DeWitt Library Subject Guides: ENG216 Wozencraft Science Fiction: Midterm Resources

Library Databases

Search one or more of the Library Databases below for criticism of the novels you are studying.

Gale Literature
A great starting point. Full of of criticism, work overviews, and author biographies.
Humanities Source
A large collection of criticism and book reviews from scholarly sources.
JSTOR
A large collection of scholarly criticism.

Work Overviews

The resources below are meant to get you thinking about the assigned novels. Search Library Databases for more criticism related to your topic of choice.

Frankenstein
Kristine Ha. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Thomas Riggs. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2013. p375-376. From Gale eBooks.
Frankenstein
William A. Walling. Twayne's English Authors Series 128. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972. p23-50. From Gale.
Overview: Fahrenheit 451: The Temperature at Which Books Burn
Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 5: Civil Rights Movements to Future Times (1960-2000). Detroit: Gale, 1997. From Literature Resource Center.
An overview of Fahrenheit 451
Edward E. Eller. Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale. From Literature Resource Center
Overview: The Left Hand of Darkness
Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 5: Civil Rights Movements to Future Times (1960-2000). Detroit: Gale, 1997. From Literature Resource Center.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Charlotte Spivack. Twayne's United States Authors Series 453. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984. p44-59. From Gale.
Overview: Ubik
Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale. From Literature Resource Center
Explanation of: "Ubik" by Philip K. Dick
LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2011. From LitFinder.

Examples of Criticism to Get You Started

The links below are articles to get you thinking. Search Library Databases for more criticism related to your topic of choice.

Testimony and trope in Frankenstein
Sara Guyer. Studies in Romanticism. 45.1 (Spring 2006): p77. From Literature Resource Center.
Metaphysical intersections in Frankenstein: Mary Shelley's theistic investigation of scientific materialism and transgressive autonomy
David S. Hogsette. Christianity and Literature. 60.4 (Summer 2011): p531. From Literature Resource Center.
Reading the symptoms: an exploration of repression and hysteria in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein.'
Colleen Hobbs. Studies in the Novel. 25.2 (Summer 1993): p152. From Literature Resource Center.
Mass Degradation of Humanity and Massive Contradictions in Bradbury's Vision of America in Fahrenheit 451
Jack Zipes. No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Ed. Eric S. Rabkin , Joseph D. Olander , and Martin H. Greenberg . Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. p182-198. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale, 1997. From Literature Resource Center.
'To Build a Mirror Factory': The Mirror and Self-Examination in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
Rafeeq O. McGiveron. Critique 39.3 (Spring 1998): p282-287. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. From Literature Resource Center.
The interpretative journey in Ursula K. Le Guin's the left hand of darkness
Christine Cornell. Extrapolation. 42.4 (Winter 2001): p317. From Literature Resource Center.
Beyond Words: The Impact of Rhythm as Narrative Technique in The Left Hand of Darkness
Nora Barry and Mary Prescott. Extrapolation 33.2 (Summer 1992): p154-165. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 136. Gale, 2001. From Literature Resource Center.
Exorcising Gender: Resisting Readers in Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness
John Pennington. Extrapolation. 41.4 (Winter 2000): p351. From Literature Resource Center.
Science Fiction and the Gothic [Ubik]
Thomas H. Keeling. Bridges to Science Fiction. Ed. George E. Slusser , Mark Rose , and George R. Guffey . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980. p107-119. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 202. Detroit: Gale. From Literature Resource Center.
The Themes of Philip K. Dick
Eric Carl Link. Understanding Philip K. Dick. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 2010. p47-101. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 219. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. From Literature Resource Center.
Ubik: The Deconstruction of Bourgeois SF
Fitting, Peter. Science Fiction Studies; Mar75, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p47-54, 8p

Search for Secondary Sources

Gale Literature
Research authors and their works, literary movements and genres. Search across Gale's Literature databases to find full text of literary works, journal articles, literature criticism, reviews, biographical information and overviews. Includes content from Gale's Literature Resource Center, Twayne's Authors, LitFinder, and Gale Virtual Reference Library.
JSTOR
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. An excellent source to find peer-reviewed, academic articles.
Humanities Source
The collection includes full text for more than 1,400 journals, with citations to over 3.5 million articles, including book reviews. Provides full text—plus abstracts and bibliographic indexing—for scholarly sources in the humanities, including feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, drama and poetry, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, radio and television programs.
DiscoverDeWitt - Library Catalog
Search by author to find books and ebooks.

Macdonald DeWitt Library at SUNY Ulster

ENG216 Wozencraft Science Fiction

Library Databases

Work Overviews

Examples of Criticism to Get You Started

Search for Secondary Sources