I just received an advance copy of Laurence Rickels's new tome of Dick scholarship I Think I Am Philip K Dick (due out next month), and, just glancing at it, I have to say it's pretty amazing. Rickels is probably the biggest name in academia to tackle Dick's irv (with perhaps the exception of Frederic Jameson who is a bigger name but who has never dedicated an entire book to Dick's work). Rickels's book is quite long (400+ pages) and examines all of PKD's major works (3 Stigmata, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? etc) but also has looks at PKD's less-recognized work (The Man Who Japed, Radio Free Albemuth, Lies, Inc.)...
Here is the table of contents for the book - click to enlarge (sorry my scanner is a dirty, little punk rocker)
I have only read a bit of the introduction and skimmed a bit here and there. The writing is dense and academic and will, I think, keep the audience of this book pretty limited to high-falutin' Dick thinkers like me and my readers. But, make no mistake, this is the book many of us have waited a long time for.
I have exchanged emails with Rickels who was kind enough to offer to do an interview with me for this blog in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned...
Pre-order your copy here:
7 comments:
How much is this going to retail for? From my past life as an English major, I know these kinds of books can command high prices...
Shaunathan, that's the good news! You can order it from amazon for $16
Looks awesome.
You'll admit that this is the BIG PKD-related event this year, possibly more than the Albemuth movie (unless it's a very good movie AND a very successful one, à la Blade Runner). Just think: if you don't count that handful of self-published PhD dissertations and academic articles, they haven't been publishing serious monographs on Dick since 2003--seven years! (With the commendable exception of Andy Butler's PKD guide, but that's a guide, not an interpretive essay.) So, this promises to be Something Memorable--and I do hope it is!
This book looks quite exciting. I'll definitely be pre-ordering for it's June paperback release. By then, Uni exams'll be over and I can get down to some serious Dick-reading. Can't wait!
This looks exciting even for us low-falutin' fans. Plus a book by Rossi in the pipeline and an apparently high quality PKD based film (Radio Free Albemuth). Even a festival in the US for PKD fans. Happy Days!
This is a surprisingly affordable book. Amazing in these days of $6.99 and $7.99 paperbacks. Can it be ordered through a regular brick and mortar bookstore at this price or is there some special deal with Amazon?
On a semi-related subject, I have some questions. How many of PKD's works are available in mass market paperback? How many in trade paperback and what are the current prices of the trade paperbacks? If I wasn't already a fan, I'd be much more inclined to try something by him at a lower price. As a fan, I'd be much more inclined to buy lower priced books to give to people who aren't familiar with him or with his actual writing. That's something I started doing in the 1960s and I hope he benefited from increased sales due to fans who did this during his lifetime though I've always done this mainly to turn people on to a great writer and have done the same with some other favorite authors.
The latest books I've seen were something like $28 dollars each with nothing new for me except some story notes by Gregg Rickman. I'd like to own copies of Rickmann's notations but not enough to pay $56 for them when I own multiple copies of all the PKD stories already (and these aren't even in large print). When my eyesight gets bad enough I hope the National Library For The Blind will have a very complete collection of PKD. He gave them general permission for former, present and future works back in 1975. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#National_Library_for_the_Blind
question,
name of Frederic Jamenson's work of PKD?
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