Hadn't gone near it before, but a few days ago I figured I'd start reading Philip K. Dick's VALIS. His last three novels ―not counting revisions of old work―don't necessarily have the best reputation.
It's weird. And not weird in a recognizable Dickian sci-fi way. Nobody lives in a conapt or reads a homeopape. The fact that it's first person is different for him. Although that's not straightforward. The narrator says outright that he's also Horselover Fat, but treats him as a separate person as well.
Dick is definitely working through some real life stuff here. At times it feels like the reader is a therapist for a particularly drama queen-y patient. It does flow, though. Some combination of the voice and plot (of sorts) do grab me.
So if he'd lived longer what would his fiction of the 80's and 90's be like. It does make one curious.
It's weird. And not weird in a recognizable Dickian sci-fi way. Nobody lives in a conapt or reads a homeopape. The fact that it's first person is different for him. Although that's not straightforward. The narrator says outright that he's also Horselover Fat, but treats him as a separate person as well.
Dick is definitely working through some real life stuff here. At times it feels like the reader is a therapist for a particularly drama queen-y patient. It does flow, though. Some combination of the voice and plot (of sorts) do grab me.
So if he'd lived longer what would his fiction of the 80's and 90's be like. It does make one curious.
2 comments:
yeah, i for one have pretty much avoided those last 3 novels. while i feel terrible that dick ended up experiencing the mental torment he did toward the end of his career/life, i've never felt the front row seat view these 3 books offer was somewhere i wanted to spend any time. maybe i should reconsider?...
hard to believe that dick was decades-long penpal of ursula leguin (among a few others). there was definitely a minority voice at the time amidst the standard clean white scifi (that gave us all those classic covers) being produced at the time. i just happen to be reading a master of another sort from the same period: mickey spillane. not really recommended for anyone over the age of 12. tho disturbingly entertaining, irregardless...
From the perspective of balancing literary worth and entertainment value my top Dick books (shut up) would probably be Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, and A Maze of Death, not necessarily in that order. Valis doesn't work at that level. It's not a complete meltdown either. It's a workable novel with a style that might have led somewhere. Who knows?
Le Guin and Dick are an amazing odd couple. It's kind of too bad there's no literary collaboration on the shelves. There was also some great cover art being produced at that time. So many of the artists are virtually forgotten, although much is known about Leo and Diane Dillon.
Spillane always seemed pretty jovial in those beer commercials - Miller? - he did when I was a kid. He also wrote for Timely before they became Marvel.
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