Faulkner and Dick, Gods and Monsters

In an interview with German writer Uwe Anton, Philip K. Dick cited William Faulkner's Nobel Prize acceptance speech to describe the purpose of his protagonists, which he described as neither heroes nor anti-heroes. Here is what Faulkner said, "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail....because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance... [The writer's duty is] to help man endure by reminding him of ... the glory of his past."

And here is what Dick said: "The entire universe and all the parts therein continually malfunction. But the great merit of the human being is that the human being is isomorphic with his malfunctioning universe....And when he recognizes that he is a malfunctioning part in a malfunctioning system instead of succumbing to this realization and just lying down and saying...there's nothing that can be done, [h]e goes on trying.
...And I think that it's certain Faulkner's man will not merely endure, he will prevail. That in the midst of the rubble, there will still be the sound of a man's voice planning, arguing, and proposing solutions. I think Faulkner caught the essence of what is really great about human beings, and so I don't write about heroes. "

I think that they are saying this: there is greater beauty in mankind's strivings for perfection than in the achievement of it.

One of my favorite paintings is a large representation of massive waterfalls. It hangs in a library I frequent and is mediocre at best with its dull colors and dumb cliches, such as the stripe slathered across the abyss, a sulking rainbow. The amateur artist invoked the auteur and failed. He probably knew it was no Rembrandt, seeing it through to the end.

When I see the painting, I see the struggle of man -- the gasps for the divine breath that made Adam animate, and could make us more than mammals. Marked with the scars of that conflict, the work transcends banality and enters the inspired.

In the classic film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, there is this great line. Daisy (a character) says, "It’s beautiful. It’s almost as if he was a monster trying to be a human being..."
The artist, the writer, the creator, is a human being trying to be a god.

Antiques, Nazis, and the Illusion of Reality: Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle

This semester at BYU-Idaho has been kind to me. My teachers are awesome. The classes are interesting, and for the first time in my college career (which, admittedly, is not that much) I have had free time to read for myself.

I've been reading voraciously.

In the past three weeks or so I've knoc

ked back six novels, some poetry here and there, and numerous short stories. I love every moment of it.

Next on the reading list is Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. It's basically about this: America lost WWII. The country is now part of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The back cover describes it as "harrowing" and "breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas." Sounds good to me. Oh yeah. And it won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

First off, Philip K. Dick was little crazy, but self-admittedly so. Click here to read a brief

illustrated history of Dick's stranger musings, drawn by the legendary comic artist R. Crumb.

Here is a cool 10 minute BBC documentary on him.

Secondly, the man was absolutely brilliant. Don't let the stigmatic "science fiction" tag fool you. This is serious stuff. In my opinion, the profound is best expressed through the banal. In the words of my brother, "...it's less pretentious and more sincere." I agree.

With 36 novels and 121 short stories (the majority were published in cheap sci-fi mags), Dick was overlooked in his lifetime and wrote in poverty. Like many of the brilliant, his contribution to the arts was only appreciated after his death.

Just check out this fancy The Library of America edition of his works. You only get in that if

you're dead and hot stuff.

A quotable quote regarding the dude:

"[He] has chosen to handle ... material too nutty to accept, too admonitory to forget, too haunting to abandon."

—Washington Post

Hot diggity. Let's get reading. I'll be tracking my progress and questions here.

Happy trails.

Book Report: Flatland

Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland is intriguing, enormously influential, and refreshingly simple. It is also much overlooked.

A person would enjoy this book if they once studied star-slugged skies as youth, or cheered on the Fantastic Four versus Dr. Doom, or -- as the Introduction puts it best -- if you: "...are young at heart and the sense of wonder still stirs within you, [beat] YOU WILL READ WITHOUT PAUSE." [Shouting not in original.] So read it.

It is a still-studied mathematics of the fourth dimension and pre-dated Einstein. It is a satiric comedy, and a religious parable.

It has social themes sharpening Orwell's 1984

It was published in 1884.

Abbott was an English schoolmaster, and basically a regular Dumbledore*. Straight out of Rowling. In Flatland we, as readers, become the Potters and learn from a legend.

Its alarmingly brief -- about 100 pages -- divided into "1. This World" and "2. Other Worlds."

It is the story of a two-dimensional [hence Flatland] square and all the social implications of living in the 2nd dimension. Of course, this social structure collapses upon encountering the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on dimensions.

Surprisingly, as I read it, all I can think is how relevant it is in contemporary culture.

Check it out. You will be entertained. And challenged.

PS: There've also been a few attempts at turning it into a film. I was going to embed them, but they look prrretty lame. Check them out on youtube if you're interested.

*just read his wikipedia article.

************* EMERGENCY BROADCAST *****************

BREAKING NEWS
National Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow, May 2nd. That's right, free comic books folks, and they're usually those of the high-quality variety, as they want to get us all hooked. There could be no better day to get into the comic world. Act now at a comic shop near you, found here.

Of the titles offered, the one I'm most interested in picking up is Resurrection #0, a sci-fi venture. I don't know much about the rag, but the publisher, Oni Press, is one I definitely trust.

They are relatively new on the scene (founded in 1997) and cater to the more indie-style market. Their comics are largely creator controlled, and as a result they have attracted a large quantity of good writers who don't want to compromise their highly original creations. You can visit their website here.

We have three click options if you want to learn more about this radtastic event.

1. Click here to read about this event in one of Madison County's fine newspapers.

2. Click here to browse the available titles and get free pdf previews.

3. Or here, for an unbiased history, a la wiki.

Enjoy.