I saw Sunset Boulevard at the Crocker last night. So fucking good. It was really packed. Gloria Swanson was amazing. What a courageous role for her to take on. It's harsh. Now I want to see some of her earlier films.
What do you guys think of Philip K. Dick? Favorite books? I just read this one and I loved it. Doesn't the guy on the front look like Kevin Spacey? The plot is crap and so is most of the dialogue but the genius is in the little comical touches and character vignettes. There's one page that's so
genius some other adjective I thought about just typing it in here, but that seems like going too far. Was he a diagnosed schizophrenic? There's a scene where he's digging a tiny implanted camera out of his wrist that is so similar to schizophrenic thinking that it's creepy.
I've tried several times to read his books but could never make it past about 20 pages. Seemed like there was so much that was ridiculous I couldn't take whatever good stuff the might be in there- kinda like Frank Zappa records.
ReplyDeleteBut he was hugely influential, way more than you'd expect looking at his sales records. his books sold so poorly in his lifetime that he was living on horsemeat at one point.
-omf
The late great Bob Bione read some of Dick's stuff on his Sunday night SciFi/Horror show on KVMR, including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? That's barely the basis for Blade Runner (same characters and plotline), but very dystopia and melancholy in its own way.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have the same taste in books, but you really have to hang in there for the magic to take hold. The books aren't that long, but I'd give it at least 50 pages.
ReplyDeleteThis post is too positive, where's my gripe?
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I absolutely love PKD. Even his bad books (and he wrote quite a few duds) usually have a least some spark of genius in them. I think when taking stock of his work, you've got to remember how fast he had to keep cranking books out in order to live. Apparently he had whole books he couldn't recall having written. There's a marked improvement in the quality of writing in his latter books, when he finally had a tiny bit of financial security and could spend more time on them.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if he was a diagnosed schizophrenic, but he did spend some time in a mental clinic. Also, there's the whole VALIS thing.
biz
check my twitter feed for my gripe of the day. it contains a picture of an unspeakable thing I found in my kombucha.
ReplyDeleteword verification: proccodi
I'm pro-Cody too!
Dick's pulpy style annoys me, but Ubik and, to a lesser extent, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch I'd say are required reading. It's nice to hear that you found some jouissance (too strong a word?) in his work. A lot of people have. I never have, with the exception of maybe Deckard's touching desire to own a real sheep. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, some of his short stories are pretty good. There is a lot of lame plot mechanisms (as you pointed out) in the novels. It reminds me of Stephen King.
ReplyDelete--knowcebo
Re: was Dick schizophrenic.
ReplyDeleteLike all civilized people in post-war America, Dick spent a lot of time on the analyst's couch trying to come to terms with his desire to kill dad and fuck mom, but the psychosis and delusions he suffered later in life were almost certainly due to his abuse of speed.
--knowcebo
Hey thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've only read Valis, and it was pretty awesome. I also had David Paul around to talk me through it though.
Sorry, should that be VALIS?
ReplyDeleteA Scanner Darkly is super good. And so is We Can Build You. I think that you would like that one a lot - they bring back to life President Lincoln as an android. VALIS is crazy! Parallel realities and deja vu shit.
ReplyDeleteBrew