)