Research Blog - Tearing my hair out!

I wasn't finding enough of the specific sources I'd need with the original theory/text I chose, so on Thursday, I switched both my lens and my novel. I'm not sure how smart of an idea that was, but I did it and I'm going for it. I ended up going with Stranger in a Strange Land and feminism for my lens. I was initially kind of overwhelmed with all of the avenues I could go down with my research, but I narrowed my source scope down once I decided on a thesis cloud. I've decided to write my paper from a point of view that examines the novel in the context of feminism as it existed in Heinlein's day and in today's feminist context. I'm also going to throw in some of the context of the libertarianism that is prevalent in most science fiction. There are unsurprisingly tons of sources regarding Heinlein and his views on politics and feminism. For his time, he was considered extremely liberal and in some camps, a radical. I've pulled a lot of research from the school databases and I'm also using the internet pretty heavily. I've found several newspaper articles and essays written on Heinlein and his canon of novels, which gives me a good base to explain my position. The sources on feminism are also coming easily as I'm looking mostly for basic history of the movement that explains each of the 'waves' in their historical context. The only real problem I'm having is finding criticism of the actual novel. I found a book written directly as criticism of Stranger, but its out of print and going for $80 on eBay. I don't think I'm willing to go that far for this paper, but my backup plan is to co-opt criticism of Heinlein in general and use excerpts that talk specifically about the the novel I'm writing about. I'm also using one or two other Heinlein novels as additional sources to augment my argument about Heinlein's viewpoints as they are espoused in Stranger. So far, I'm doing all right. I might add or subtract some sources as I refine my thesis and overall paper, but I'm feeling relatively confident.


OH WAIT! My ex-boyfriend and I are very good friends with a couple who owns a used bookstore in the valley and he called them just now. Turns out they have a copy of the EXACT book I'm looking for that deals with criticism of the novel. I can borrow it from them and I am totally set now. Thaaaat's amazing.