Carnisaurs and Capital: Assertion and Preservation of Hegemony in the Novels of Michael Crichton
type: CreativeWork
description: Although Michael Crichton's novels have achieved tremendous popularity over the past three decades, the state of critical examination has stagnated. At present only a handful of publications, including a flawed book-length study, illuminates an author who conceived the popular science fiction sub-genre, the techno-thriller. Implementing Fredric Jameson's theory of the "political unconscious" and Ernst Mandel's analysis of the ideology of late capitalism, this thesis examines the novels of Michael Crichton, contending that while his novels provide the semblance of critiquing the present epoch, the novels in fact reify the powerful "ideology of the specialist" as the novels assert the hegemony of late capitalism.
abstract: Although Michael Crichton's novels have achieved tremendous popularity over the past three decades, the state of critical examination has stagnated. At present only a handful of publications, including a flawed book-length study, illuminates an author who conceived the popular science fiction sub-genre, the techno-thriller. Implementing Fredric Jameson's theory of the "political unconscious" and Ernst Mandel's analysis of the ideology of late capitalism, this thesis examines the novels of Michael Crichton, contending that while his novels provide the semblance of critiquing the present epoch, the novels in fact reify the powerful "ideology of the specialist" as the novels assert the hegemony of late capitalism.
author: Sewell, William Christopher
keywords: English Language and Literature
date published: 1997-12-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:15:17Z
provider: Missouri State University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Missouri State University