Thursday, May 31, 2007

Cover of the Day


The Library of America releases their new volume 'Philip K Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s' today! Congratulations Phil! Stay tuned for a full review of the release including a quote or two from the volume's editor, Jonathan Lethem, but for now let's simply bask in the glow of Dick's literary acheivement.

Just to let you know: The MSRP on this book is $35.00 and it contains very little in the way of new material, so before you rush out to buy a copy, consider buying the four titles seperately, preferably in the pulpiest editions you can find.

I just discovered the Library of America has posted a pretty good interview with Jonathan Lethem on their webpage. Enjoy!

4 comments:

LRJP! said...

I found Letham's last line rather pithy, not least because i'm inclined to take K-punk's line on Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind:

It might be that Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the most Philip K Dick-esque film ever.

Oddly, it achieves this by freeing SF from the template that Ridley Scott established over two decades ago in Blade Runner, his adaptation of Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? For all its merits, Blade Runner was not especially Dickian. The heroic register, the expressionist grandeur, have in fact more to do with Scott than PKD. Reading A Scanner Darkly or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldridge, what is most striking about them is their shabbiness, seediness and scuzz, both moral and physical. Dick rubbed SF’s upturned nose in the quotidian mess of failed relationships, drug dependency and cheap media.

Anonymous said...

See my review of the LOA volume at my Qubikuity blog.

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Bo Cephas said...

I'm dismayed by LoA's disclaimer that they've made no attempt to reproduce the non-textual elements of the stories typographic design (Notes on the Text.) I feel like I'm missing some of the fun. I have an idea of what they mean, having just finished a novel that featured a little unusual text placement, to wit Bester's "The Stars, My Destination." Not having access to multiple copies, I have nothing to compare to the LoA edition. Do anyone know specifically what is lacking from this collection?