Product Description
Known in his lifetime primarily to readers of science fiction, Philip K. Dick (1928-82) is now seen as a uniquely visionary figure, a writer who, in editor Jonathan Lethem's words, "wielded a sardonic yet heartbroken acuity about the plight of being alive in the twentieth century, one that makes him a lonely hero to the readers who cherish him." Posing the questions "What is human?" and "What is real?" in a multitude of fascinating ways, Dick produced works-fantastic and weird yet developed with precise logic, marked by wild humor and soaring flights of religious speculation-that are startlingly prescient imaginative responses to 21st-century quandaries.

This Library of America volume brings together four of Dick's most original novels. The Man in the High Castle (1962), which won the Hugo Award, describes an alternate world in which Japan and Germany have won World War II and America is divided into separate occupation zones. The dizzying The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) posits a future in which competing hallucinogens proffer different brands of virtual reality. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), about a bounty hunter in search of escaped androids in a postapocalyptic future, was the basis for the movie Blade Runner. Ubik (1969), with its future world of psychic espionage agents and cryogenically frozen patients inhabiting an illusory "half-life," pursues Dick's theme of simulated realities and false perceptions to ever more disturbing conclusions. As with most of Dick's novels, no plot summary can suggest the mesmerizing and constantly surprising texture of these astonishing books.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 18 reviews)

Revernt treatment of science fiction classics

These four novels are Dick, whose erratic brilliance lead to frustration in his lesser works, at his finest. "The Man in the High Castle" in particular is brilliant piece of alternate history elucidated by some of the best prose the author ever wrote. For those only familiar with the film "Blade Runner", the subtlety and humor of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" will be a real eye-opener. This fine volume is highly recommended both for science fiction fans and for those who want to complete their knowledge of twentieth century literature.
October 09, 2008

A "religious preoccupation"

Philip K. Dick, the author of the four novels published in this Library of America edition, suffered from bouts of schizophrenia. He also experimented with drugs, his favorite being amphetamines ("speed").

The title of the book is "Four Novels of the 1960s," & the four novels are: "The Man in the High Castle" (1962); "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (1964); "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (1968); & lastly, "Ubik" (1969)--an abbreviation of the word "ubiquitous." Understandably then, the book is 830 pages long, with about 200 pages for each of the four novels.

The first novel, "High Castle," takes place in a parallel world in which Germany & Japan have won the second world war. The two countries have divided up the USA into some four territories. The three eastern territories are run by Germany, & Japan controls the Pacific-coast territory. Improved & perfected German rockets take the place of airplanes as a way of traveling to different parts of the world. The fame of the man in the high castle results from a book he has written about a "mythical" world in which the British & Americans have won the war. The high castle book seems to be viewed by people as a religious or prophetic writing. The book moves from one point of view to another until, finally, Juliana goes to meet the man in the high castle.

The second novel, "Eldritch Palmer," also has religious overtones. Palmer is seen as a religious prophet of sorts, or perhaps even a savior. After returning from Proxima, a near-by star, he seems to have gained foreboding mystical powers. The hero appears obliquely & becomes obsessed with Eldritch. The whole book revolves around the Martian penchant for chewing Can-D, a drug that puts you in the parallel world of "Perky Pat" & her boyfriend Walt.

The third novel, "Do Androids Dream," put me in a weird zone. I couldn't figure out why hero Rick Deckard was killing all these androids ("andys"). Eventually, it turned out that the androids had committed violent crimes. Mercerism, THE religion of the time, included consulting the empathy box to interact with Mercer himself (Himself?). Also, it seemed that one of Mercer's precepts was owning & caring for animals. Deckard's ordeal leads him back to his wife with a new understanding.

The fourth & last novel, "Ubik," is often called Dick's masterpiece. I read with fascination, & it didn't disappoint. People would die & enter a half-life & still be able to communicate with the world, usually to a whole range of psychic individuals. This is the story of Glen Runciter, Joe Chip, & the inertial psychics who went to Luna. The excruciating unfolding of the plot will steal your breath.

Philip K. Dick, in his "Exegesis" or daily journal, spoke about a time he called "2374"; that is February & March of 1974, when he had beautiful delusions. He had bouts with problems like this throughout his life. But unlike the typical schizophrenic who would go to a delusional world but would have nothing to show for doing that, Dick takes you into the magnanimous world of his speculations. It seems to me that he has been able to second-guess his delusions & apply them to his life & writings. What an imagination he had! (He died in 1982 of a stroke.)

This book & the four novels in it are a bountiful romp through unknown worlds by a master science fiction practitioner, who not only lived in an exclusive reality, but was then able to tell us all about it... Psychiatrists would call this a "religious preoccupation." I would call it a gift from an imaginative genius to all of us.

July 27, 2008

A Great Introduction to the World of Philip K. Dick

This is the first of two volumes in the Library of America series containing novels by Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published during the the 1960's and 1970's. At present, they represent the only volumes of the LOA series devoted to SciFi material. While I had never read any Dick, only heard about him from folks like Michael Dirda in his weekly Wednesday webpage book discussion (Washingtonpost.com) and his recent "Classics for Pleasure," I found this collection of 4 novels (some 818 pages worth) to be a great introduction to his impressive work. Many have suggested Dick was the premier Sci-Fi writer of the second half of the 20th century, and these novels illustrate why that claim may be merited.

Included are the classic "The Man in the Castle" that won the Hugo award in 1963, which employs an alternate or parallel world approach to a yarn set in post WWII San Francisco, with the twist that the Germans and the Japanese won the war and divided up the U.S. "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich" is full of religious and hallucinogenic imagery and reflects Dick's exposure to the LSD culture in SF. My favorite, and I guess that goes for many readers, is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" that served as the basis for "The Blade Runner" film. How Dick deals with virtually human androids in this context (one of his favorite themes) is amazing to behold. And finally, "Ubik" which made a recent "Time" list of the best 100 novels published since 1923. This one is set in a future world where the dead remain in "half-life" and can be contacted, while privacy is vulnerable given the power of certain individuals to predict the future ("precogs") or to explore the minds of others and probe their thoughts.

To say that Dick's imagination is inconceivably rich would be an understatement. Every paragraph of each novel is just crammed full of interesting ideas. Dick also has a sense of humor, especially evident to those of us who were around in the 1960's-1970's period. His ability to conclude with surprise (almost "Twilight Zone" type) endings adds to the effectiveness of his writing. It is easy to get hooked on Dick, if these stories are any indication. THe LOA edition has helpful notes, and a wonderfully extensive chronology of Dick's unsettled life is included. As is true with all the LOA series, this volume is well produced, nicely printed, on excellent paper, and easy to hold for a book in the 800 page range. I look forward to the second volume for another scintillating reading experience.
July 25, 2008

Welcome to the dark, thrilling, paranoid world of PKD

Plaudits to the Library of America for adding the unique and radical genre fiction of Philip K. Dick to their canon of American masterworks. Science fiction fans have long espoused the genius of Dick's revelatory vision of a future world gone wildly out of control. His prose is never wordy, pretentious, or convoluted - the plots are already confusing enough. The typical Dick story is hyper-fast-paced, dropping the reader right into the action with little preparatory exposition, and no sooner do you think you've got a handle on what's going on than he starts throwing major league curves at you. In the dangerous and unfriendly future, Dick's characters are always frantically caught up in the struggle to survive, only to find out that their situation isn't nearly as cut and dried as they'd believed. In contrast to Proust, who tried to show us that life was only what we thought it was, Philip K. Dick, amidst the turbulence of the 1960's, deals with the discovery that your life is NOT what you thought it was. What's often missed is how skillfully Dick fits this revelation into the context of his novels; we aren't so much suddenly in a different world than we were at the beginning of the story than simply more aware of the reality (or non-reality) of our situation than we had been. This sometimes causes some major plot malfunctions, since after all, once you realize that you're dead (for example) priorities can change dramatically, and that's why the conclusions usually don't tie things up in a neat little package. Dick tends to disdain predictable plots and pat endings. Often there's no real resolution at all, but merely a recognition of the true state of affairs, and yes, some readers will find this off-putting, but isn't this more realistic than having the hero beat the villain and then living happily ever after? Like all of Dick's work, these novels are dark, crazy, explosive, and suspenseful and often very funny as well. But if you're self-assured enough to face a world gone totally mad, Dick has some thrilling tales to tell.
July 10, 2008

FINALLY: RECOGNITION AND RESPECT FOR PKD

Finally: Philip K. Dick gets the recognition and respect he deserves with his addition into the Library of America canon. This volume collects four of Dick's most compelling and visionary novels of the 1960s and serves as a great introduction to PKD's world of panic and paranoia. (The recently published and comprehensive "Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick" makes an excellent companion piece to this edition, but those stories also tend to be gimmicky and hokey where Dick's novels are lean and mean.) For initiates, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" -- collected here along with "The Man in the High Castle," "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" and "Ubik" -- is as good a place as any to start. Deftly combining elements of traditional science fiction with the hardboiled detective novel, Dick explores all of his signature obsessions in this story of a bounty hunter who sets out to exterminate androids in our midst. First and foremost, the novel succeeds as a page-turner -- but it also works on a deeper level, exploring the nature of reality, what it means to be human and the way materialism, or what Dick calls "the tyranny of an object," controls our lives and deepest desires.
June 25, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s
by Philip K. Dick
by Jonathan Lethem

The Philip K. Dick Reader
by Philip K. Dick

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick

Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960: On the Road / The Dharma Bums / The Subterraneans / Tristessa / Lonesome Traveler / Journal Selections (Library of America)
by Jack Kerouac
by Douglas G. Brinkley

H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)
by H. P. Lovecraft
by Peter Straub