Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the PostmodernOnce solely the possession of fans and buffs, the SF author Philip K Dick is now finding a much wider audience, as the success of the films Blade Runner and Minority Report shows. The kind of world he predicted in his funny and frightening novels and stories is coming closer to most of us: shifting realities, unstable relations, uncertain moralities. Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern examines a wide range of Dick's work, including his short stories and posthumously published realist novels. Christopher Palmer analyzes the puzzling and dazzling effects of Dick's fiction, and argues that at its heart is a clash between exhilarating possibilities of transformation, and a frightening lack of ethical certainties. Dick's work is seen as the inscription of his own historical predicament, the clash between humanism and postmodernism being played out in the complex forms of the fiction. The problem is never resolved, but Dick's ways of imagining it become steadily more ingenious and challenging. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 40
Page 109
The Man in the High Castle : The Reasonableness and Madness of History The
Man in the High Castle ( 1962 ) is Dick ' s most popular novel , and one of his
best . Along with Time out of Joint ( 1959 ) , this novel examines the split between
...
The Man in the High Castle : The Reasonableness and Madness of History The
Man in the High Castle ( 1962 ) is Dick ' s most popular novel , and one of his
best . Along with Time out of Joint ( 1959 ) , this novel examines the split between
...
Page 119
the alternative accounts of history in the relevant texts ( The Man in the High
Castle and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy ) . These too are based on distinct ,
rationalizable details . If you actually know something about , for instance ,
cybernetics or ...
the alternative accounts of history in the relevant texts ( The Man in the High
Castle and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy ) . These too are based on distinct ,
rationalizable details . If you actually know something about , for instance ,
cybernetics or ...
Page 120
history as alternative to that which prevails ( the history detailed by The Man in
the High Castle ) ; instead Hawthorne Abendsen , the author of the novel , has ,
for instance , imagined that the Germans were defeated by the Americans and
the ...
history as alternative to that which prevails ( the history detailed by The Man in
the High Castle ) ; instead Hawthorne Abendsen , the author of the novel , has ,
for instance , imagined that the Germans were defeated by the Americans and
the ...
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Contents
Philip K Dick and the Postmodern | 23 |
Complications of Humanism and Postmodernism | 35 |
Static and Kinetic in Dicks Political Unconscious | 44 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actions actually alien American androids Arnie attempts become begins called Chapter characters child comes concerned condition context culture death define deity depiction Deus Irae Dick Dick's Dick's novels discussion drug effect Eldritch existence experience expresses fact fantasy feelings fiction fifties forces further future given gives going half-life happens High Castle human images imagination important individual instance interesting involves Jack kill kind late later live machines main character Manfred material matter means merely narrative nature novel objects offers ordinary perhaps person Philip political possible postmodern present problem production reader realism reality reason relations Scanner Darkly scene seems seen sense simply situation social society space story suggests Tagomi things Time-Slip tion true turn Ubik usually Valis whole writing