In Reply to: The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick ... posted by musetap on January 2, 2016 at 16:55:39:
....but having read that book, which I found to be heavy reading filled with his "gnostic" visions. I felt no compelling urge to follow this trend with his further gnostic paranoid rants. And I don't blame anyone who prefers not to venture there. It must have been a time of bleak finances for him. It is also said that he was experiencing some wild hallucinations during this period which were the motivation for the novels written. One wonders if all those drugs hadn't caught up with him. Loss of sanity? Delusions, not hallucinations? LSD? Over the top.....yes. Quite.
It is interesting that after this incredibly introspective/paranoid period, he produced "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". Conventional in structure and brilliant in its vision.
I enjoyed UBIK quite a lot. Here is another novel with ideas that have influenced other writers and film makers. Ideas about life and death and what lies between and or after.
I may return (or not) to the 'gnostic' books of his some day, but in the mean time I have a lot of catching up to do with other Sci-Fi authors.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Somewhat misleading title. Not religious as the title might imply. And an interesting story set on Mars.
I've also found it interesting to discover how many sci-fi movies are based on something Dick wrote. Second Variety. Imposter. We Can Remember it for you Wholesale. Minority Report. Blade Runner. Paycheck.
A Scanner Darkley. (The movie plays out like a 'stoner story'. I think Dick's book shows more substance that what Hollywood did with it.
An earlier short story I liked; The Variable Man. Nice concept here. Good narrative style. There should be a movie, but isn't.
One posthumous novel I read: Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. General fiction. A well conceived, well narrated novel. Not particularly memorable, but solid.
-Steve
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Follow Ups
- RE: I've ventured as far as 'Valis'..... - user510 17:42:57 01/02/16 (2)
- RE: different meaning for the term "Dickhead".... - user510 14:40:17 01/06/16 (1)
- As an early subscriber to the PKD fan club... - musetap 20:56:21 01/06/16 (0)