Philip K. Dick a new pop phenom?


With Paycheck soon to be released in theaters, I've suddenly become aware that Philip K. Dick is ... popular.

Philip K. Dick (PKD) was one of my favorite authors as a teenager and young adult. I didn't quite see him as a science-fiction writer, though that was the genre of many of his books. I thought of him more as a philosophical writer, or at least a thought-provoker. And, I just plain enjoyed his writing style.

PKD never had the name recognition of other sci-fi authors, such as Heinlein or Asimov, but he certainly had a profound influence. This is evident in the number of movies that have been adapted from his novels and short stories, such as Blade Runner and Total Recall. It was noted that these movies were inspired by PKD, but hardly anyone paid notice. Outside of the hard core sci-fi fan, the reaction was often, "Philip who?".

Now, however, with Minority Report out recently, and Paycheck soon to hit the theaters, his name is everywhere. Well, maybe not everywhere -- I doubt I'll hear about him on Good Morning, America, or the David Letterman show, but certainly interest in PKD has blossomed: a feature article in this month's Wired magazine, and the launch of two new websites just last month, PKD's official site, and a fan site.

It's nice to see recognition, belatedly, of such a great, but puzzling, writer. I hope, though, this attention doesn't serve to smother his thoughts, nor have them raised to pseudo-intellectual profundity, as has happened with the lightweight thinking behind The Matrix; I mean, a whole book (or two) devoted to the philosophy of the Red Pill?! What kind of second-hand books can we expect of PKD exploiters: The Tao of Dick?!.

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Posted: Mon - December 8, 2003 at 10:03 PM

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