Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-233). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

This essay is a comparative anlysis of ”Paycheck”, ”The Minority Report” and ”Adjustment Team” by Philip K. Dick and their film adaptations, Paycheck,  Minority Report and The Adjustment Bureau. I am primarily interested in the political message of the original stories and how it is affected in the process of transmediation into film. The political message is clearly reflected in the way the protagonists’ free will relates to the bigger system of power. This relationship can either problematize the protagonist’s struggle, forcing him to sacrifice something, or simplify the political dimension by letting him overcome every single obstacle. The extent of the political message is enhanced by its allegorical meaning, especially when related to the contemporary reality. Therefore, I will investigate how the texts and films can be read allegorically and what impact the process of adaptation has on the allegories. I will use Fredric Jameson’s approach to allegory that treats it as a method of interpretation and a tool of mediation and understanding the diversity of human experience. I argue that the allegorical element functions rather independently of the literal political message. When some allegorical interpretations are lost, new ones, connected to the sociocultural context of the adaptation are created. All three adaptations reduce the scope of the political message found in the original texts, opting for less reflective entertainment or even action cinema. Nevertheless, on the allegorical level, they offer new interpretations that echo their updated sociocultural conditions. Keywords: Philip K. Dick; Political Message; Allegory; Adaptation

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1990. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2847. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-299).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1932. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 227-278.

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-61).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: [40]-41)

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-61).

Thesis--Freie Universität Berlin. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 9-13).

Ma réflexion s’ancre dans un double constat : le développement de la fiction d’épidémie dans les années 1980 et la moindre reconnaissance d’une oeuvre canonique mais figée dans sa lecture allégorique : La Peste de Camus. Mon projet de recherche se fonde sur la volonté d’ériger le récit d’épidémie en genre à part entière et sur l’hypothèse d’une intertextualité camusienne dans le récit contemporain. Travaillés par cette forme de contagion, les récits du corpus (García Márquez, Le Clézio, Stewart O’Nan, Saramago, Goytisolo) autorisent une approche « allégorique » au sens où Walter Benjamin entend ce terme : écriture de la ruine, de l'éclatement et de la fuite du sens. En retour, cette relecture de La Peste à l’ère contemporaine doit favoriser une approche renouvelée du roman. Plus largement, il s’agit d’évaluer dans quelle mesure la contagion est une métaphore pertinente pour représenter le phénomène littéraire. De fait, le récit d’épidémie se présente comme un espace dialogique où s’entrelacent l’imaginaire de l’auteur et des imaginaires sociaux variés, notamment celui de la « crise postmoderne ». On peut alors considérer ces fictions allégoriques comme des « forme-sens » puisque la contagion y constitue à la fois un thème, un principe esthétique et un enjeu éthique. De ces multiples interactions entre le réel et la fiction émerge alors une dernière forme de contagion : celle qu’implique l’acte de lecture. Dans quelle mesure le lecteur contamine-t-il l’oeuvre ? Comment la fiction peut-elle constituer un « pharmakon » face à la « crise » du monde contemporain ? / My reflexion is rooted in two observations: the development of epidemics in fiction literature in the 80s and the unsatisfying recognition of a work, canonical but frozen in its allegorical reading: La Peste by Camus. My research project is based on the will to build the epidemic story as a genre in its own right and on the assumption of a Camusian intertextuality in contemporary narratives. Under the influence of this form of contagion, the stories of the corpus (García Márquez, Le Clézio, Stewart O'Nan, Saramago, Goytisolo) allow an “allegorical” approach, according to the modern definition of the term offered by Walter Benjamin: the writing of wreck, of break-up, and of the loss of meaning. In return, reading La Peste in the contemporary era must encourage a renewed approach of the novel. Broadly, we want to estimate to what extent the contagion can be a pertinent metaphor to represent the literary field. In fact, the narrative of epidemics appears as a dialogic space where the vision of an author can interact with various social imaginaries, in particular with the idea of a “postmodern crisis”. That’s why we can consider these allegorical fictions as “form-meaning” so far as contagion constitutes a theme, an aesthetical principle and an ethical perspective. From these multiple interactions between reality and fiction, a last form of contagion emerges, implied in the act of reading. To what extent does the reader contaminate the novel? How can fiction constitute a “pharmakon” against the “crisis” of the contemporary world?