Thanks to Frank Bertrand for contibuting this index.
Theses/Dissertations on Philip K. Dick
compiled by Frank C. Bertrand
The following list has been culled primarily from Dissertation
Abstracts and is probably incomplete. If you should know of any corrections or additions to this compilation, please forward all relevant information via email to philipkdickfans[at]gmail[dot]com. If you want to obtain a copy of one or more of them, most American dissertations are available in one of the following formats: microfilm /fiche, softcover paper, hardcover paper, and dissertation express unbound paper. You can visit the UMI web site for pricing and additional info about getting a copy.
Note: the Barlow, Benjamin(main body of thesis), Benjamin(appendix and bibliography), Boyd, De Meester and Akgiray theses are available in online versions.
Last updated: 1/31/2012
Brad Congdon
Prophet of the postmodern: the problem of authenticity in the works of Philip K. Dick
David Benjamin
The Black Iron Prison of Philip K. Dick
Gregory MacKenzie Humphrey
The Evolution of the Robotic Other in Science Fiction Film and Literature: from the Age of the Human to the Era of the Post-human
Jason Michael Embry
“Nam-Shub versus the Big Other: Revising the Language that Binds Us in Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson, Samuel R. Delany, and Chuck Palahniuk
Karl Luther Shaddox
Accommodating the Posthuman in Twentieth Century Dystopian Literature
Eugenia Barthelmess
Politics and Metaphysics in Three Novels of Philip K. Dick
Valerie Rose Holliday
Conspiracy Culture In America After World War II
Meva Ayse Akgiray
From Science Fiction To Postmodernism In Three Novels Of American Writer Philip K. Dick’s: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Man In The High Castle, Valis
2003
MA Thesis in American Studies
Bogazici University (Istanbul/Turkiye)
Advisor: Proff. Aslý Tekinay
Sinead Boyd
Does anyone have the right time, please? A new perspective on time travel narratives in the 1950s & 1960s
2003
MA in Literary and Cultural Studies
University of Lancaster (England)
Advisor: Dr. Lee Horsley
Joshua Benjamin Lukin
A literature of suspicion: Critiques of nineteen fifties ideals in American roman noir (Patricia Highsmith, Jim Thompson, Philip K. Dick), 200 pp., 2003
PhD Dissertation
State University Of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, New York)
Advisor: Professor Stefan Fleischer
Kai Sormunen
What If Our World Is Their Heaven? Utopias in Philip K. Dick’s Eye In The Sky, ? pp., 2003
MA Thesis
University of Joensuu (Joensuu, Finland)
Advisor: ?
Jason Benjamin Ambrosiano
Glasses brilliant: Religion in the American Postmodern novel (Philip K. Dick, Catholic authors, Jewish postmodern novelists, Toni Morrison), 213 pp., 2002
PhD Dissertation
University of California, Riverside (Riverside, California)
Advisor: Emory Elliott
Jean-Thomas Nicole
L’oeuvre du phenix: Entre recit traditionnel et contact extraterrestre: La conversion gnostique de Philip K. Dick (French text), 187 pp., 2002
MA Thesis
Universite Laval (Canada)
Advisor: Louis Painchaud
Giuliano Bettanin
Philip K. Dick’s Postmodern Adventure: A Thematic Overview and Selective Close Reading of the Short Stories, ? pp., 2002
Tesi di Laurea
Universita’ di Padova (Padua, Italy)
Advisor: Professor William Boelhower
Alexander Kossey
Reality, Entropy and Schizophrenia in the Three Novels of Philip K. Dick, ? pp., 2002
Senior Thesis
Boston University (Boston, Mass.)
Advisor: Professor Paul Blanchard
David Benjamin
The Black Iron Prison of Philip K. Dick, 111 pp., 1996
BA Honors Thesis
Portland State University (Portland, Oregon)
Advisor: Tony Wolk
LeeAnn Cooper Garrick
Exploring Humanness in Nonhumans: The Cyborg in Contemporary Fiction (R. Powers, Philip
K. Dick, R. Scott, L. Wachowski), 108 pp., 2001
MA Thesis
University of Alaska at Anchorage (Anchorage, Alaska)
Advisor: ?
Selene Verri
Politiche parallele: Potere e scrittura nella fantascienza di lingua inglese 1945-2000 (long discussion of High Castle), 139 pp., 2001
Tesi di Laurea (Graduation Thesis)
Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan, Italy)
Advisors: Caroline Patey, Carlo Pagetti
Helen Lisa Howard
Hidden in perfect day: paranoia and schizophrenia in the speculative
fiction of Philip K. Dick,
144 pp., 2000
MA Thesis
Trent University (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)
Advisor: John A. Fekete
Jasna Koteska
Post-Gender Identities as a Metaphor (Philip K. Dick, William
Gibson), 60pp., 2000
MA Thesis
Central European University (Budapest, Hungary)
Advisor: Peter Krasztev
Irene Panzeri
Il modello dell’ucronia in Philip K. Dick, ? pgs., 2000
Tesi di laurea
Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (Milan, Italy)
Advisor: ?
Philippe Rouby
Philip K. Dick, Nommer la psychose pour s’en défendre. Essai sur l’utilisation des concepts psychiatriques et psychologiques dans l’oeuvre littéraire d’un écrivain de science-fiction, 81 pp., 2000
Thése de doctorat en médecine (psychiatrie)
Université Claude Bernard, Lyon I (France)
Advisor: Gilles Burloux
Pamela Renee Jackson
The World Philip K. Dick Made, 194 pp., 1999
PhD Thesis
University of California, Berkeley
Advisor: Marianne Constable
Klaus Lehrhofer
Blade Runner, Total Recall and Scremers: Philip K. Dick in Film, ? pp., 1999
MA Thesis
University of Graz (Austria)
Advisor: ?
Frans Ilkka Mäyrä
Demonic Texts and Textual Demons: The Demonic Tradition, the Self, and Popular Fiction (Levin, Blatty, Rice, Barker, P.K. Dick, Gibson), 344 pgs., 1999
PhD Thesis
University of Tampere (Tampere, Finland)
Advisor: Professor Pekka Tami
Yuji Oniki
Haunted Communities: Literature and the Sixties (France, Japan, Georges
Perec, Shuji
Terayama, Philip K. Dick), 224 pp., 1999
PhD Thesis
University of California, Berkeley
Advisor: Ann Smock
Franck Benedic
“We can split you!”: le bal des faux-semblants ou le concept du double dans l’oeuvre de Philip K. Dick, 123 pp., 1998
Mémoire de Sciences Politiques
I.E.P. Grenoble (France)
Advisor: Jean-Pierre Bernard
David Michael Brown
Welcome Bedfellows: Science Fiction texts and their cinematic
adaptations
(Frank Herbert,
Philip K. Dick, David Lynch, Ridley Scott), 100 pp., 1998
MA Thesis
Utah State University (Logan, Utah)
Advisor: Bishnu Ghosh
Nathalie Cauvet
La critique de la société américaine dans l’oeuvre de Philip K. Dick, 56 pp., 1998
Mémoire de Droit Public
Perpignan: Faculté pluridisciplinaire des sciences humaines, juridiques, économiques et sociales
Advisor: ?
F. Khourshid
A Brief Introduction To The Moral Vision Of Philip K. Dick, ? pp., 1998
MA Thesis
American University Of Beirut (Lebanon)
Advisor: ?
Hervé Lagoguey
Le monde incertain de Philip K. Dick, écrivain visionnaire, 490 pp., 1998
Thése de doctorat en anglais
Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (France)
Advisor: Claude Fierobe
Salvatore Proietti
The Cyborg, Cyberspace, and North American Science Fiction (section on PKD’s Polyphonic Interfaces), 363 pp., 1998
PhD Thesis
McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Advisor: Darko Suvin
Laurent Queyssi
Pour une typologie relationnelle du personnage de science-fiction:
l’exemple de Philip K. Dick, ?pp., 1998
Maîtrise de Littérature Comparée
Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux III
Advisor: Didier Coste
David Jacquet
Philip K. Dick, fiction spéculative, illusion romanesque, ?pp.,
1997
Ce mémoire d’une Maîtrise de Littérature Moderne
Where: ?
Advisor: ?
Eric Hale
Human and Divine Redemption in Philip K. Dick’s VALIS, ?pp.,
1997
Honors Thesis (Religion Dept.)
Haverford College (Haverford, PA)
Advisor: ?
Stefano Papaleo
Un’analisi multimediale della figura del doppio in letteratura americana Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott e Stephen King, 512 pgs., 1997
Tesi di laurea
Università degli Studi di Triete (Trieste, Italy)
Advisor: William Boelhower
Russell S. Aaronson
Would Lord Running Clam wear wubfur slippers? The ethical imperative of
empathy in the
alternate ecologies of Philip K. Dick, 97 pp., 1996
MA Thesis
Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, Florida)
Advisor: Robert A. Collins
Alexander C. Irvine
The Human Use Of Philip K. Dick: Information Theory And Entropy in
Martian Time-Slip, 110 pp., 1996
MA Thesis
University of Maine (Orono, Maine)
Advisor: Naomi Jacobs
Andrew M. Butler
Ontology and Ethics in the Writings of Philip K. Dick, ?pp., 1996?
PhD Thesis
University of Hull (Hull, England)
Advisor: Rowland Wymer
José Manuel Cardoso Alves da Mota
O Efeito de Irreal: A fantasia cientifica de Philip K. Dick, 368
pp., 1995
PhD Thesis
University of Coimbra (Conimbriga, Portugal)
Advisor: ?
Gerard I. Wood
Storming the Black Iron Prison: the liberation of consciousness from the
constraint of scene in and through the work of Philip K. Dick, 188
pp., 1995
PhD Thesis
La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia)
Advisor: Chris Palmer
Brigitte Lecomte Rigoni
Amphétaminomanie, psychose et création littéraire: à
propos de deux romans de Philip Kindred Dick, ?pp., 1995
Thèse de médecine
Paris VII Bichat
Advisor: ?
Hrafnhildur Blöndal
Empathy Will Save Us…Eventually: A Reading of Nine Novels by Philip K.
Dick, 77 pp., 1994
MA Thesis
University of Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland)
Advisor: Jon Skaptason
Edward Mooney
From Pulp to Poetry: Philip K. Dick and the Literature of Science
Fiction, ?pp., 1994
MA Thesis
University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland)
Advisor: G. Meaney
Étienne Barillier
Les troubles de réel dans trois romans contemporains: Ukik de
Philip K. Dick, Le nommé Jeudi de Gilbert K. Chesterton et Futur
intérieur de Christopher Priest, ?pp., 1993
Maîtrise
Université de Limoges
Advisor: ?
Stéphane Manfredo
Le protocole du vraisemblable dans l’oeuvre de Philip K. Dick, 154 pp., 1993
D.E.A. Lettres Modernes
Université Aix-Marseille I (France)
Advisor: ?
Ritch Calvin
The Divine Corpus of Philip K. Dick, ?pp., 1992
Senior Thesis
Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Advisor: Thomas Wymer
Martin E. Gleoge
The American origins of the postmodern self (Toni Morrison, Thomas
Pynchon, Philip K.
Dick), 336 pp., 1992
PhD Thesis
Rutgers the state university of New Jersey- New Brunswick
Advisor: Bruce Robbins
Ronald J. Zajac
The dystopian city in british and united states science fiction,
1960-1975: urban chronotopes
as models of historical closure (Thomas M. Disch, John Brunner, Philip K.
Dick, J.G. Ballard,
Samuel R. Delany), 104 pp., 1992
MA Thesis
McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Advisor: Darko Suvin
Aaron John Barlow
Reality, Religion
and Politics in Philip K. Dick’s Fiction, 326pp.,
1988
PhD Dissertation
University of Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa)
Advisor: R. Brooks Landon
Georges Kokkinos
Contre-utopie et réalités chez E. Zamiatine, A. Huxley, G.
Orwell, R. Bradbury, A. Burgess, H. Harrison, P. Dick, et R.
Sheckley, ?pp., 1989
Thèse de Littérature Comparée
Université de Poitiers
Advisor: ?
Umberto Rossi
Philip K. Dick e la messa in scena della storia, 222 pp., 1989
Tesi di Laurea (graduation thesis)
Università La Sapienza (Rome, Italy)
Advisor: Biancamaria Pisapia, Alessandro Portelli
Erik Davis
Philip K. Dick’s Postmodern Gnosis, 64 pgs., 1988
BA Honors Thesis
Yale University (New Haven, CT)
Advisor: Richard Halpern
Jeffrey W. Peacock
The Unreconstructed Man: The Fiction of Philip K. Dick, 324 pp.,
1988
PhD Thesis
University of Liverpool (Liverpool, England)
Advisor: ?
Salvatore Proietti
L’entropia e il dio blindato: Fisica e metafisica nella fantascienza di Philip K. Dick, 296 pp., 1988
Tesi di Laurea (graduation thesis)
Università La Sapeinza (Rome, Italy)
Advisors: Alessandro Portelli, Bianca Maria Pisapia
Heather Ashby
The Media Novels of Philip K. Dick: Cautionary Fables for an Electronic Age, ? pp., 1987
MA Thesis
Univeristy of Guelph (Ontario, Canada)
Advisor: ?
Bruno Vaccari
Più credibile del vero: La realtà sintetica dei mondi di P.K. Dick, ?pp., 1987
Tesi di Laurea (graduation thesis)
Università di Bologna (Bologna, Italy)
Advisor: Guido Fink
Piergiorgio Nicolazzini
Vettori di mutamento nella science fiction americana degli anni 50 (P.K. Dick, Vonnegut, Pohl, Kornbluth), 346 pgs., 1986
Tesi di laurea
Università degli Studi di Pavia (Pavia, Italy)
Advisors: Giuseppina Restivo, Carlo Pagetti
Stephen P. Grant
A Text Analysis Tool for the Analysis of Thematic Structure in Philip
K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, ?pp., 1985
Honors Thesis
Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
Advisor: ?
Elisabeth Giudicelli
Approche du temps vécu du schizophrène à travers
l’étude de trois romans de Philip K. Dick, ?pp., 1983
Thèse de doctorat en médecine
Université Paris VI
Advisor: ?
Gilbert De Meester – Available online in English
The Universe Of Philip K. Dick – Systemic Analysis, 48 pp., 1982
Graad Van Licentiaat In De Germaanse Filologie
Universiteit Antwerpen (Antwerp, Belgium)
Advisor: Luk De Vos
Kim Stanley Robinson
The Novels of Philip K. Dick, 251 pp., 1982
PhD Thesis
University of California, San Diego
Advisor: Donald Wesling
Marcel Thaon
Essai psychanalytique sur la création littéraire, processus
et fonction de l’écriture chez un auteur de science-fiction: le cas
de Philip K. Dick, ?pp., 1981
Thèse de psychologie
Université Aix Marseille 1
Advisor: ?
Claudia Krenz Bush
The Splintered Shards: Reality and Illusion in the Novels of Philip K.
Dick, 116 pp., 1975
MA Thesis
Idaho State University (Pocatello, Idaho)
Advisor: Dendell Smith
Bernard d’Ivernois
Approche psychopathologique de l’oeuvre de Philip K. Dick, ?pp.,
1975
Thèse pour le grade de docteur en médecine
Université de Montpellier
Advisor: ?
Marcel Thaon
Le Simulacre dans l’oeuvre de Philip K. Dick: construction et extension
du clivage, ?pp., 1972
Thèse
Universitè de Provence
Thank you, this is helpful in more than one way.
I was searching for Erik Davis dissertation online and came across this website which lists many other dissertations:
http://valis22074.yuku.com/topic/2072/A-thread-for-interesting-PKD-sites#.UMo5xG-uk58
I see this is the list Frank has compiled already…
I just found a free pdf of Brad Congdon’s Master’s thesis online and began reading it. Well, I didn’t get very far. The second ‘authority’ he mentions is Darko Suvin, the *Science Fiction Studies* critic. He quotes the following quote by Suvin on science fiction which, I sigh to say, is virtually incomprehensible and some of the most idiotic bullshit masquerading as scholarly knowledge I’ve ever seen:
The aliens–utopians, monsters, or simply different strangers–are a mirror
to man just as the differing country is a mirror for his world. But the
mirror is not only a reflecting one, it is also a transforming one, virgin
womb and alchemical dynamo: the mirror is a crucible … this genre has
always been wedded to a hope of finding in the unknown the ideal
environment, tribe, state, intelligence, or other aspect of the Supreme
Good (or to a fear of and revulsion from its contrary). At all events, the
possibility of other strange, co-variant coordinate systems and semantic
fields is assumed.
Congdon quotes another of his authorities, someone called Damien Broderick:
The strategy of estrangement uses one thing as a figure or stand-in for
another (as metaphor does: 30 Heads of State), which is the mechanism of
poetry and allegory. Usually, prose fictions employ a strategy of
metonymy, based on causality, contiguity, or ‘combination’–the syntagm or unfolding word-string–or synecdoche (part standing for whole: 30 head of
cattle). The allegorising of sf, however, also differs from most poetry,
which is both strategically and tactically metaphoric. Sf’s special strategy
yields a preeminent ontological saturation or intensity, of a kind that
everyday metonymic narrative can never sustain–and yet it remains
anchored in the natural or empirical.
Will someone please explain to me what is the meaning of this utter garbage? Do people take this sort of stuff seriously? Is this obfuscating, self-aggrandizing, pseudo-authoritative bullshit what determines our understanding of literature in this year of 2012? I’m pissed off!