Review: The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (2111)

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Amazon.com Reviews

Explaining Philip K Dick’s Exegesis by Daniel Kalder

The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick by Paul Di Filippo

The Voices in Philip K. Dick’s Head by Charles Platt

The page from the Exegesis that was with Charles Platt’s The Voices in Philip K. Dick’s Head

‘The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick’ edited by Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem by Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston.com

Review: The exegesis of Philip K. Dick, edited by Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem by Alex Good, The Star

The Exegete by Rob Latham

6 thoughts on “Review: The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (2111)

  1. Of all the various speculations and explications of Philip K. Dick’s “Exegesis,” this one by Lawrence Sutin, PKD’s best biographer, is particularly incisive:

    ” Whether the events or epiphanies of Dick’s final eight years were ultimately indicative of “genuine” mystical encounters or of “merely” psychological origins, I’ll leave for each reader to ponder. Since Dick’s death, theories have multiplied over what occurred, with critics noting parallels between the February/March 1974 inner events and the characteristics of temporal lobe epilepsy, drug side effects, and even multiple personality disorder.

    ” Ultimately, what matters isn’t the cause of his shamanic journey so much as its effects. To his credit Dick was able to turn his experiences into compelling literature.” [In Pursuit Of VALIS, p. xxix]

  2. What’s intriguing and thought-provoking about Sutin’s comment is not so much that he rightly puts, by implication, most of the academics where they belong (up in their dilapidated ivory towers), but the phrase “his [PKD] shamanic journey.” Philip K. Dick as shaman? Not sure anyone else has suggested this, except for Jami Morgan in her marvelous novel A Kindred Spirit…

  3. I knew I should have checked with Bruce Gillespie. He’s been at reading and interpreting and publishing about PKD longer than I have. One of the fans responsible for PKD’s “success.” You do know that it’s fans who are responsible for PKD’s success, don’t you? Not academia. Not hollywood.
    Anyways, regards PKD as shaman, check out this cogent and suggestive essay:

    “The Speaking Light: Philip K. Dick and the Shamanistic Vision”
    SF Commentary 80
    40th anniversary issue, part 1
    August 2010
    [available at http://www.efanzines.com]

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