Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: J. A. Leo Lemay, Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1982. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-243).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1982. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 240-243.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Liverpool, 1988. / BLDSC reference no.: DX89326.

En 1974, le fameux écrivain de science-fiction Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), une figure centrale de la littérature d'anticipation des États-Unis d’Amérique, vécut une expérience à forte saveur mystique qu'il interpréta comme une conversion religieuse traditionnelle à la lumière des écrits gnostiques de la bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Poisson d’Or, que l’on retrouve dans le premier tome du tryptique métaphysique romanesque de d’Or. notamment grâce aux travaux pionniers d’André Billette traitant de la conversion religieuse comme récit et du professeur Kenneth Ring envisageant le récit de contact extraterrestre comme une voie alternative de transformation psycho-spirituelle. Nous démontrerons ainsi que la récit de la conversion gnostique de Philip K. Dick possède à la fois les caractéristiques du récit de conversion religieuse traditionnelle et du récit de contact extraterrestre.

The concept of home has often been recognized as a foundational concept in popular science-fiction (SF) as the point of departure or place of return in the space odyssey, timetravel mission, or heroic quest. Most SF narratives evidently centre on notions of homelessness, homecomings, threats to home or journeys from it. However, independent of the film’s narrative, home is also considered within SF as the place of the audience member, spatially and temporally, the distinction of which is critical for establishing the alien encounter with the putative future world. As a critical genre, SF continues to offer insights into the contemporary milieu that have significant implications for all areas of cultural research and, more specifically, architecture. While architectural literature and practice has confirmed a sustained interest in SF, representations of home are often overlooked in favour of the various innovations and special effects on-screen. It is the intention of the research to elevate the discussion of home in SF from its often abstract engagement by architectural texts, and more specifically question how notions of home are expressed in SF film through the various narratives and designed environments. Thus, the research posits the notion of home as providing the essential link between SF and architecture by establishing a theoretical framework and detailed analyses of four films adapted from the prolific American SF author, Philip K. Dick: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall (1990), Stephen Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), and Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly (2006). The research examines science, method, and truth, in relation to the foundations of the SF genre and its various representations of home. Furthermore, by comparing and contrasting modern and postmodern approaches to design, similarities are drawn between the cultural mechanisms of SF imagery and architecture. The research draws from SF theorists such as Darko Suvin, Scott Bukatman, and Vivian Sobchack, as well as authors focussed on notions of home such as Witold Rybczynski, Mary Douglas, Juhanni Pallasmaa, and David Morley. Topics related to contemporary identity construction, gender roles, domestic environments, global mobility and connectivity, spectacle, surveillance, tourism, and technology, are scattered throughout the chapters offering a broad survey of the notion of home as represented in contemporary SF with the intent of generating further architectural discussion.

No description available.

Science fiction identifies three characteristics as definitive of and essential to humanity: 1) sentience or self-awareness, 2) emotions, and 3) most importantly, the capacity for sociability. Through the vital possession of these three traits any entity can come to be called human. In the first chapter, I examine Cordwainer Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain" and Samuel R. Delany's "Aye and Gomorrah...," two stories in which human subjects become Other than human. In the second chapter, I explore the prospect of creatures, not biologically human who gain human status through an analysis of Smith's "The Dead Lady of Clown Town" and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the third chapter, I investigate the uniquely science fictional notion that "humanity" does not require biology through a comparison of H.G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau and William Gibson's Idoru. / by Charles Barry Herzek. / Works Cited (p. 54), reflected in the Table of Contents, lacking from the University Library's copy. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references based on the footnotes on pages 51-53. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2008 Mode of access: World Wide Web.