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Souvenir
1989 Denoel printing. Text in French.
256 pages, Pocket Book
First published October 1, 1954
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107 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,011 books22.6k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 9, 2019
First published in Fantastic Universe (October 1954), “Souvenir” is a thoughtful, tragic tale of the clash of two incompatible cultures. Dick fairly presents the attractions and dangers of both of them, and suggests that such conflicts are inevitable, no matter to what lengths we go to engineer them out of existence.
Rogers from the Galactic Relay Center is delighted to have discovered the precise location of “Williamson’s World,” the legendary first Earth colony established outside the solar system, and to learn that it is still thriving after three hundred years. His initial delight is complicated, however, as he realizes that the denizens of this world have no interest in the highly technological Galactic culture or in its methods of keeping the individual colonies up-to-date. “Williamson’s World” has instead adopted a pseudo-medieval pastoral culture composed of individual agricultural communes, each with its own identifiable heraldic symbol. Such degenerate behavior is bad enough, but then Rogers discovers something worse: the inhabitants not only prize the arts, but they prize personal bravery too, and engage periodically—as another form of expression—in periodic wars. And war is an activity that the Galaxy is determined to eliminate at any cost.
The clash between a homogeneous pan-galactic civilization and an individual planetary culture is fairly and efficiently presented. Dick does not shy away from the inevitable climax, yet the denouement—which features the “souvenir” of the title—suggest an even more complicated result.
March 25, 2020
Un recueil qui comporte 2 courts essais et 7 nouvelles :
Le nazisme et le Haut Château = Nazism and the High Castle
La schizophrénie et le Livre des Changements = Schizophrenia & the Book of Changes
Rajustement = Adjustment Team
Interférence = Meddler
Souvenir = Souvenir
Progéniture = Progeny
Sur la terre sans joie = Upon the Dull Earth
Étrange Éden = Strange Eden
Le monde de Jon = Jon's World
Le nazisme et le Haut Château = Nazism and the High Castle
La schizophrénie et le Livre des Changements = Schizophrenia & the Book of Changes
Rajustement = Adjustment Team
Interférence = Meddler
Souvenir = Souvenir
Progéniture = Progeny
Sur la terre sans joie = Upon the Dull Earth
Étrange Éden = Strange Eden
Le monde de Jon = Jon's World
May 21, 2018
“We’d destroy anything to avoid war. We can’t permit our society to degenerate into bickering provinces, forever quarreling and fighting — like your clans. We’re stable because we lack the very concept of variation. Uniformity must be preserved and separation must be discouraged. The idea itself must remain unknown.”
It is quite amazing to see how PKD’s stories adapt themselves to the change of times and how the ideas expressed in them fail to lose an iota of their relevance. This is probably because Dick was very good at extrapolation, or maybe he was sometimes just plain lucky – who knows?
Souvenir tells us the story of Willliamson’s World, the first planet outside our solar system to be settled by Terrans. But Williamson, the legendary founding father, lost contact with Terra, or rather Terra lost contact with him, and so Williamson’s World developed an eclectic culture of its own, whereas all the other inhabited planets submitted to something called the Galactic Relay system, a system that ensures cultural and technological uniformity throughout its sphere of influence. This Relay system boasts two obvious advantages: First of all, it guarantees that all planets are on the latest state-of-the-art level of technology so that no time is wasted on trying to solve a problem in one place that has already been solved in another. It’s probably a bit like our digital revolution. The second advantage lies in the fact that war has been eliminated with the disappearance of cultural differences, and this point seems to be the stronger one of the two. For while the elimination of war is surely a laudable project, since there can hardly be put forth any serious arguments in favour of war for the sake of war, there might still be something said for not taking one particular scientific solution for granted and carrying on research in a field that is seemingly well-explored.
Be that as it may, in our story, the representatives of the Galactic Relay system are shocked at finding the descendants of Williamson and his pioneers deliberately refraining from adapting to the findings and guidelines of the Relay, which they have been able to receive for about two hundred years. Instead they prefer to cling to their own ways, which are in some ways attractively pastoral and idyllic (well-organized farm life), in others, however, appallingly medieval in the worst sense of the word (a clan system and a culture of bravery and war). Dick cleverly ensures that light and shadow are on both sides, that the culture of Williamson’s World is not entirely what modern-day romantics would wish for and that there is also something speaking in favour of the Galactic Relay system so that his readers are called upon to ask themselves how much of their own identity they are willing to sacrifice for the sake of wealth, progress and security.
At the end of the story, the representatives of Peace and Progress show their true colours in taking the final step to ensure that the legendary Williamson’s World will remain an inspiring, but harmless legend and that the example of resilience will not catch on elsewhere. They are obviously avid readers of Rousseau.
Dick probably wrote this story with a view to the effects of capitalism on cultures all over the world. Not only did people everywhere start buying and using, or at least longing for, the same products – although in Dick’s day and age the process was only still in its infancy –, but global players also began to exert their influence internationally, changing long-standing social structures and ways of life. Like the inhabitants of Williamson’s World, traditionalists definitely found it impossible to stem this tide. While this reading of the text is still valid, today maybe more so than back then, Souvenir also reminded me of the propaganda campaign we Europeans were subjected to in connection with the Brexit. Not a day went by when politicians, Brusselocrats and media-people did not explain to us what a nefarious and egoistic step it would be for Great Britain to leave the European Union, which, among other things, made sure that shower heads from Stockholm to Sicily would release water with the same pressure, and that national governments would have to pay attention to guidelines set up by a bureaucracy with doubtful democratic legitimation. One also had to make sure that the prophecies of Britain’s suffering from the Brexit would come true by making the conditions of the Brexit as hard as possible, and I would not have wondered at hearing our politicians re-utter the ancient, ”Gott strafe England!”. Of course, there are a lot of short-sighted and also jingoistic arguments in favour of the Brexit, and also a lot of people, some of them public figures, not above using them, but then there are also some people, among them the British philosopher Roger Scruton who have something worthwhile listening to to say about identity and the wish to keep loyal to one’s historical and cultural ties because they made us what we are and what we might want to remain regardless of what economy professors teach.
For sure, Dick was not able to foresee all this, but the potential of most of his stories, especially ones as Souvenir, is clearly fascinating.
It is quite amazing to see how PKD’s stories adapt themselves to the change of times and how the ideas expressed in them fail to lose an iota of their relevance. This is probably because Dick was very good at extrapolation, or maybe he was sometimes just plain lucky – who knows?
Souvenir tells us the story of Willliamson’s World, the first planet outside our solar system to be settled by Terrans. But Williamson, the legendary founding father, lost contact with Terra, or rather Terra lost contact with him, and so Williamson’s World developed an eclectic culture of its own, whereas all the other inhabited planets submitted to something called the Galactic Relay system, a system that ensures cultural and technological uniformity throughout its sphere of influence. This Relay system boasts two obvious advantages: First of all, it guarantees that all planets are on the latest state-of-the-art level of technology so that no time is wasted on trying to solve a problem in one place that has already been solved in another. It’s probably a bit like our digital revolution. The second advantage lies in the fact that war has been eliminated with the disappearance of cultural differences, and this point seems to be the stronger one of the two. For while the elimination of war is surely a laudable project, since there can hardly be put forth any serious arguments in favour of war for the sake of war, there might still be something said for not taking one particular scientific solution for granted and carrying on research in a field that is seemingly well-explored.
Be that as it may, in our story, the representatives of the Galactic Relay system are shocked at finding the descendants of Williamson and his pioneers deliberately refraining from adapting to the findings and guidelines of the Relay, which they have been able to receive for about two hundred years. Instead they prefer to cling to their own ways, which are in some ways attractively pastoral and idyllic (well-organized farm life), in others, however, appallingly medieval in the worst sense of the word (a clan system and a culture of bravery and war). Dick cleverly ensures that light and shadow are on both sides, that the culture of Williamson’s World is not entirely what modern-day romantics would wish for and that there is also something speaking in favour of the Galactic Relay system so that his readers are called upon to ask themselves how much of their own identity they are willing to sacrifice for the sake of wealth, progress and security.
At the end of the story, the representatives of Peace and Progress show their true colours in taking the final step to ensure that the legendary Williamson’s World will remain an inspiring, but harmless legend and that the example of resilience will not catch on elsewhere. They are obviously avid readers of Rousseau.
Dick probably wrote this story with a view to the effects of capitalism on cultures all over the world. Not only did people everywhere start buying and using, or at least longing for, the same products – although in Dick’s day and age the process was only still in its infancy –, but global players also began to exert their influence internationally, changing long-standing social structures and ways of life. Like the inhabitants of Williamson’s World, traditionalists definitely found it impossible to stem this tide. While this reading of the text is still valid, today maybe more so than back then, Souvenir also reminded me of the propaganda campaign we Europeans were subjected to in connection with the Brexit. Not a day went by when politicians, Brusselocrats and media-people did not explain to us what a nefarious and egoistic step it would be for Great Britain to leave the European Union, which, among other things, made sure that shower heads from Stockholm to Sicily would release water with the same pressure, and that national governments would have to pay attention to guidelines set up by a bureaucracy with doubtful democratic legitimation. One also had to make sure that the prophecies of Britain’s suffering from the Brexit would come true by making the conditions of the Brexit as hard as possible, and I would not have wondered at hearing our politicians re-utter the ancient, ”Gott strafe England!”. Of course, there are a lot of short-sighted and also jingoistic arguments in favour of the Brexit, and also a lot of people, some of them public figures, not above using them, but then there are also some people, among them the British philosopher Roger Scruton who have something worthwhile listening to to say about identity and the wish to keep loyal to one’s historical and cultural ties because they made us what we are and what we might want to remain regardless of what economy professors teach.
For sure, Dick was not able to foresee all this, but the potential of most of his stories, especially ones as Souvenir, is clearly fascinating.
November 13, 2018
Trail of tears, space opera style? The infectiousness of an idea is certainly an interesting takeaway here, but I'm not sure I like the characterization of the future as being composed of blindly homogeneous hegemony.
June 15, 2020
Short and to the point.
War has been solved by enforcing complete galactic uniformity at all costs.
Instant sharing of all discoveries via galactic transmission.
Any sources of difference are made to conform or be destroyed.
War must be avoided at all costs.
War has been solved by enforcing complete galactic uniformity at all costs.
Instant sharing of all discoveries via galactic transmission.
Any sources of difference are made to conform or be destroyed.
War must be avoided at all costs.
August 29, 2020
PKD meets space opera?
October 18, 2013
Excellent. Ces nouvelles font réfléchir tant sur les infinies possibilités qu'offre le futur que sur le fondement de la nature humaine.
Hormis les deux premières nouvelles (plutôt des essais je dirais), "Le nazisme et le Haut Château" et "La schizophrénie et le Livre des Changements", ce recueil se découpe ainsi :
"Rajustement" (adaptée au cinéma sous le titre "L'agence") : un homme interrompt un rajustement... une nouvelle assez déconcertante, on ne nous explique pas comment ledit réajustement est réalisé mais on en comprend les conséquences...
"Interférence" : à force de voyages dans le temps, l'avenir de l'Humanité est en péril et un homme est envoyé une dernière fois pour découvrir ce qui a causé la disparition de notre espèce. Il fait une découverte assez incroyable... Ce n'est pas la nouvelle la plus importante mais elle est néanmoins bien inquiétante et a pour qualité de ne pas traiter les voyages dans le temps à la légère.
"Souvenir" : les Hommes découvrent une planète qu'ils ne connaissaient qu'à travers des mythes et des légendes. Malheureusement, cette découverte n'était pas motivée par une désir de connaître l'inconnu... Une histoire qui s'est déjà produite par le passé et qui dans l'esprit de Philip K. Dick se reproduira éternellement.
"Progéniture" : Que se passerait-il si dans le futur, les humains étaient jugés trop subjectifs pour parvenir à éduquer leurs enfants correctement ? S'ils n'étaient pas capables de les pousser au bout de leur potentiel ? Encore un récit inquiétant...
"Sur la Terre sans Joie" : une femme a une fascination pour d'étranges "anges" assoiffés de sang. Lorsqu'elle en est victime, son petit-ami cherche à la ramener... mais ce n'est pas sans conséquence sur la réalité. Cette nouvelle mêle fantastique et SF et est un peu étourdissante.
"Étrange Eden" : tout est dans le titre. Je crois que c'est la nouvelle que j'aime le moins mais les idées sur lesquelles le récit est fondé sont géniales.
"Le monde de Jon" : cette nouvelle est définitivement ma préférée du recueil et mêle visions, voyages temporels et conséquences de la technologie... Elle fait plusieurs fois référence à l'autre nouvelle de Dick, "Nouveau Modèle" (aussi nommée "Deuxième Variété" et nommée "Planète Hurlante" au cinéma), et savoir que certains récits de Dick s'entremêlent de cette façon, c'est génial.
Hormis les deux premières nouvelles (plutôt des essais je dirais), "Le nazisme et le Haut Château" et "La schizophrénie et le Livre des Changements", ce recueil se découpe ainsi :
"Rajustement" (adaptée au cinéma sous le titre "L'agence") : un homme interrompt un rajustement... une nouvelle assez déconcertante, on ne nous explique pas comment ledit réajustement est réalisé mais on en comprend les conséquences...
"Interférence" : à force de voyages dans le temps, l'avenir de l'Humanité est en péril et un homme est envoyé une dernière fois pour découvrir ce qui a causé la disparition de notre espèce. Il fait une découverte assez incroyable... Ce n'est pas la nouvelle la plus importante mais elle est néanmoins bien inquiétante et a pour qualité de ne pas traiter les voyages dans le temps à la légère.
"Souvenir" : les Hommes découvrent une planète qu'ils ne connaissaient qu'à travers des mythes et des légendes. Malheureusement, cette découverte n'était pas motivée par une désir de connaître l'inconnu... Une histoire qui s'est déjà produite par le passé et qui dans l'esprit de Philip K. Dick se reproduira éternellement.
"Progéniture" : Que se passerait-il si dans le futur, les humains étaient jugés trop subjectifs pour parvenir à éduquer leurs enfants correctement ? S'ils n'étaient pas capables de les pousser au bout de leur potentiel ? Encore un récit inquiétant...
"Sur la Terre sans Joie" : une femme a une fascination pour d'étranges "anges" assoiffés de sang. Lorsqu'elle en est victime, son petit-ami cherche à la ramener... mais ce n'est pas sans conséquence sur la réalité. Cette nouvelle mêle fantastique et SF et est un peu étourdissante.
"Étrange Eden" : tout est dans le titre. Je crois que c'est la nouvelle que j'aime le moins mais les idées sur lesquelles le récit est fondé sont géniales.
"Le monde de Jon" : cette nouvelle est définitivement ma préférée du recueil et mêle visions, voyages temporels et conséquences de la technologie... Elle fait plusieurs fois référence à l'autre nouvelle de Dick, "Nouveau Modèle" (aussi nommée "Deuxième Variété" et nommée "Planète Hurlante" au cinéma), et savoir que certains récits de Dick s'entremêlent de cette façon, c'est génial.
April 11, 2018
A lot of PKD's work honestly reads as if it is talking about 1980's Reagan-era politics. It is shocking to me that this story of hyper-imperialism was written in the 50's.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews