That's right, the fates, and your votes have spoken. I'll start reading Maze of Death tomorrow morning and hope to have a post or two up by the end of weekend. For now, use the comments section of this post as a place to get the discussion started.
I'll be reading the super-cool Bantam edition pictured above. My copy appears unread, and comes from 'Book Rack' in Paducah Kentucky (part of a collection of PKD paperbacks I bought on ebay). It'd be cool if someone had the LoA edition any case Lethem has added any footnotes.
6 comments:
I already jumped the gun and read the Vintage edition last month, shortly after finishing the one-volume VALIS trilogy.
Probably will reread all of 'em now that I've got the LOA, though.
Great. I read it today. I don't think I'd read it previously. While it has some good moments I feel it is somewhat repetitive of many other of his books of this era. These moments include the woman (Betty Jo) who takes all the pills which cancel each other out--existentialist humour! Also the fact that Morley loves his raggedy old tom-cat and wants it back as it was.
Also as a Red Dwarf fan I can't help but make the comparison to the "despair squid" episode... except there's no Brummie character welcoming them back and calling them "stupid twonks"! You know the one I mean.
The back cover of my edition (Vintage) goes on about the theological speculations, but aren't they just drawn from the holy trinity? There is an interesting suggestion at the end of the book that if you believe in a theological speculation deeply enough it may come true and rescue you. Alternatively, it could be because he is the one character shown exhibiting empathy toward other life forms, in this case his old tom-cat.
All in all a bit thin. Gotta love phrasing like this though:
"God," he thought "help me" (p. 7). Not "God help me" but with that authorial interjection so typical of PKD, that marks out his style.
Anyway I'm sure I've missed stuff which more perceptive readers will bring up...
I agree with ubikcan that there are many common Dickian elements in this book. But that's part of the charm, part of what allows us to find out what's important to him as a writer, and part of what allows us to use an adjective like "Dickian."
For those who wanted to read "Galactic Pot-Healer," there's at least a similar beginning here. Dick emphasizes the importance of labor -- and specifically creative labor -- in establishing one's peace of mind. Ben Tallchief is a bit like GPH's Joe Fernwright in the fact that work has been tremendously unrewarding. In Dick's fiction, work tends to be an expression of one's personality, or even one's personhood. If one isn't fulfilled at work, one hardly exists except as the pain of unfulfillment.
Ben's failure to send a Thank-You prayer in the first chapter is especially interesting. This is pure Dickian ambivalence. On the one hand, it's a wry dig at bourgeois conventionality, but on the other hand it's used as a dark foreshadowing of future events. (Although I can't recall exactly where this novel is headed, it is called "Maze of Death," after all). At any rate, by raising this ambiguity, Dick seems to insist that Thank-You prayers or other such messages should not be sent perfunctorily or as a formality. Communication should be honest.
O.k.; I'm 5 chapters in & yes, the common themes are very clear. (1)Why are we here & what are we doing? (2) The "official" explanation is unknown, & potentially tampered with. And (3) The books characters are accustomed to processing these questions in various ways... For example, they consult one (1?!) particluar religious text, pray via electronically enhanced mechanisms,(..this theme is analogous to 60's bachelor pad gadgets/ protocol..) and, they find meaning in (random?)details that are (or not)included, vilified, &/or repetitively considered in specific ways...
I agree with ubikcan about the suggestion at the end regarding religious faith and redemption. As with many of Dick's earlier short stories and other novels of this period he presents us with a "closed loop". This time he seems to offer faith as a liberation technique (to use the parlance of the 60s-70s).
The chapter titles are a little mysterious to me. Some of them seem to obliquely refer to the events in the novel. Others appear to describe an alternate novel with the same characters. Any ideas?
this is one of my favorite dick novels. its short and full of lots of little mysteries. it seems like it was just hashed out quickly but there a few reverent moments in the book. it has that kind of meta feeling at the ending. seems to me theres something that isn't being told with whats going on in the story(or hidden), even when its all kind of laid out in the end. i think it kind of leaves a few speculations for the reader to come up with. use your imagination...
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