tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post2531444445373014542..comments2024-03-28T22:32:39.500-07:00Comments on Total Dick-Head: Name That Novel...Ragle Gummhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13951340313214410331noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-74107793236383693032010-04-25T12:26:47.744-07:002010-04-25T12:26:47.744-07:00Here's a snippet from the draft of the book on...Here's a snippet from the draft of the book on Dick I'm currently writing: "Though Dick insisted on his having drawn inspiration from Japanese novelists, he never specified who those novelists were. There are indeed important Japanese writers who earned a degree in French literature at the University of Tokyo (Kenzaburo Oe, Osamu Dazai, Hideo Kobayashi), while others studied French literature at the University of Kyoto (Hiroshi Noma and Shohei Ooka), but the works of these authors which were available in English translations before the publication of The Man in the High Castle do not have a multiple plot structure, though one of them, Horoshi Noma's war novel Zone of Emptiness (1952, translated into English in 1956) does have multiple points of view. It is however difficult to see it as a narrative model to Dick's 1962 novel because there is only one plot, pivoted on the tragic story of a Japanese soldier who is imprisoned for two years in a military penitentiary for a crime he has not committed and then sent to fight (and probably die) in a faraway Pacific island; and this novel has only two narrative foci, unlike Castle. Moreover, while Dick's novel presents the reader with a rather positive image of the Japanese domination in California, which is depicted as stern but substantially fair, Noma's novel denounces the corruption of the Imperial Japanese Army and the hypocrite and narrow-minded militarism which dominated the country in W.W.II years; though it is true that private Soda's desperate efforts to save the doomed protagonist, Kitani, from the deadly bureaucratic machine of the army may bear resemblance to the rebellion of the little man Nobosuke Tagomi, which instead manages to save Frank Frink from the deadly machine of Nazi racial warfare. But it is not enough to prove that Dick had read Zone of Emptiness; besides, a component of the plot is not equivalent to the overall architecture of a novel."Umberto Rossihttp://web.tiscali.it/ausonia/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-14044885094824100352010-01-18T16:10:12.386-08:002010-01-18T16:10:12.386-08:00excellent post. there's a paper here.
Dick...excellent post. there's a paper here.<br /><br />Dick's concept of the multi-perspective narrative was a huge influence on me very early on (one of my first PKD novels as a teen was "Eye in the Sky" which is I think an emblematic experiment in the form). The notion that problems are multi-person is so key to Dick and yet so overlooked in a theoretical environment that wants to turn it into "intertextuality" or Levinas.<br />I don't know about these Tokyo novelists but I can say that Joyce's Ulysses is likely another good source to be discussing here. I think the way to discuss his originality or innovation on this theme would be to examine the way he applies multifocal technique in SF and philosophical/psychological works both fiction and nonfiction.Mr. Handhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00308380761257083577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-34305989998844731342010-01-18T12:31:42.864-08:002010-01-18T12:31:42.864-08:00Robert, it certainly is possible that Dick did not...Robert, it certainly is possible that Dick did not read the book, but rather heard about the multi-foci plot. Anne Mini suggested PKD may have been influenced by Peyton Place which uses this model. <br /><br />I think first, we must assume that there is a particular novel that Dick is talking about, but barring id-ing that book, we may have to fall back to mere speculation. <br /><br />Also people have pointed out Faulkner was using multi-foci plots in Sound and the Fury, and Eliot used it in his poem "The Waste Land" - it may be that Dick was referencing obscure works in these interviews to give the impression that he was more innovative than he really was...Ragle Gummhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13951340313214410331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-19616902369510264232010-01-18T04:10:06.698-08:002010-01-18T04:10:06.698-08:00Is it possible Dick merely inferred or imagined th...Is it possible Dick merely inferred or imagined the ending of a novel he had only read about, or that if there was a summary that he may have read the ending was described therein?<br /><br />This is merely speculation on my part, and perhaps Dick did read a novel or novels such as he describes. But, if it can be surmised that there are no such known Japanese novels that had been translated at the time Dick wrote TMHC, it seems a reasonable speculation.<br /><br />And, this is PKD remember; just because he describes something doesn't mean it necessarily happened that way.Robert Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951286299515983901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-8439500006604771222010-01-17T17:43:42.674-08:002010-01-17T17:43:42.674-08:00Robert, Dick actually says that at the end of this...Robert, Dick actually says that at the end of this mystery novel all the characters are brought into the same room together - and it's pretty clear he's talking about it after having read it. ..Ragle Gummhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13951340313214410331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-1048496632267435852010-01-17T17:23:14.657-08:002010-01-17T17:23:14.657-08:00It may be that Dick never read the work of the stu...It may be that Dick never read the work of the students he refers to, as their work may have been untranslated at the time, but had only read <i>about</i> them and their work. This could have been enough for him to create a similar structure for his novel.Robert Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951286299515983901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-53464743773368636972010-01-17T00:34:54.794-08:002010-01-17T00:34:54.794-08:00I believe there are some other references to this ...I believe there are some other references to this also. I was reading some things about this recently and have an impression he stated at some time that he learned or read about this and/or read some of the novels at UC, Berkley. Vaguer impression this was or included UCB Library Special Collections (possibly including a thesis on file with the UCB Library). Might have had his attention drawn to it by mention in some class during his brief attendence at UCB, by mention in some magazine, from Anthony Boucher or I don't know where. Been consulting so many PKD related things lately the references just sort of melt together and evaporate. Possibly Kleo Mini stated something about this. IIRC, she went to the UCB library to pick up and return books and magzines/journals for him during a period in the 50s when he wasn't getting out of the house much plus she simply has some knowledge of his reading interests of the time. Seems to me she shared more literary interests with him and discussed such matters with him more than any of his other wives. You've some access to both Kleo Mini and UCB's library--yes or no? Or a nonbinary answer if one but not both is acceptable. ;-)<br /><br />Besides the more accessible books, I thing the Philip K. Dick Society Newsletter and Radio Free PKD are possible sources of some specific mention about this. Kleo might have written something about this in a letter to either or someone else might have written something. Both of these zines have lots of info that wasn't or still isn't available elsewhere.<br /><br />Phil might have mentioned this subject in connection with some earlier work such as Eye In The Sky or in a general comment somewhere on the form and craft of science fiction, ahem, I mean... I don't know what I mean, I'm half asleep. Anyway, I hope I've written something that may be helpful.Pantomime Horsenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-53448092159845162282010-01-16T18:33:19.512-08:002010-01-16T18:33:19.512-08:00Very intriguing!Very intriguing!The History Rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17549834823317295684noreply@blogger.com