Philip K Dick discussion
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The Divine Invasion
The meaning of Anamnesis
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I really appreciate what you did.. Thanks for dissecting the word and giving out the real meaning behind it for us to know.And this is the first PKD's book that I'd picked up to read, and I have to say, I was let down. I watched Minority Report and when I found out in the end credits that the story was written by Philip K Dick, I was very excited about knowing more of his works and one day I bought this book.
All along the book I wasn't able to visualize the setting well and also the story didn't seem connecting as the pages moved ahead.
But I love the kind of work he did with his Writings. I will come back to him with another book, may be short stories this time..
Well, movies based on Dick's movies tend to focus on one (or very few) of the aspects dealt with in the relevant book. As a result, you can't relate with the book if you were looking for the movie in it. Of course you saw a different movie, not based on this book, but it may have formed your view already? Dick is not about a shiny, futuristic world. Dick's worlds, in general, are much, much more complicated and dark than the movies they've been translated into.
Of course, I may be wrong, and it may be that you wouldn't like the book (or any of his books) anyway! I'd suggest reading some of his more well-known books rather than short stories (fun as they might be, they're... well, short).
Thanks for the comment, btw :)
Sure, Themistocles... Yes, I am looking forward to read many of his novels. I'm actually fascinated by his life. I saw an episode(02) of a Discovery Channel documentary titled 'Prophets of Science Fiction' presented by Ridley Scott, which is about PKD. I then got to know about his world and his creations. I've not seen any of his films apart from Minority Report and The Adjustment Bureau and loved the concepts on which they're based, which were the creations of Dick himself. So, I'm excited about reading his other books. And I feel that my disappointment about The Divine Invasion might have something to do with it being my first book of his and yes also me expecting a movie-type out of it. Now that I have his book experience I'm sure I will enjoy others of his well.
Thank you so much for the response.
And, hey let me ask you one more thing, I have this book "The Exegesis of Philip K Dick" and I would like to know if it can be read by newbies to his books, like myself, or only fans who are very familiar with many of his works can enjoy it well??
First off, here's a list of movies based on Dick's work:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...
Of this the biggest success is, I guess, Blade Runner, based on his book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", perhaps the most popular of his books (mind you, the movie, great as it is, deals with one aspect of the book only). So you could maybe start there (and if you haven't seen the movie - make sure you watch the Director's cut). "A Scanner Darkly" is also a personal favorite of mine, and the movie is pretty close to the book IIRC; mind you, it's not a space novella, it's much more down to earth. You could also try the Man in the High Castle, which is probably my favorite Dick book. It's an alternate history story, and the way he deals with the questions of reality and authenticity is really great. Ubik is lovely too (and, as I wrote in my review somewhere, there's a scene in it that actually made me physically sick. With no gore).
The Exegesis? God no! :D This is a collection of his journal writings, and is really hardcore. If you want to peak inside the mind of a man trying not to go insane while striving to explain what is happening to him, with tons of theology and philosophy haphazardly thrown in for good measure, then go ahead, but I think even psychologists wouldn't touch it without reading his 'proper' work first. It's an extremely interesting read for someone who's really into Dick the person and wants to take a look at the background of some of his stories, but it's quite hardcore. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is very sad and dark, but accessible. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is also a great read. I think these are all good places to start from...
Dick's work wasn't consistent in quality; some of his books he wrote (and got published) just to make ends meet. Others, however, are real classics. The good thing is you can find them (or collections of them) for quite cheap nowadays, so even if you don't like one it's not a big deal.
Hey, I didn't know about the Discovery Channel documentary! Damn, I must find it! Thanks for pointing out :)
Glad if I can help, ask away if you got more questions :)
Thank you so very much for such a descriptive response. And honestly, I don't want to watch the movies based on the great books of my favourite authors, I would like to read their books instead. That is the reason I didn't even peek into the plot line of Blade Runner in spite of it being in 'IMDB Top 250' As the world knows 'a book will always be better than its movie,' and Blade Runner being such a classic film, I want to read its book, which would be even better.And coming to this documentary thing, do surely watch it. It's of 8 episodes (59 min each):
1 Mary Shelley
2 Philip K. Dick
3 H.G. Wells
4 Arthur C. Clarke
5 Isaac Asimov
6 Jules Verne
7 Robert Heinlein
8 George Lucas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets...
You can find it on torrents!
Thank you very much once again!
The Exegesis is heavy- lifting even for Philip K. Dick scholars. Best to read the post-1974 vision novel ahead of it - i.e. Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS, Divine Invasion and Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Though Transmigration isn't really sci-fi and doesn't have much to do with the visions - PKD considered it part of the VALIS group. Many PKD fans that I know read the Exegesis in some random fashion, much as PKD used the I-Ching for writing some of his books. The Exegesis was his private journal - never intended for publication - so we get to see his mind at work without the need to be "entertaining" in the form of story-telling. That's fascinating in and of itself - but don't be surprised if like many you can only enjoy it in small doses. I hope some of you will check out our indie film adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth - coming to theatres this spring. Check out Radio Free Albemuth - Movie on Facebook and www.radiofreealbemuth.com for more.
I think VALIS is already deep waters... I don't think I could've handled it if I hadn't read mostly everything else and loved Dick!Indeed Transmigration is not sci-fi but fits into the Dick canon quite nicely. More philosophical/existential, and damn, I must read it again! :)
In the book's opening, Dick defines Anamnesis as the "loss of amnesia". This is actually wrong. Dick seems to think that anamnesis is formed by the negative "an" and "amnesia", hence the "lifting of amnesia".
However, the word is formed from "ana", meaning again, and "mnimi", memory. Therefore, to remember again.
Really a minor tidbit, but I thought I'd share :)