Mon, 02 Oct 2006
Philip K. Dick
Emmanuel Carrere, Philip K. Dick,
Bloomsbury paperback
This paperback coincides nicely with the release
of the movie, A Scanner Darkly, which I
haven't seen yet but I will. The stills from the
rotoscoping look quite cool.
This book is an absolute must for PKD fans. It
tells the story of his life while continually
dipping into his fiction to illustrate how his
life and his work entertwined.
It's not an altogether happy story of course.
PKD had more than his fair share of demons and bad
habits although quite a few of his habits were
thrust upon him by circumstance and the times were
heavy with the idea that drugs were both enlightenment
and salvation. They weren't and aren't of course but
it is worth noting that criminalisation vastly
added to the number of victims by introducing "bad"
drugs and worse than usual people into the equation.
Is it that badly educated, stupid people will always
vote in cretinous politicians?
Read in one way, PKD's story is that of a living
nightmare, as his works bear out. But there are lots
of moments of light along the way, sometimes provided
by his humour, and sometimes provided by passers-through,
including the people at Cal State Fullerton who rescued
him from one of his dark times when he had nowhere to
go.
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