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PKD Otaku 23 Photo of Phil © Tessa Dick, by kind permission January 202 Contents Page Editorial by Patrick Clark 2 A matter of weight: The Exegesis of Philip K Dick by Dave Hyde 4 On The Confusion Between Eisegesis, Exegesis and the Queen of the Fairies: An Eisegesistical Commentary by Frank C. Bertrand 5 A Hell-Chore, Indeed! by ej ‘Jami’ Morgan 7 A Scanner Darkly: A Slice In Time by Lord Running Clam 11 The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick: 1974 - A Summary by Dave Hyde 14 The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick: 1974 - An Index compiled by Dave Hyde 24 A Reappraisal of Philip K. Dick’s ‘The Cosmic Puppets’ by Nick Buchanan 41 Book Reviews 54 Notes and Comments 59 Letters to the Editor 62 ----------------------------- PKD Otaku Layout, Logo, Graphics and Typesetting by Nick Buchanan [email protected] THIS ISSUETO TESSA DEDICATED DICK box office and only The Adjustment Bureau and Minor- ity Report turned a profit, thoughMinority Report turned Editorial a very big profit indeed. In truth not much of Phil gets by Patrick Clark through the sausage-making process of Hollywood. Con- sider Next, surely the nadir of these sausages. And yet to a large extent the world probably recognizes the name hen Philip K. Dick died on March 2, 1982 his vo- Philip K. Dick because of these movies. In a bastardized luminous writings slipped from his grasp and form, to be sure. I suppose we ought to be grateful. But Winto the hands of others. The world has been couldn’t they just once make a decent version of a PKD arguing about the results ever since. Phil’s books are a original? Is that too much to ask? form of property, no different from real estate or the fam- Another set of hands that took hold of the PKD ily silver, and so the first set of hands to reach out were legacy belong to academia. The scholarly study of Phil those of his heirs. Phil’s estate became the Estate, man- and his works began early. Science Fiction Studies pub- aged by his three children. They then made a wise deci- lished a “Special Philip K. Dick Issue” in March of 1975. It sion and commissioned their father’s old friend Paul Wil- was expanded and published as On Philip K. Dick: 40 Ar- liams as literary executive. That decision had momentous ticles from Science Fiction Studies in 1992. Arcane studies consequences. It’s impossible for me to imagine the PKD have flowed from the Ivory Towers ever since. It’s a kind legacy’s survival, not to say it exponential expansion, with- of cottage industry. So we have “The Metafictive World of out Paul Williams. He was August Dereleth to Phil’s H. P. The Man in the High Castle: Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Po- Lovecraft Paul negotiated reprints of the published nov- litical Ideology;” “P.K. Dick: From the Death of the Subject els and short stories; he saw to the first ever publication to a Theology of Late Capitalism;” “Postmodernism and of Phil’s mainstream novels and the voluminous Selected the Birth of the Author in Philip K. Dick’s Valis;” “Death of Letters; he set movie deals into motion and he wrote the a Salesman: Petit-Bourgeois Dread in Philip K. Dick’s Main- first and by far the best book about stream Fiction;” “Media, Drugs, and Paul Williams Paul Phil, Only Apparently Real. Crucially, Schizophrenia in the Works of Philip Paul instigated the Philip K. Dick So- K. Dick;” “Ubik and the Deconstruc- ciety and edited the Society’s News- tion of Bourgeois SF” and on and on. letter. It became a rallying point Check out Michael Fisher’s bibliogra- for the many dispersed PKD readers phy at www.philipkdickfans.com/val- around the world, a place to hang bs/articles-on-academic-journals-ar- out, trade news, gossip and rants; a ticoli-su-riviste-accademiche/ if you place to hear what was going on in are at all interested. The result of all the PKD world and read unpublished this hair-splitting has been confusing. phildickiana. It made a bunch of iso- Which grand theory of Phil are we lated individuals into a family. supposed to salute? Why do we har- Eventually this had to end bor doubts that Phil had ever heard but when it was up and running the of, for instance, the works of German Philip K. Dick Society and its publi- media theorists Friedrich Kittler and cations was an amazing institution. Wolfgang Hagen let alone illustrates The Estate finally took back control them? It is not as if we hadn’t been and went its own direction but by warned. As far back as 1841 in his tale “Never Bet the that time the PKD legacy was alive and well. Devil Your Head,” Edgar Allan Poe cautioned that The second pair of hands, big, clumsy and not a little dirty belonged to Hollywood. Blade Runner came “When the proper time arrives, all that the gentle- out just after Phil’s death; one wonders what he would man intended, and all that he did not intend, will have thought of the completed film. Its current status be brought to light, in “Extrapolation” or “Science notwithstanding, the original opening of the film was a Fiction Studies,” together with all that he ought to bust. Probably the 1990 Total Recall was more impor- have intended, and the rest that he clearly meant tant to studio honchos; Schwarzenegger’s film grossed to intend – so that it will all come very straight in over $260,000,000. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the end.” Phil’s novels and stories were mined for plots and ideas. Of course there is nothing wrong with any of this. Schol- There have been eleven movies so far with a half dozen ars move on their own trajectories with different agendas more in the pipeline. To say that most of these films have and different goals and a particular audience. If the prose been dreadful is an understatement; to say that they have is impenetrable and the thesis inscrutable, well, that just been successful is a joke. Most of them lost money at the means we are not the particular audience. I have to say it 2 ‘It had been a bad night, and when he tried to drive home he had a terrible argument with his car’ can be extremely annoying to hear these contending nar- Bob Arctor, the heroic Mr. Tagomi and, especially, Angel ratives declared ex cathedra especially given how much Archer and Horselover Fat. Fans can have a foot in those one journal article contradicts an other. There is an ego- other camps: Richard Linklater is a fan and a filmmaker; tistical sense here that some university prof has a special Dave Gill and Lawrence Sutin are fans and academics. But insight into Phil’s mind and can absolutely tell us “what it typically a fan is just a fan – and proud of it. all means.” Phil himself was leery of this kind of activity Fans, it must be said, did most of the heavy lifting in and remarked to Joe Vitale in 1978 the early days of PKD’s survival. Paul Williams was the best possible fan. After thePKDS Newsletter ceased, fans “You know, sometimes I think it’s all a plot, to like Dave Hyde and Greg Lee filled the gap with their own praise you and accept you and treat you like a se- PKD zines. Fans like Phil Stephensen-Payne and Gordon rious literary form. Because in that way they can Benson, Jr. created the original bibliographies. Overseas guarantee your demise. fans translated samizdat editions of Phil’s books. Fans The only thing that’s worse than being treated as like Uwe Anton edited Welcome to Reality, a collection “not serious” is being treated as “serious.” I’d much of phildickian tales. Fans reviewed books for the various rather be ignored. And this “scholarly” science fic- SF web sites. Fans started newsgroups and blogs (yo cal, tion criticism is the worst. Jason, Michael, Ted). Fans transcribed the Selected Let- You know, if they can’t destroy you by ignoring ters. They organized conferences. In a word they kept the you, they can destroy you by annexing you. flame burning. Hollywood, even the Estate, came late to They, the literary critics, write these incredibly this particular feast. turgid articles which see all this “meaning” in your PKD Otaku is a fan endeavor. Always has been. Always writing. The end result, I guess, is to drive all your will be. It is produced by fans for fans though of course readers away screaming.” all are welcome at the table. It’s changed quite a bit since the first issue in January 2002 but this new issue is by far What would Phil think now about his assimilation into the biggest change ever. And it has never, ever, looked as the academic discourse? Maybe he’d be pleased; maybe good as it does today. This is also the biggest issue in the amused; maybe appalled; maybe all three at once. In zine’s history and I hope you, the readers, will agree that truth I think he would be flattered to be taken so seri- the content is diverse, intriguing and challenging. The ously though I also think he would find much of what is content is an invitation as well. If you are a fan and you written about him to be absurd.
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