Date of Award
Fall 12-2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Dr. Daniel Doll
Second Advisor
Dr. Kevin Marti
Third Advisor
Dr. Robin Werner
Abstract
Speculative fiction allows an expanded view of literature and so allows scholars to explore new boundaries in the way words and ideas work. In the titular character of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, the reader sees an expansion of self through liminality while A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick explores its collapse. In order to portray each of these the character examined must move though one seems to move upward and the other downward. This idea of movement is only part of what expands the idea of liminality past the traditional idea of a doorway to create a hallway that the character might traverse on the way from place to place. This is not a redefinition of the term but a revision, a change in the way that we look at the concept as we accept and explore newer genres.
Recommended Citation
Lacy, Dianna C., "Expanding the Definition of Liminality: Speculative Fiction as an Exploration of New Boundaries" (2019). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2698.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2698
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.