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Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)

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Re: Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)

#21
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found the vast majority of his stories to be pretty bad compared to his best books. Then again, the vast majority of his books are also pretty bad compared to his best books. Hollywood has made some great movies out of his short stories (the original Blade Runner, the original Total Recall, The Terminator). But you have to realize that these movies usually have little to do with the short stories. The movies are…

Those themes you listed are all covered well (and clearly so) in his many short stories. The novels, on the other hand, are obscure and meandering with often too many characters who are lacking obvious relevance or role. Also, too many themes are often intermingled and often not expressed very clearly and only obscurely alluded to. I am certainly not a critic of PKD’s themes – he is perhaps my favorite science fictio…

Radio Free Albemuth. Not exactly his best novel. Yes, if someone picks some random Dick novel, he's likely to be disappointed and your criticism of such a random Dick novel stands a good chance of being correct. I think the same could be said of random Dick short stories as well.

Setting those aside, I think your argument is harder to make where his best novels are concerned.

That said, I'd be interested to hear what you consider Dick's best short stories. Most of the ones I've read have been pretty disappointing (with the exception of a couple I cited elsewhere in this thread).

Re: Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)

#22
post #8

All his novels that I’ve read are boring, weird, and mystical without seeming to have a big point to them. I’d avoid them. I would , however, recommend his short stories highly . There’s a five-volume collection of all of them, which I recommend. (Most people don’t seem to realize that the movies based on his writing was almost all of them based on his short stories, not his novels.)

I couldn't disagree more. A large proportion of his stories were pulp that he churned out at a high rate to avoid starving, and it shows in many of them

While I have his collected short stories, and have been reading through them chronologically, because it is fascinating to see his development as a writer, I much prefer his novels.

Re: Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)

#23
post #4

I've been on a PKD kick recently, because I had read some of his short stories as a teenager and seen movies based on his work, and kept hearing how much of a genius he was. In the past month or so I've been going through his body of work, and my mind is getting blown at every turn. My goal is to read all that he's ever written over 2015. Here's a rough progression I recommend for those who want to delve into one of…

I've read a lot of PKD, though not everything. My top three picks would be: 1 - Ubik 2 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 3 - Martian Time Slip Honorable mentions: 4 - A Maze of Death 5 - Divine Invasion (the 2nd of the VALIS trilogy) 6 - Eye in the Sky Of his short stories, I'd recommend "Beyond Lies the Wub" and "Roog". Regarding movies influenced by his work: The original "Blade Runner" movie is far better th…

I can't agree with you regarding the movie adaptations. They are different. Some are very good movies, but they are "inspired by" PKD's stories rather than straight adaptations.

I can get why you prefer the movies, given that you write that you prefer PKD's "straight scifi", but to me his "straight scifi" is the most boring part of his output.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is not Blade Runner. Blade Runner is a single story-strand from Androids, re-imagined. It's a better movie for it, probably, but what makes PKD's stories to me is the density, with multiple intertwined stories.

As for Exegesis, it's for the specially interested. Of course it is navel gazing - it was his attempt at making sense of his mind after a psychotic breakdown. It was never written for publication.

Re: Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to read "a scanner darkly" however I really didn't get on with it. Its a shame because it has an excellent story, but I couldn't cope with the dialogue. Much like oscar wilde, great in tiny chunks but really hard going in the long run But, this is of course my unqualified opinion.

"A Scanner Darkly" is really one of his minor books. You should try "Ubik".

Dick considered 'A Scanner Darkly' to be his best work.
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