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Summary
Author Notes
Phillip Kindred Dick was an American science fiction writer best known for his psychological portrayals of characters trapped in illusory environments. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 16, 1928, Dick worked in radio and studied briefly at the University of California at Berkeley before embarking on his writing career. His first novel, Solar Lottery, was published in 1955.
In 1963, Dick won the Hugo Award for his novel, The Man in the High Castle. He also wrote a series of futuristic tales about artificial creatures on the loose; notable of these was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was later adapted into film as Blade Runner. Dick also published several collections of short stories. He died of a stroke in Santa Ana, California, in 1982. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this posthumous collection of adventurous essays, journal excerpts, autobiographical sketches, plot scenarios and interviews, science fiction writer Dick (1928-82) ruminates on parallel universes, the Jungian connective principle of synchronicity (meaningful coincidence), mind as energy field, his LSD trips, the I Ching, telepathy and ``fake realities'' manufactured by the mass media. Dick, who in one piece describes himself as a ``pre-schizophrenic personality,'' plunges readers into altered states of consciousness. He claims, for example, to have retrieved buried memories of alternate realities; in another piece, he recalls having been a secret Christian in ancient Rome, awaiting Christ's return from the dead. Sutin, Dick's biographer, in his useful introductory essay, interprets Dick as a philosophical and spiritual thinker with affinities to the Gnostics of the early Christian era. Included are two completed chapters of a proposed sequel to his novel The Man in the High Castle; they conjure a Nazi-controlled post-WWII world in which Hermann Göring runs a Luftwaffe base in Florida in 1956. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A selection of previously unpublished, or obscurely published, autobiographical sketches, SF musings, philosophical essays, speeches, and journal excerpts. Though he was sadly neglected in life, Dick's (192882) reputation has grown significantly since his death. Sutin, author of a Dick biography (Divine Invasions, 1989), breaks this book into six sections, three of which deal directly with Dick's main preoccupation, science fiction. Particularly noteworthy are Dick's descriptions of the sense of community among SF writers: The late Robert A. Heinlein, for instance, went out of his way to assist Dick financially (though prolific, Dick was chronically broke), despite the fact that his own political ideology was diametrically opposed to that of his beneficiary. Also appearing are two chapters of a proposed sequel to Dick's successful alternate-world novel in which the Axis powers win WW II, The Man in the High Castle (1962); it was abandoned, according to Sutin, because he could no longer bear to involve himself with the repugnant Nazi mentality. The third SF section, on plot proposals (e.g., ``Plot Idea for Mission: Impossible'') could have been omitted. The selected essays and speeches offer insight into the two questions that haunted Dick throughout his career: What is reality? What is human? The final section comprises excerpts from the Exegesis, Dick's journal, in which he struggled to come to terms with, and make sense of, some shattering--mystical? religious? chemical?--experiences that beset him in March and April 1974. These are difficult, often incoherent pieces, and they should have been preserved for a separate volume. Best of all is the volume's opening autobiographical section, which highlights the questing intelligence and generous spirit of this severely troubled, sometimes inspired writer. Dick will be remembered for his flawed, often brilliant novels, but the writings collected here offer a broader picture of the artist. It's a satisfying picture, but Dick deserves more authoritative, less worshipful editing than he receives from Sutin.
Booklist Review
Twelve years after his death, Dick and his oeuvre--much of which went out of print while he was alive--are enjoying remarkable critical acclaim. Examples of Dick's newly elevated status include many movies based on his stories (most recently, Total Recall), a front-page feature in the New York Times Book Review, and new editions of his more than 50 books. Sutin, Dick's biographer (Divine Invasions[1991]), taps his previously unpublished nonfiction to afford a closer look inside the far-reaching mind of the ingenious author. Essays, speeches, interviews, screenplay outlines (including notes for a Mission Impossible episode), two chapters of a sequel to Dick's 1963 Hugo winner, The Man in the High Castle, and selections (focusing on the hallucinatory revelations Dick experienced during two months in 1979) from Dick's voluminous and mind-boggling journal, Exegesis, all appear. Even in writings never intended for publication, Dick's uniquely witty style and phenomenal range of ideas demonstrate why his renewed popularity is entirely justified. ~--Carl Hays