Customer Reviews

The Man Who Japed

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is very short, and it is quite straightforward for PKD. As this is one of his earlier works, I was expecting an extremely outdated view of the future, but surprisingly, PKD kept the details of the mechanisms vague enough that there were no glaring 'futurisms', such as those that jammed the first chapter of "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch". Simply stating that they took a ship between planets rather than inventing the Amazing Steam-Powered Punch-Card Engine helped the book a lot.
Despite the fact that this book came before PKD really started to 'write outside the box', I was expecting the traditional PKD chestnuts- the nature of reality, psychotherapy, bleak futures, evil robots, etc.- to be mostly overlooked. Happily, he managed to investigate most of his favorite topics without tripping over himself or screwing up the plot, as he did in "The Simulacra". The plot flowed straight and true, and although one part seemed a little forced, it didn't detract from the book- it was simply a wee bit off.
If you are new to PKD, you should give this book a try, but don't expect any cosmic insights, just a good book. You might also try "Time Out Of Joint". If you are familiar with PKD, you should read this as his inventive take on the good old distopian novel. It is also proof that though the man wrote a lot of mind-bending novels, he could also get a point about individuals in a distopian system across perfectly clearly.

In this delightful early (1956) effort, Philip K. Dick reaches all the way back to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and all the way forward to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

To jape is to cut up, to spoof outrageously a la Monty Python. Dick's hero, Allen Purcell, is about to assume the most powerful media position on the planet; at the same time, he is in fear of being imminently arrested for a jape involving the mutilation of a monument to Morec's beloved founder, the infamous Major Streiter.

Morec is short for Moral Reclamation, a kind of Moral Majority Heaven on Earth in which any offenses -- most particularly of the sexual variety -- trigger vicious Maoist self-criticism meetings culminating in the loss of one's apartment lease. And without a lease, there's nowhere to go but the outer planets.

Philip K. Dick weaves in a number of themes masterfully, from the devastation following a nuclear holocaust to the "Health Resort," a scheme for processing those who crack under the strain of Morec. There are juveniles everywhere (not what you think), not to mention the Cohorts, Active Assimilation, the Domino Method, "nooses," and the usual panoply of brilliant Dick inventions, such as all food dishes being enclosed in quotes, as in "His 'eggs' were cooling on the plate."

There are arresting throwaway lines such as when the character of Sue Frost is introduced: "Her eyes, he noticed, were an almost colorless straw. A strong kind of substance, and highly polished."

Although he has been compared to Borges and Kafka, Dick is very much an American original. THE MAN WHO JAPED's unusual combination of paranoia and a wicked sense of humor is unique, as if Orwell's Winston Smith in 1984 were played by John Cleese.

"The Man Who Japed" is a fairly early Philip K. Dick novel, and as such is somewhat dated, and a little more straight-forward stylistically. In many ways it reads like early Bradbury; those looking for true science fiction will probably be put off by the simplistic technology. However, as with Bradbury, the powerful message transcends the context and drives the novel forward.

Like many of Dick's novels, "The Man Who Japed" is set in a post-apocalyptic future, in this instance, some two hundred years after a nuclear war in the 1970's. Society is now governed by a strict moral code that emphasizes utility over comfort and social enforcement of societal mores. Enter Allen Purcell, an otherwise successful creator of "packets" (morality propaganda purchased by the state) who has inexplicably "japed" the statue of Major Streiter, founder of the Morec (moral reclamation) society. As his world begins a slow motion unraveling he comes to question everything about the society that has supported his family for generations.

This perspective on morality as the driving force in politics is oddly prescient with today's debates about abortion, gay marriage and the like. Dick, has taken this evolution to its logical, but insane conclusion, in which every person is held to account by their neighbors in what is theoretically a people's court, but which is in fact an on-going witch hunt in which anonymity allows vicious personal vendettas to be aired with impunity.

Admittedly, the actual story meanders and is not particularly engaging. While Purcell evolves into a rather intriguing character, by and large the supporting cast is rather two dimensional. To a degree this is understandable, as Dick is after all trying to create a world of cardboard cutouts. Nonetheless, this can make for a rather dry read at times.

A short novel with a powerful message, "The Man Who Japed" offers a glimpse into Dick early in his career. While the wit and thoughtfulness is on ready display, his story-telling abilities are not yet at the level of "The Man in the High Castle" or "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" As such, this probably isn't the best novel for those new to the author to start, but it will definitely be appreciated by fans of his other work.

Jake Mohlman

"At seven A.M., Allen Purcell, the forward-looking young president of the newest and most creative of the Research Agencies, lost a bedroom," and so begins the Man Who Japed.

This novel, published in 1956, a product of the very early period of Philip K. Dick's career, is an immense step forward from his inferior, disjointed, and amateurish novel, The World Jones Made. The uncanny feeling, which one associates with PKD when reading his later and more famous works, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Martian Time-Slip (Among others), is apparent from the very first line. For example, Purcell's apartment randomly changes shape - his oven is a table that is a sink that is a food cupboard - his intelligent, caring, and somewhat bewildered wife constantly sedates herself with a vast array of drugs - and mankind emigrates to other planets and moons. The most surprising element is Allen Purcell himself, a remarkably well-rounded character (albeit as a previous reviewer noted, the secondary characters are flat as ironed cardboard).

Also, the society of The Man Who Japed is remarkably vivid. The reader must remember that this book was written in the late 50s so concepts and societies that we might consider cliché were fresh off the oven (the totalitarian masterpiece 1984 had only been around for 7 years). The Man Who Japed takes place in 2114 after a nuclear war in a society founded upon Puritanical ideals (no extra marital sex or classic books). Allen Purcell simultaneously creates propaganda 'brochures' and debases symbols of the regime without understanding his own motivations. He eventually must decide if he is to change society.

All in all, this is a very good effort. Perhaps in comparison to his later works this might deserve 4 stars but considering how early this was written and what came before 5 stars is definitely the correct rating. It is well written and contains the embryonic manifestations of PKD's later compelling and poignant themes.

At the beginning of this novel, the hero gets in trouble with his client for failing to make the moral content of his product clear enough. That's not a problem with the novel itself - the moral of "The Man Who Japed" is very plain. Don't run away, though - for a novel concerning the values and limitations of public morals, it's mercifully low on preaching.

Allen Purcell lives in a world governed by Morec, which stands for Moral Reclamation, a governmental system developed by one Major Streiter hundreds of years before the story begins, and designed to protect civilization against waste and vice after a nuclear holocaust. Purcell contributes his bit by running an agency that produces scripts for television shows and sells them to the government-run media outlet. Each of these scripts has to have a moral, of course, for the edification of the public. Like everyone else, Purcell also has to lead a morally upright life or face the possibility of eviction from the one-room apartment he shares with his wife Janet, not to mention public disgrace and economic ruin. Mechanical spies crawl all over everything to make sure that he and everyone else tows the line, and he and his neighbors gather in local meeting halls every few weeks to pass judgment on each other.

None of this bothers him much, of course - he's used to it and believes in the values he was born into. Then one dark night, someone vandalizes the government's big statue of Major Streiter in a way that turns it into a big joke, and evidence suggests that Purcell did it, although he has little or no memory of the incident.

Now, this was one of Philip K. Dick's earliest novels, and you will not be surprised to learn that the moral of the story is a pretty simple affair. Without giving too much away, Allen Purcell begins the story believing that morality consists of following certain rules; he ends it considering the possibility that morality and obedience are two different things. Put in this way, it sounds sort of boring. The best part of "The Man Who Japed" is that it's actually very funny.

A "jape" is a joke, usually of the practical variety. This is, of course, exactly the kind of joke that Allen Purcell indulges in, at the expense of his culture's Messianic founder. It would be a big mistake to write a story about such an activity in any serious manner, and PKD is too smart for that. On the other hand, as others have pointed out before now, humor is no laughing matter. It's powerful. No tyrant can put up with it for long, from Hitler to Mao to the Devil himself. This is what makes it such a useful weapon against dictatorship, and such a dangerous one to those who wield it. It takes a brave soul to make fun of a tyrant, but wait until you see Purcell's final jape. No kidding, even with the morality police banging on his door, he comes up with something that will make you laugh out loud.

"The Man Who Japed" has some of PKD's early flaws, to be sure. Allen Purcell isn't as much of an Eagle Scout as the protagonists of "Vulcan's Hammer" or "Solar Lottery", say - a few self-doubts do creep in to give the character depth - but his inner life is still pretty sparse. We don't see him giving any consideration to what he'll do or why; one minute he obeys the rules he knows, the next minute he rebels. Since we can't see the process leading to this about-face, it seems forced.

His wife, on the other hand, makes a remarkable showing. She begins as a bit of a wimp, ready to jump out of her skin at the slightest noise - by the time the novel is over, she's strong, supportive, and courageous. Today's readers may find her too subservient to her husband's way of doing things, but then again he's fighting the good fight and there's nothing particularly wrong with joining that. And besides, this book was published in 1956.

Speaking of wives, this is the first PKD novel I've read in a while where the husband and wife not only get along, but actually seem to love each other. There are a few other such couples in this author's body of work, but not many. That in itself is inspiring enough for me, and when you add in the protagonist's struggle against mental illness, his success in fighting off the bad guys by their own rules, and his ongoing insistence on having a good time, "The Man Who Japed" becomes a genuine pleasure.

Incidentally, in one of his last interviews, PKD said that he got the idea for Morec from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, maybe the most blatant attempt in history to force good behavior down people's throats. PKD didn't like that at all. He was a humanist, a devout enemy of oppression wherever it fell - in communism, fascism, or anywhere else. In other words, he was just the sort of writer we need once again, fifty years after "The Man Who Japed" came out; today, as in 1956, there are those who think morality should be governmentally policed. There's only one thing to do with such people, as PKD shows us. Laugh at them.

Benshlomo says, Mock the wicked - it will drive them crazy.

THE MAN WHO JAPED was written in 1956 and feels very much like a product of its time. Read this in the early twenty-first century and it's difficult not to be reminded of other novels and films of that era. An oppressive government, an overly morally-conscious society, and a community where trust is not an easily found commodity: these are story elements that will be familiar to 1950s science-fiction readers in general and fans of Philip K. Dick in particular.

This story does quite a lot of world-building to get its message across. Dick presents us with a future Earth ruled by a puritanical, totalitarian state. Deviation from correct behavior (from society's "morec") subjects the deviant to anything from a public verbal berating of his local community's moral leader to excommunication from his apartment building.

The protagonist, Allen Purcell, is a man in charge of a production team, one of many who create short television-like dramas called "packets". Each packet presents some moral lesson conforming to the standards and ideals of the state. Purcell's role in THE MAN WHO JAPED is presented through his dilemma. He is shown to be an excellent propagandist, so talented are he and his agency that he is offered the job of overseeing all packets broadcast throughout the world.

Yet, as skilled as he is, he has conscious and subconscious doubts about the society in which he lives and his own role in maintaining this rigid and hypocritical structure. So overwhelming is his moral dilemma that he has even found himself apparently walking in his sleep and performing acts of vandalism and sabotage while retaining no memory of his actions or his motivations.

The plot is relatively straightforward with precious little in the way of subplots or distractions. Almost certainly this is because the story's length. The book is rather short (my copy runs a scant 140 pages) and it's a pity because Purcell's story and his inner dilemmas are perhaps deserving of more exploration. The book's conclusion feels slightly rushed and predictable.

However, the story's strength is in the picture it paints of this post-apocalyptic society. Most of the book's word count goes towards describing the moral views of the society, the intimidating way in which it deals with divergent behavior, the future history which resulted in this world, the relationship between the Earth home world and her scattered colony planets, etc. There simply isn't enough room for much else. The world-building and the technology and attitudes of the future are perhaps the best reason for reading. For the most part it's fascinating stuff, although there are a few places where the story's interest in the more mundane descriptions of futuristic labor-saving devices feels like something out of The Jetsons.

I liked THE MAN WHO JAPED and I enjoyed the topics it touches on. However, I couldn't help but feel that it never reached its full potential. Of course, this story is very early in Dick's career and many of the themes that are only briefly explored here would get a much fuller airing in later works.

Philip K. Dick novels are an acquired taste, and I'm not sure if I've reached the point of fully appreciating the man's talents. While never boring, it seems that he only lets 80% of the material to be logical and leaves the rest to the reader's interpretation/imagination. This is sometimes fun, but often frustrating.

'The Man Who Japed' is no different. Philip K. Dick paints a rather ugly picture of the USA some 100+ years in the future (after some nuclear holocaust). The moral majority has run amuck, the Earth is pretty much trashed, and life is miserable for our leading character (an ad executive). Sprinkle in some space travel and some mind-altering nonsense, typical of Philip K. Dick novels, and you have a rather fun if somewhat bewildering story. The author's blasting of the moral majority alone is well worth the price of the book; it must have been a shock when it was first published (mid-1950s).

Bottom line: a worthy read, especially for fans of the author.

Dick does a good job portraying the ineffectiveness of legislating morals. While most of Earth's citizens adhere to the suffocating state-imposed moral code, the most heroic and memorable characters are the ones who buck the trend and safeguard their own freedom of choice in deciding between right vs. wrong. Their courage has important consequences late in the book and make the story ultimately readable.

But the suspense can't match the stakes. The main character "has the capacity to literally change the world" and yet it never feels like it. Devoid from the acts of terror and sabatoge are the intense moments of fear, the inconceivable risk of failure, the thrill of the getaway, etc. Judging from the characters' emotions, you'd think they were committing acts of petty vandalism. This man is supposedly trying to change the world and yet you never really feel riveted.

You know a book isn't so great when the world's civilization is a stake and you're indifferent to the result.

I have other complaints but I don't want to spoil the story for others.

This is the earliest of Dick's books that I've read, so far. I can see where his writing got just a little bit smoother later. But this is the same guy, easily recognizable. He evokes a future-scape extremely well, pulling you right into it. There's a density of ideas and level of ambition well beyond his peers. And an engaging sense of humor, which is on display in this book particularly. This one is arguably "farce" as much as "science fiction".

It pulled me in deeply and entertained me well, while stimulating thought. Great book.

Written by Phillip K Dick in 1956, the story follows Allan Purcell (alias John Coates), a man who writes moral advertising copy (Morec) for his repressive post-modern 22nd century society. For an unknown reason, Purcell goes out and japes (defaces in a funny way) a statue of historical and moralistic significance. He doesn't know why, so he goes to his society's version of a psychologist. Meanwhile, he gets promoted to the head of the entire Morec operation. He gets to decide what is moral.

The book takes a surreal look at a future dystopia, where the food dishes are "foods", everyone is monitored all the time by small robotic cameras, and if you lose your apartment lease, they boot you off the planet into a space colony. My edition is 155 pages. With the state of current techology, I found much of it absurd. Still, having a sense of humor is the entire point!

An OK book, perhaps a Morality Satire, itself. Just couldn't get into the characters. They weren't interesting. While a commentary on the society, it didn't move me as a reader. Bored me after I'd gotten used to the gimmicks. Not a book I'd ever want to re-read, though I could see the story behind the story.