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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
 Posted - 12/19/2003 : 07:12:07
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http://www.philipkdick.com/
There are bigger fans of his on this forum I know, but what I've read ("A Scanner Darkly", and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"), I love. NPR this morning covered his life and work briefly. The new film with Ben Afleck (sp?)(ick!) called "Paycheck" is based on one of his short stories, like "Minority Report" before it. I don't know if any movie will ever do his work justice the way "Bladerunner" did.
He was a complex personality, 5 wives and 5 divorces, and in 1974? (I'm not sure), he had a religious epiphany....he has an 8000 page unpublished journal waiting in the wings somewhere. I was waiting for someone more knowledgeable about the author to make a post, but maybe this will suffice until they surface. I'd love to know what others know and think about this guy and his work.
 Swedish Chef's "Dumpling of Wisdom": Øder tis moodle in der noggin tu smacken der ouchey und vinger-slingers ur to smacken-backen und fix de morkin, yøobetcha! |
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Bartholomew
= Cult of Ray =
USA
344 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 08:23:39
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| I’m a HUGE Dick fan. And no, not that kind of dick. The weird thing about philip k. dick is that while he wrote boatloads of incredible stuff, he also wrote quite a bit of crap. In addition to those two books you mentioned, I would recommend all of his short stories (there’s two or three collections out there), Ubik (my personal favorite), Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS, & Martian Time Slip. There’s tons of other good ones (he wrotesomething like fifty novels) but those are my top faves of what I’ve read so far. God, there’s so much to talk about with Dick. He raises big, mindblowing questions concerning what is and what is not reality. At times his writing suffers because his ideas are so big and require so much attention he doesn’t have time for character development. His style of writing is clunky and bland, especially in the first half of his career (he was much better by A Scanner Darkly) and yet you read on. He blows your mind. And then he claims to have seen God in the form of a pink light and God told him key information that saved the life of his son. So at this point you don’t know whether he was insane or lying (he is a fiction writer) or telling the truth. And then, even more fascinating is write after all this, the next books he wrote (a trilogy, plus a posthumous one) combined parts of the reality (maybe) of his God/pink light experiences with some whacked-out fiction ideas concerning drug use, mental disorders, multiple personalities,God, plus a ton of different theologies. And you don’t know how much of thiscrazy stuff he really believed. The best of the trilogy, the posthumous one, “Radio Free Albemuth”, follows Dick as the protagonist in an alternate reality (maybe) as he begins his career as a fledgling writer in a record store in Berkely (which really happened) to current times (then) when he was an established sci-fi cult writer. Anyway, where was I? No idea? mean either. I have doubts about the John Woo/Ben Affleck adaptation of Paycheck but it is agreat story. |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 08:31:37
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Hey thanks for that, Bartholomew! I had Ubik waiting on my bedside table to be read soon. The trilogy sounds very compelling - I can't wait to get into it. I hope it doesn't creep me out as much as "House of Leaves" (similar schizophrenic, alternate universe-type book) did (too many very very strange "coincidences" happened while reading that book). The story about his epiphany and subsequent "rescue" of his son is pretty out there, but I've believed and seen "proof" of stranger things happening...who knows? Anyway, thanks again!
Swedish Chef's "Dumpling of Wisdom": Øder tis moodle in der noggin tu smacken der ouchey und vinger-slingers ur to smacken-backen und fix de morkin, yøobetcha! |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 09:01:43
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Am I wrong in thinking that P. K. Dick ended up a bit of a Gnostic? I just started reading some of the pages of Exegesis (specifically this page: http://www.philipkdick.com/new_ex-thereisadirect.html and a list of selections here: http://www.philipkdick.com/new_exegesis.html)
(from the aforementioned 8000-page journal), and it sounds very much to be the case. Any thoughts?
Swedish Chef's "Dumpling of Wisdom": Øder tis moodle in der noggin tu smacken der ouchey und vinger-slingers ur to smacken-backen und fix de morkin, yøobetcha! |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 09:34:55
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i feel a special connection to PK Dick because he lived in Yorba Linda for a while (which is adjacent to my hometown, Fullerton). if you read A SCANNER DARKLY, all the streets and places in that book are real streets in Fullerton and Yorba Linda. good read too.
yeah, i doubt anything will top BLADE RUNNER for adapted films from his work. |
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Bartholomew
= Cult of Ray =
USA
344 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 13:55:50
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Apl,
I don't know his exact personal slant but he does deal with gnosticism quite alot in VALIS. Like Radio Free Albemuth, Phil is the main character in VALIS along with his alter ego, Horselover Fat. Actually Radio Free is pretty much a re-write of VALIS which shows you how obsessed he became with the whole pink light/Guardian/God thing. The next in the trilogy "The Divine Invasion" deals mostly with Christianity. Though set in present time, the prophet Elijah is actually one of the main characters. How's that for interesting? |
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