/lit/ - Literature

>He tried to remember what other appliances he had owned, but already memory had become vague; he gave up and returned to the living room. The TV set had receded back a long way; he found himself confronted by a dark, wood-cabinet, Atwater-Kent tuned radio-frequency oldtime AM radio, complete with antenna and ground wires. God in heaven, he said to himself, appalled. But why hadn't the TV set reverted instead to formless metals and plastics? Those, after all, were its constituents; it had been constructed out of them, not out of an earlier radio. Perhaps this weirdly verified a discarded ancient philosophy, that of Plato's ideal objects, the universals which, in each class, were real. The form TV set had been a template imposed as a successor to other templates, like the procession of frames in a movie sequence. Prior forms, he reflected, must carry on an invisible, residual life in every object. The past is latent, is submerged, but still there, capable of rising to the surface once the later imprinting unfortunately - and against ordinary experience - vanished. The man contains - not the boy - but earlier men, he thought.

I'm going deeper into Philip K Dick. After seven novels and a lot of short stories, I'm beginning the Valis trilogy. However, I write this because I would like to broaden my SF collection into other authors who share some of his preoccupations with (un)reality, identity, false memory, gnostic subtexts - as well as his way of weaving stream-of-consciousness passages and not being afraid of humor. So far I have found Robert Silverberg dovetails nicely with him, a contemporary author who has also written stories of telepathy and androids, and a distinct voice, more concerned with matters of the soul whereas Dick was getting obsessed with matters of the creator. Ursula Le Guin I have also enjoyed, even when there is little obvious overlap. She provides a further view into the Berkley milieu PKD came from; the same school, even. She imitated him at least once (her taoist Lathe Of Heaven) as well as corresponded with him. But who else is there? One name I on the periphery is Thomas Ditsch. Is he all that? Another, Barry Malzberg. One more distant name, Norman Spinrad. Any opinions, recommendations or observations of these three will be surely read by me, even hours and days from this moment; I say this without exaggeration, because I read SFFG every day and have done so for months, and I am inordinately fixated on New Wave SF.

>>9381712
>>9381695

On the topic of rodents, I will now recall a grisly anecdote from Philip K Dick, as related in one of his radio interviews. One of his children found a large rat in their home, and Dick had to kill it. He set a trap with poison overnight and went to bed. The next day, Dick heard the rat scream as he approached it. Its neck was broken and it was poisoned, but it was still alive. He unclasped the trap and drove a pitchfork into it, but it still didn't die, and apparently gave PKD a nervous episode at this point. He drowned it in a tub and buried it along with a medal of St. Christopher.

>>8560881
I don't think The Man In The High Castle is as good as his other books. Many begin with it due to the Hugo award, understandably, but it isn't representative of his style. If you were lukewarm about it, bear that in mind. I'd rate it least of the five I have read, with Martian Time-slip being the best.

This is assuming High Castle is your introduction.

>That time PKD said Lem was a group of communist spies

>>8409498
You're not paying enough attention. The parts about Mercerism are the most interesting because Dick is making a point about how even palpably sham religions can be valid. They promote feelings of community and empathy, which are critical components of being human. The robots seek to discredit it because they don't understand it.

Empathy and communal experiences are a big deal to PKD. Even when they are constructed and illusory they are valid.

You may think he is a bad writer, but what he is writing about is interesting, about what it means to be human, about how perception becomes reality by constructs of religion, authority, psychology, media, technology, drugs.

>>8409528
>>8410275

Do Androids Dream is a good place to start. Flow My Tears is along similar themes and is funnier. He is quite a funny writer.

The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch is his LSD novel, well regarded but chaotic.

>>8378634
I concede PKD was haphazard, which is down to his method of writing in intensive splurges. He apparently did not use editors with the exception of The Man In The High Castle, and A Scanner Darkly; something he mentions in an audio interview I heard on youtube recently. So you have a point that he is a less deliberative writer than most.

But even in his potboilers and pulpier books, Dick is writing about the real and unreal through a lens of philosophy (mostly Jung) and religious mysticism (Gnosticism) and this intertextuality is his chief literary component. And then there is the dialogue, which is his strongest point, IMO.

>>8369471
His later preoccupation with what seems to be Gnostic Christianity is fascinating. Either he was mentally ill, or a genuine Christian mystic in the tradition of Hildegard and Julian of Norwich.