PHILIP K DICK: Should Science Fiction readers tackle his Mainstream Novels?

[@mike-williams]

I read "The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike" when it came out in that edition, but remember nothing about it.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I re-read some of it for this video as it had been a very, very long time.

[@forenichtreader]

I've read three of PKD's mainstream books so far and liked them (Confessions of a Crap Artist, Mary and the Giant, and In Milton Lumky Territory). They reminded me a bit of books by John Cheever and Richard Yates. The movie Barjo is on KZbin - the video title is "Confessions d'un Barjo (1992) English subtitles".

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Many thanks for that, wasn't aware it was on YT with a variant title- great! Yes, there is a Cheever/Yates feel, agreed.

[@onehandslinger1475]

A Scanner Darkly, Bob Arctor works at a tyre repair shop.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

He does, but he's not a 'regroover' as I recall, though it's been a while- I need to check, but I think it's Nick in 'Our Friends From Frolix 8'

[@bad_brains_horror3613]

I’m a big PKD & Gary Numan fan because of his interest in PKD. I heard the song Flow My Tears the Policeman Said and then read the book. My first PKD was A Scanner Darkly. Interesting video as always. Still have a lot to cover esp. early & later works and all of the short stories.

[@comicbookcrazy]

Thank you for making this video, Steve. This video just goes to show why this is one of the best channels on all of KZbin. I’m a PKD fanatic and love his SF but his other novels need more attention. I feel you’re spot on with your assessments of these books. While they vary in quality they still deserve to be found and read. If you ever decide to do a deep, long dive on PKD, I can promise that I would more than happy to take that ride with you.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks as ever my friend. One of the reasons why I don't do much on PKD is because I think there's a tendency to cover the same old ground, both thematically and in terms of certain titles - which is why I've done videos on 'Lies Inc' and 'Frolix 8'- also I think since Dick became part of the US Literary Canon it allows mainstream critics to ignore everyone else ('we've let one of them in now, we can move on') when authors like Disch, Malzberg & Silverberg go unregarded by the consensus. Look at Library of America's SF - Dick, Bradbury, LeGuin, Butler, Russ are all dead, RB always had acclaim as did LeGuin, three of them are feminists, so fit the narrative and Butler was black to boot, which works even more for them (but where were the critics when Butler was alive?). Rant over LOL. I will be covering more PKD as I love his work, but I want to do something different, hence the slow gestation... :-)

[@comicbookcrazy]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Understood, Steve. I'll be here watching every video you make and continuing to learn.

[@victorpearson1418]

Wore my copy of Crap Artist out . Wonderfully comic dialogue and believable layered plot . Lumky also a favourite . All have moments of inspiration . Remarkable creativity if not always fully realised .

[@michaelconrad7301]

I've just started dipping into Dick's mainstream novels and really enjoyed this analysis - thanks!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

There are a few duds and a number of great ones- only 'Voices From The Street' stopped me in my tracks for a while. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@jimlivengood3962]

While I own and enjoy many PKD SF novels, my favorites are the non-SF books. Especially "Crap Artist"; "Milton Lumky"; and "Puttering About."

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Interesting to hear. I think 'Milton' and Puttering' are underrated, myself, two of my favourite books by him as well.

[@alanbarnett718]

I read Mary and the Giant, and I really wished someone would make a movie out of it. Then Fred Gwynne died, and it didn't seem so urgent anymore...

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I see what you mean....

[@carltaylor6452]

Thank you for this. I've read a fair bit of PKD's SF - I especially like his short stories, and have four of the five collections published by Gollancz - but the only non-SF I've read, which I absolutely love, is Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. There's a melancholy humour in Humpty Dumpty that appeals to me a lot. I will look now to picking up some of the others, especially Milton Lumky. Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

There are a few duds, especially the very early ones- but the later ones are very good indeed. 'Milton Lunky' and 'Puttering...' are excellent.

[@strelnikoff1632]

Steve, thanks for this interesting episode. Slightly off topic but because of my mom's (94 years young!) sudden surgery this morning I'm reminded of the Science Fiction Book Club she allowed me to sign up for back in the late 50s. You know, they sent you a hard cover SF book each month and you can buy it or send it back. I was first introduced to Dick with the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (which was a little much for me at 9 years old but has become one of my favorites over the years along with Ubik). She opened a while new world for me. I remember as an introductory offer they sent me the two volume Great Treasury of Science Fiction (I think it was called). It was a compendium of short stories bracketed by two full length novels in each volume. I recall The Weapon Shops of Isher and Brain Wave being two of them. I wonder if you know that set? Other books I recall obtaining thru the club were Nine Tomorrows (9 Asimov stories), The Foundation Trilogy (which I need to reread), a book of C Simak stories, a book called "Level 7". Mom came thru her surgery in grand shape so my SF matriarch still leads the way forward! Do read much new SF? Wonder if you have read The Blighted Stars, Translation State, or especially Archive Undying and what you thought of them if so?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Glad your mum is OK, good news! Yes, I know the SFBC, I'll have to look that treasury up, probably have seen it. I read some contemporary SF, but as I'm actually planning to stop reading new SF altogether within the next few years with the exception of Priest, Harrison, Gibson, Adam Roberts, Chris Beckett and Dave Hutchinson, I can find very little time and enthusiasm for the contemporary scene. There are several reasons for this: I lack reading time as the channel takes up so much of it, I read and re-read for the channel and feel there is a vast amount of great 'old stuff' I want to cover and overall, I'm rarely impressed by contemporary SF for literary and contextual reasons. I also intend to stop buying books as much as possible in the next few years, as when I quit work I will be avoiding bookshops for at least five years as a life among it all can pale at times and I want to resurrect the relationship I had with books before I entered the industry. But I will look at those titles and see if they pique the interest. Finally, you'll see interviews here with Stark Holborn, Emma Newman and Chris Beckett, all alive and kicking as contemporary SF writers.

[@strelnikoff1632]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I see. I know how you feel. I have so many older books stacked up to read. At 74, I feel some urgency in making sure I spend my reading time on material I have high advance confidence in. One channel is one way I can ensure that confidence. Cheers and keep up the good channel work Stephen.

[@rickkearn7100]

Arguably, PKD had a tumultuous and troubled life. It's an odd trend that many artists and authors regarded as the best of their time were drug abusers and suffered from mental health issues. But it's like that old saying; there's a fine line between genius and insanity. Compelling chap he was and a tragic figure. He epitomized the struggle all artists endure. Great exploration of his non-SF literature Stephen! Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I think so- 'married five times' tells us a heck of a lot, plus the uneven nature of the work and the drug/religious issues- but the legacy of this is a fascinating oeuvre. I'm always sad, though, that he never lived to see what impact 'Blade Runner' would eventually have on his reputation. From his letters, it's easy to see he craved recognition.

[@leakybootpress9699]

For what it's worth, I consider all Dick's mainstream novels to be part of an unfinished whole. Each is like a chapter, but a chapter of novel length, introducing us to the lives, loves and intrigues of residents in a single small town. I enjoyed reading all of them, because the strangeness of America at that time was kind of alien, just as I guess novels about the folk of Salisbury in the 1950s would have been to American readers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Agreed. I've always had a great time reading them, except for 'Voices', which I can't see me going back to. Re-reading some Keith R currently, so great...but you know that!

[@paulcampbell6003]

As always, terrific video! I've read most of his mainstream novels which were released in the '80s, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed them! The UK hardback covers are meh, but the UK B-format editions published by Paladin are gorgeous!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, Paladin was a great imprint from 1986 until its demise- it was the original B format imprint in the UK from the late 1960s onwards, but didn't do any fiction until 1986- then they did loads of fantastic SF novels and marketed them as Slipstream plus great associational novels like these.

[@themojocorpse1290]

Excellent stuff love p k d will definitely try reading confession’s and time out together . Milton lumky as well . Really interesting as always incredible memory you have for detail 👍🏻

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I did some re-reading for this one, of 'Puttering', 'Lumky', 'Oakland' and 'Man Whose Teeth'- although I am good on detail at times, some of the books I want to cover passed before my eyes decades ago, but I am enjoying revisiting them, as the writing of the 1950s-1980s surpasses much of today's work for cultural and market reasons, I feel.

[@themojocorpse1290]

I’m being to understand how important it is to re read you appreciate some books much more by revisiting them .

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@themojocorpse1290 If a work is good, close reading and revisiting always reveal things missed first time, I feel- plus you change as you age, so reading a fave every ten years can be very revealing.

[@michaeldaly1495]

Great vid, I learnt a lot, not least the word 'bicameral. Curious to know whether you have read Carrere's book on Dick - 'I am Alive and You are Dead'. He's a great writer ('Limonov' is brilliant) but i wasn't crazy about it. I must check out 'Divine Invasions' - that sounds amazing.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've read most of Carrere's book- but as I indicated, I think Sutin's is by far the best book on PKD I've read and the definitive biography. I feel a lot of journalists and writers get hung up on PKD's religious obsessions, the pink light and all that, which are of course very interesting, but I'm equally concerned with his professional writing life and personal background. My next PKD video will probably look into one of his personal obsessions a little more...

[@northof-62]

Stunning lecture! I have to rewatch and take notes. It' also very inspirational for me as an enthusiast photographer. Thank you. PS I wonder if Cormac McCarthy got a few ideas from Dick as I see some similarities. Might be coincidental.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Be interested to know what you think those similarities are, let me know.

[@northof-62]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal To me it was a vibe/feeling of weirdness I got from McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" and "The Road" where he moves more into dystopian themes . I was actually surprised when he published the last one, as I felt this was a departure from his previous work. Dick and McCarthy were five years apart, grew up in the same era and both were critical of their society, McCarthy being more of a pessimist I think. He admired Joyce and Melville. I have to read more of both Dick and McCarthy to see if there is anything more to it than what flashed through my mind at one point when listening to your talk. Some notions are hard to put into words. Cheers and thx again!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@northof-62 I don't see any particular connection between the two myself, but once you've developed your theory a bit get back to me with more thoughts. Both great writers, of course....

[@rolandoalvaradoflores]

Remarkable video. Like most of yours. I share it with all my friends.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

That's very kind, Rolando- what this channel needs more than anything is more views, that's a big help.

[@bad_brains_horror3613]

How would you compare early PKD to Kerouac? Similar timeframes. Kerouac maybe more experiential - less layers maybe.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I think they are very different as writers. Burroughs is closer to Dick, of course, being an SF writer himself. I find Keruoac quite sentimental and self-indulgent- not that I dislike him, but I feel he was destroyed as a talent by drink and success at the wrong point.

[@piynubbunyip]

Thinking about Dick and the Berkley radicals and the feds, could the idea of A Scanner Darkly have come from Phil being an informer and then getting stoned with his friends and forgetting?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Well of course....

[@slurmcarey3069]

Loved it!

[@localmo88]

Milton Lumky was excellent

[@GregSloman]

Thanks

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Very kind, Greg, as you always are!