Keep out -- this means you! (A skewed assortment of shorts in the macabre, the humorous and the fantastic)

Author

Philip P. Wolff

Date of Award

12-1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Jon Manchip White

Committee Members

Richard Kelly, B. J. Leggett

Abstract

"Pulp" fiction has always thrived. From Stern's Tristram Shandy to Shelley's Frankenstein, from Melville to Mark Twain, writers traditionally bend the stiff joints of realism, though critics continually condemn them for it. Recent writers of the horror/science fiction genres, such as Bradbury, Vonnegut, and King, prove the field is as various as it is lucrative. To the dismay of contemporary critics, they enjoy a growing audience.

My collection of short stories both celebrates and contributes to this much maligned genre. The stories are a grab bag of motifs in horror, humor, and science fiction. Though the collection utilizes accepted devices of fiction, some stories prove more experimental than mainstream. The primary purpose of this collection is, and should be, to entertain. Entertainment is itself a form of art. This, in my opinion, is the foremost purpose of all literature.

Recommended Citation

Wolff, Philip P., "Keep out -- this means you! (A skewed assortment of shorts in the macabre, the humorous and the fantastic). " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1988.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/13380