"For it is a fact that wu is customarily found in the least imposing places as in the Christian aphorism, 'stones rejected by the builder.' One experiences awareness of wu in such trash as an old stick, or a rusty beer can by the side of the road. However, in those cases, the wu is within the viewer. It is a religious experience. Here, an artificer has put wu into the object, rather than merely witnessed the wu inherent in it."
Oh, Philip. You let the I Ching write a book for you and look what happens. It gets called your 'best work' and wins a Hugo?
This book was born the same year as my mother. And I love it twice as much. Sorry, kidding. Even if you don't care what would have happened if the axis had won WWII (and you should because according Dick, it is probably happening in a parallel world) you will, I think, still appreciate the story telling. Sometimes it seemed as if the particular asian-speak of some of the dialogue carried over into Dick's prose. Words like 'the' and 'your' and 'my' are left out in some places. It is something that is very infectious and verbally thrifty. Altho, his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is better than this. Rachael Rosen of 'DADOES' has a prototype in this book, Juliana. And again we see an underdog type of man who 'succeeds' when he does what others would only laugh at or have doubts about.
There is a part of the book that I liked the most where one of the characters has a nervous breakdown and goes to sit in a park with old men on benches. All the while fondling a tiny, worthless trinket and speaking into it. I got a lot out of that scene.
It seems wrong that this is considered science fiction. I have such a different idea of what science fiction is, mainly something I wouldn't want to read. Labeling a book as science fiction seems dismissive. It puts a piece of writing under a different domain, one outside of 'real literature.' Which is bullshit.
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| The Science Fiction Book Club needs members. I'm thinking about it. |
This is probably why I haven't picked up any of Dick's books until recently. I thought they would be badly written, because on the spine of books at the library there is a UFO sticker which did a pretty good job of warding me off. So, I guess, my prejudice did nothing but deprive me of alternate universes and yarrow sticks.
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| Civil War recruiting poster for Mr. Tagomi |
