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The Essential Philip K. Dick

nytimes.com

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Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#11

Post by moris_borris »

x86x87 wrote: post #8
keiferski wrote: post #6

PKD is one of my favorite sci-fi writers and I recommend Ubik if you're a new reader, although like the article mentions, you definitely need to be in a certain mindset to "get it." The Man in the High Castle has an interesting concept but I don't think it's particularly well-written. One thing that I think goes unnoticed about PKD is how some of his earlier short stories are undeniably, unquestionably bad. Fair Game…

PKD is my favorite writer of all times. I believe that even for his greatest works the writing could have been more polished, way better. The thing is PKD does not get you with the form of the writing but with the ideas that he captures. Truly visionary.

That last bit could be said of any of my favorite sci fi thinkers. I love Asimov and Frank Herbert but not because I think they were great writers.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#12

Post by olivermarks »

I'm a big PKD fan - I also recommend reading the 1909 short story 'the machine stops' by em Forster which was incredibly prescient and I suspect informed some of PKD's thinking.

People have often pointed out this piece 'predicted the internet age' while ignoring the dystopian collapse at the end of Forsters pice, which is alarmingly similar to the current collapse of some aspects of western civilization IMO...

https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/...

I have PKD's 'the Defenders' mapped to 'the machine stops' in my mind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenders_(short_story)

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#13

Post by alex_suzuki »

w1nst0nsm1th wrote: post #5

I read all of them, at least the ones published in French... "A Scanner Darkly" is by far the most polished, and also the most twisted.

I also enjoyed the movie adaption of it, especially the weird psychedelic visuals, but I’m glad I read the book first.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#14

Post by alex_suzuki »

keiferski wrote: post #6

PKD is one of my favorite sci-fi writers and I recommend Ubik if you're a new reader, although like the article mentions, you definitely need to be in a certain mindset to "get it." The Man in the High Castle has an interesting concept but I don't think it's particularly well-written. One thing that I think goes unnoticed about PKD is how some of his earlier short stories are undeniably, unquestionably bad. Fair Game…

Did you give the TV adaption of The Man in the High Castle a try? It’s on Prime, I found it quite enjoyable.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#15

Post by leephillips »

keiferski wrote: post #6

PKD is one of my favorite sci-fi writers and I recommend Ubik if you're a new reader, although like the article mentions, you definitely need to be in a certain mindset to "get it." The Man in the High Castle has an interesting concept but I don't think it's particularly well-written. One thing that I think goes unnoticed about PKD is how some of his earlier short stories are undeniably, unquestionably bad. Fair Game…

I found Ubik somewhat intriguing. I’m about 60 pages unto Valis, and so far it’s mostly bad philosophy and theology, thankfully saved by occasional flashes of humor, and the almost-interesting fracturing of the main character into at least two people. Does it get any better?

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#17

Post by abruzzi »

leephillips wrote: post #15
keiferski wrote: post #6

PKD is one of my favorite sci-fi writers and I recommend Ubik if you're a new reader, although like the article mentions, you definitely need to be in a certain mindset to "get it." The Man in the High Castle has an interesting concept but I don't think it's particularly well-written. One thing that I think goes unnoticed about PKD is how some of his earlier short stories are undeniably, unquestionably bad. Fair Game…

I found Ubik somewhat intriguing. I’m about 60 pages unto Valis , and so far it’s mostly bad philosophy and theology, thankfully saved by occasional flashes of humor, and the almost-interesting fracturing of the main character into at least two people. Does it get any better?

I don't reccomend Valis for anyone but the most diehard Dick fans. Its an attempt to fictionalize an experience Dick had and spent the rest of his life trying to understand. It has some great moments, but it doesn't hold together terribly well as a story. I much prefer more focused stories like Scanner Darkly, Flow My Tears, or even Divine Invasion.

Supposedly Dick's experience conceived three published novels--Valis, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and Divine invasion. There is a fourth, unpublished novel--Radio Free Albemuth that came from it as well. Valis seem to be the most personal since it someone named Philip Dick (or Horselover Fat) having the exact same experience then trying to make sense of it. Divine Invasion has more of the feel of a traditional Dick novel with someone forced to live in a hovel on an alien planet. Timothy Archer is borderline non-SciFi, with only a tiny influence of SciFi, IIRC. And Radio Free Albemuth felt a bit like a cross between Scanner Darkly and Valis--i.e. the Valis story in a dystopian future surveilance state.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#20

Post by wiredfool »

w1nst0nsm1th wrote: post #5

I read all of them, at least the ones published in French... "A Scanner Darkly" is by far the most polished, and also the most twisted.

The afterward of a Scanner Darkly is a gut punch.

My recollection is that it's a list of friends who had lost their lives to drugs of one form or another.

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