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English Language and Literature

Georgia State University

Science fiction

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

"Nam-Shub Versus The Big Other: Revising The Language That Binds Us In Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson, Samuel R. Delany, And Chuck Palahniuk", Jason Michael Embry Apr 2009

"Nam-Shub Versus The Big Other: Revising The Language That Binds Us In Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson, Samuel R. Delany, And Chuck Palahniuk", Jason Michael Embry

English Dissertations

Within the science fiction genre, utopian as well as dystopian experiments have found equal representation. This balanced treatment of two diametrically opposed social constructs results from a focus on the future for which this particular genre is well known. Philip K. Dick’s VALIS, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Samuel R. Delany’s Babel-17, and Chuck Palahniuk’s Lullaby, more aptly characterized as speculative fiction because of its use of magic against scientific social subjugation, each tackle dystopian qualities of contemporary society by analyzing the power that language possesses in the formation of the self and propagation of ideology. The utopian goals of these …


Walter M. Miller, Jr.'S A Canticle For Leibowitz: A Study Of Apocalyptic Cycles, Religion And Science, Religious Ethics And Secular Ethics, Sin And Redemption, And Myth And Preternatural Innocence, Cynthia M. Smith Jun 2006

Walter M. Miller, Jr.'S A Canticle For Leibowitz: A Study Of Apocalyptic Cycles, Religion And Science, Religious Ethics And Secular Ethics, Sin And Redemption, And Myth And Preternatural Innocence, Cynthia M. Smith

English Theses

Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a timeless story about apocalyptic cycles, conflicts and similarities between religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, myth and preternatural innocence. Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific knowledge from the time before nuclear war which devastated the world and reduced humanity to a pre-technological civilization. The Catholic Church and this monastery are portrayed as a bastion of civilization amidst barbarians and a light of faith amidst atheism. Unfortunately, humanity destroys the Earth once again, but Miller ends with two beacons …