Philip K Dick

[famousmortimer]

This topic is going on in the review thread for "Paycheck", but it was a crappy film so the discussion of his books and films deserves its own thread.

I'll start with something which was picked up on in that thread and maybe people can run with it or just talk about their favourite PKD stories. "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" is probably my favourite novel of his, and I wanted to defend it against its naysayers. His descriptions of Earth and the cities people are living in are superb, and the characters inhabit the same world just about all of PKD's later characters inhabit, how they try to make their world a better place but know before they've started that it's doomed to failure. But it's not really pessimistic in his hands- he was accused of being a better ideas man than an author (Kurt Vonnegut based his recurring pulp sci-fi author character on PKD) but this novel and many others are brilliantly written.

I'm drifting from the point. Fascinating story, well written, lots of stuff besides the main plot to think about. The film was also brilliant (I watched a documentary on the making of it a few weeks ago and the scriptwriters said that Dick was a very difficult man to work with, not surprising given his breakdown and precarious health- but, he saw an early cut and apparently loved it completely, which is enough recommendation for me) but in a different way- cutting out of the sub-plot but making it almost a better story because of it).

My favourite novel might well be "A Scanner Darkly" which is about as good as sci-fi has ever got (not that it's really sci-fi) and I think with someone like Linklater in charge it's got a good chance of succeeding. So thoughts? Reviews? Favourites? Think he's an overhyped mad old swine?

[DTH]

As I've stated, I've got a lot of time for PKD. However, I'm not convinced he's all that great a writer. He definitely was an "Ideas Man" and I agree with that statement 100%.

For me, PKD's short stories are his greatest work. I've only read a couple of his novels "Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?" and that one about the guy who is being contact by an alien satellite.

I found DADOES to be confused, lacking clarity, and uncertain as to what exactly it was trying to do. Certainly, some of the tangents and inconsequentials only managed to murky the water, rather than adding depth.

Still, I did enjoy reading it and I would definitely recommend it.

The major problem I have with PKD is his obsession with paranoia and identity. Many of his characters are involved in conspiracy's that may or may not actually exist and a lot of the situations they end up in revolve around memory how that relates to reality. I think his ideas were great but was there any need to explore the same themes time and time again?

I realise that I sound like I'm lambasting him. I don't mean to come across that way because I really respect what he has done.

He's the sort of person who should have sold all his story concepts to other (better?) writers.

Personally, I would love to have seen what Stanley Kubrick could have made of one of his tales. Now THAT would have been a film worth watching.

Failing that, David Fincher should direct one of his films (in fact, if The Game isn't a good example of a PKD story, then I don't what is!).

[famousmortimer]

You've read two of his stranger novels then- "Valis" is the other one you're talking about and that was written after he'd had his breakdown and when his mental health was at a low point. Fascinating if you're in the mood for it, a bit strange and off-putting if you're not.

If you're prepared to give him another try, "Man in the High Castle" and "Counter-Clock World" are novels with none of the shortcomings you refer to. The first one won the Hugo (or the Nebula, I forget) for sci-fi novel of the year and is always cropping up on those top ten list things.

I disagree with Vonnegut's assumption, carried on through the years by journalists too lazy to read the books, that he was more ideas than writing. Vonnegut's later work is way more self-referential and treading the same water than Dick's ever was, and (I'm only guessing here, I don't remember us ever having a conversation about it) you went into "Blade Runner" the novel expecting something more like "Blade Runner " the film. If he'd approached it the same way the film had been approached it would have been little more than a short story- the bit about the mood machine I didn't get, but the rest of it was amazing.