Editing The Difference Engine (section)

=== In scholarship ===
The novel has attracted the attention of scholars. [[Jay Clayton, critic|Jay Clayton]] explores the book's attitude toward hacking, and its treatment of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.<ref name=clayton /> Herbert Sussman argues that in the ''The Difference Engine'', Gibson and Sterling rewrite<!--people rewrite, books don't rewrite--> [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel [[Sybil (novel)|''Sybil'']].<ref name=sussman /> [[Brian McHale]] relates this work to [[postmodern]] interest in finding a "new way of 'doing' history in fiction."<ref name=mchale />