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Ubiquitous entropy and heat death in Philip K. Dick and Pamela Zoline
- Date Issued:
- 2006
- Summary:
- My scientifically informed readings of Philip K. Dick's Ubik (1969) and Pamela Zoline's "The Heat Death of the Universe" (1967) consider entropy's multifarious meanings from both thermodynamics and information theory. Additionally, rather than relying upon overarching assumptions about the texts' cultural moment, I explore each fiction's presentation of entropy as negative or positive. For Dick, the loss of female mothering accelerates the heat death of late-capitalistic society, with entropy a negative, destructive force. Zoline, however, recognizes the injurious ramifications of entrapping women within the gender role of self-sacrificing wife/mother; her protagonist purposefully accelerates entropy production to destroy such a closed system.
Title: | Ubiquitous entropy and heat death in Philip K. Dick and Pamela Zoline. |
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Name(s): |
Kasdorf, Krista. Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor Scroggins, Mark, Thesis advisor |
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Type of Resource: | text | |
Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
Issuance: | monographic | |
Date Issued: | 2006 | |
Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
Place of Publication: | Boca Raton, Fla. | |
Physical Form: | application/pdf | |
Extent: | 79 p. | |
Language(s): | English | |
Summary: | My scientifically informed readings of Philip K. Dick's Ubik (1969) and Pamela Zoline's "The Heat Death of the Universe" (1967) consider entropy's multifarious meanings from both thermodynamics and information theory. Additionally, rather than relying upon overarching assumptions about the texts' cultural moment, I explore each fiction's presentation of entropy as negative or positive. For Dick, the loss of female mothering accelerates the heat death of late-capitalistic society, with entropy a negative, destructive force. Zoline, however, recognizes the injurious ramifications of entrapping women within the gender role of self-sacrificing wife/mother; her protagonist purposefully accelerates entropy production to destroy such a closed system. | |
Identifier: | 9780542739231 (isbn), 13359 (digitool), FADT13359 (IID), fau:10209 (fedora) | |
Collection: | FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection | |
Note(s): |
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2006. |
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Subject(s): |
Entropy (Information theory) Literature and science Science fiction, American--History and criticism Dick, Philip K--Criticism and interpretation Zoline, Pamela,--1941---Criticism and interpretation |
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Held by: | Florida Atlantic University Libraries | |
Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13359 | |
Sublocation: | Digital Library | |
Use and Reproduction: | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder. | |
Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
Host Institution: | FAU | |
Is Part of Series: | Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections. |