# Philip K. Dick



## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

So, Philip K. Dick; best sci-fi writer of all time, or just one of the best sci-fi writers of all time?

I kid, of course. I just wanted to see if there were any other "Dickheads" out there. I've been reading a steady regimen of Dick novels and have been loving his style more and more. I think I may be committing myself to read every last thing the man wrote!

If you haven't heard of him, you've probably seen a movie based on one of his novels/short stories. Blade Runner, Total Recall, Screamers, Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly & The Adjustment Bureau. 

Also, it looks like Radio Free Ablemuth, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Ubik and The Man in the High Castle will have film versions of them out sooner than later!

BTW, I'm working on A Scanner Darkley right now. A bit dark and a bit silly. The film is on my NetFlix cue! 

So, any PKD fans here on PerC?


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## Duck_of_Death (Jan 21, 2011)

Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies ever, but I never read the book.
Either way, by all accounts...the man was a master.
I will take your word for it.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Blade Runner was based on Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. There are some pretty major divergences from the book, but the story is mostly there.

Also check out the directors cut of the film that cut out Ford's lack-luster, cry-baby narration. (there's an interesting story behind it you should track down too. Ford and the director (Scott?) did not get along _at all_.)



Duck_of_Death said:


> Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies ever, but I never read the book.
> Either way, by all accounts...the man was a master.
> I will take your word for it.


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## Duck_of_Death (Jan 21, 2011)

EmotionallyTonedGeometry said:


> Blade Runner was based on Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. There are some pretty major divergences from the book, but the story is mostly there.
> 
> Also check out the directors cut of the film that cut out Ford's lack-luster, cry-baby narration. (there's an interesting story behind it you should track down too. Ford and the director (Scott?) did not get along _at all_.)


The director's cut DVD was one of the first discs I bought when the technology was new. I even saw "The Final Cut" in theaters during it's two-week run 4 years ago. Absolutely immersive experience--better than The Return of the King.



NikitaX said:


> Yeah I like Dick.


Ho-ho!


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## Loki Grim (May 8, 2011)

A Scanner Darkly was my favorite book of his.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Loki Grim said:


> A Scanner Darkly was my favorite book of his.


As I mentioned, I'm 80 pages in right now. It's good, but different from what I've previously experienced. If I had to pick my favorite so far, I would have to go with The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrigtch I like when he gets into religious/existential/metaphysical themes as he has a hypnotic and absolutely brilliant way of addressing the magnificent. I'm _really _looking forward to Valis and his last two novels as they seem to be animated by his personal religious experience.


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## Lemmy Caution (Jun 12, 2010)

He's one of the best sci-fi writers I've read so far. His writing style can be a bit clunky and unelegant at times but his books are always imaginative and entertaining.

I liked everything I read by him, and I can pick up a book of his and get into it no matter what mood I'm in. I can't say that about any other author.



EmotionallyTonedGeometry said:


> Also, it looks like Radio Free Ablemuth, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Ubik and The Man in the High Castle will have film versions of them out sooner than later!


I didn't know about this. Those are some of his best books, the films should be at least half decent.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Lemmy Caution said:


> I didn't know about this. Those are some of his best books, the films should be at least half decent.


Yeah, more than likely it won't be a fair rendering, but it's nice to Dick get a little more attention and the respect that he deserves.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Loki Grim said:


> A Scanner Darkly was my favorite book of his.


I read chapter 11 last night and came across a bunch of German. Turns out it is sections from Gothe's Faust. What better way to spend an afternoon that by translating German poetry! ...which I suck at. I suppose it's better than not knowing what's going on... or just reading someone else's translation. Right? Anyway, here it is. If anyone with a little more proficiency in the language happens along, please feel free to correct my egregious translating errors. 


_Ihr Instrumente freilich spottet mein, _ (668)
_Mit Rad und Kämmen, Walz’ und Bügel:_
_Ich stand am Tor, ihr solltet Schlüssel sein;_
_Zwar euer Bart ist kraus, doch hebt ihr nicht_
_Die Riegel._

Your instruments surely scoff mine
With wheel and combing, drum and shackle:
I stood at the gateway, you should be the key;
Indeed your beard is frizzy, however you do not raise
The bolt


_Was grinsest du mir, hohler Schädel, her? _(664)
_Als dass dein Hirn, wie meines, einst verwirret_
_Den leichten Tag gesucht und in der Dämmung schwer,_
_Mit Lust nach Wahrheit, jämmerlich geirret._

Why do you grin at me, hollow skull? 
That your brain, as mine, once befuddled
sought after the softness of day and the gloom 
With desire and truth, in wretched error.


_Dem Wurme gleich’ ich, der den Staub durchwühlt _(653)
_Den, wie er sich im Staube nährend lebt,_
_Des Wandrers Tritt vernichtet and begrabt._

I resemble the worms that rummage through the dust
That, in such that it lives in the nourishing dust,
The wanderers’ foot falls destroy and bury. 


_Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach! In meiner Brust, _(1112)
_Die eine will sich von der andern trennen:_
_Die eine halt, in derber Liebeslust,_
_Sich an die Welt mit klammernden Organen;_
_Die andre hebt gewaltsam sich vom Dust_
_Zu den Gefilden hoher Ahnen._

Alas, two souls dwell here in my breast!
The one will separate itself from the other:
The one itself will stop, in lustful desire,
grasping the world with its senses;
The other lifting itself by force from the dust
To the higher realm of the ancestors.


_Weh! steck’ ich in dem Kerker noch? _(398)
_Verfluchtes dumpfes Mauerloch,_
_Wo selbst das liebe Himmelslicht_
_Trub durch gemalte Scheiben bricht!_
_Beschränkt mit diesem Bücherhauf,_
_Den Würme nagen, Staub bedeckt,_
_Den bis ans hohe…_

Oh woe! Am I still plunged into this dungeon?
Cursed, dismal hole in the wall,
Where the dearest daylight 
Painted disks break through the dregs!
Restricted with these partial books,
The worms nibble, dust-covered
To the high. 


Some of it makes a lot of sense in the context of the book!


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## Valdyr (May 25, 2010)

I'm a massive dickhead.

Anyway, now to talk about Philip K. Dick. Definitely one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I remember being obsessed with A Scanner Darkly and The Man in the High Castle back in middle school, though Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? has weathered the test of time to be my favorite book of his.


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## Shahada (Apr 26, 2010)

I haven't read a lot of his more well-known and celebrated works (like Scanner Darkly, Man in the High Castle, etc.) but VALIS is an amazing novel that transcends genre.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Shahada said:


> I haven't read a lot of his more well-known and celebrated works (like Scanner Darkly, Man in the High Castle, etc.) but VALIS is an amazing novel that transcends genre.


That's what I keep hearing. It's up next for me along with the other two in the final trilogy.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Read chapter 13 of A Scanner Darkly last night, so in case you were ever wondering. This is from Beethoven's opera "Fedelio."


P. 215

Wie kalt ist es in diesem unterirdischen Gewölbe! Das ist natürlich, es ist ja tief.

How cold it is in this underground vault! This is natural, yet profound.


P. 219

Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! O grauenvolle Stille!
Od’ ist es um mich her. Nichts lebet auszer mir…

God! Such darkness here! O horrible silence! 
Of all this around me, nothing lives besides me…


P. 225

Ein Engel, der Gattin, so gleich, der führt mich zur Freiheit ins himmlische Reich.

An angel, my wife; the two so alike, this drives me to the freedom of the heavenly realm.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Philip K. Dick in a nutshell...

"The next day Nicholas came around to my place to tell me about his mystical experience and get my opinion. He was not exactly candid about it, however; initially he told it to me not as a personal experience but as a science fiction idea for a story. That was so if it sounded nutty the onus wouldn't be on him."

From "Radio Free Albemuth," P. 11


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## CosmicJalapeno (Sep 27, 2011)

The only reason I became aware of him is because Blade Runner is my favorite film. Too bad I discovered he has the prose of a blind Chinese kid with down syndrome, though I will have to admit, electric sheep is the only thing I read by him, so maybe some of his other work is better. I still haven't been able to read anything better than Neuromancer. It's a shame really. I feel like Neuromancer has ruined other literature for me because I can't help but compare.


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## Catenaccio (May 2, 2011)

A great writer. He also had a very interesting life.


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