Customer Reviews

Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: The Science-Fictional Religion of Philip K. Dick

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Taking a look at the religious aspects of PKD's work shines an interesting pink beam of light on things. The knowledge base of the author across a wide variety of religions allows him to put forth many questions and answers about how/why/meaning of many books from PKD and what greater concerns of higher level he had. PKD used religion in books as varied as MITHC, DADOES to later books such as Divine Invasion and Valis. This pulling together into one source makes it easy to understand how from greek to christion to eastern religions they all fit into his pantheon of work. I'd also look into combining this with a couple of other good books, notably Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern by Christopher Palmer and The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick by Lawrence Sutin. All nicely written as well. Pick up the Pink Beams of Light..., and it will shed some illumination on this neglected aspect of PKD's writing.

Gabriel McKee's Pink Beams Of Light From The God In The Gutter is especially recommended to the attention of avid fans of Philip K. Dick's work in speculative fiction, as well as any the non-specialist general reader interested in religion. This a short but probing analysis of Philip Dick's works by Gabriel McKee deftly explores theology as reflected, discussed and represented by Dick. Science science fiction reveals texts that can be justifiably considered as religious - but can religion be 'science fiction'? An intriguing, scholarly, and highly recommended discussion evolves in Pink Beams.

My title says it all. This book stands out from the many other books I own about Philip K. Dick. It's one of the best analyses of a certain set of ideas that obsessed PKD for many years. This will give you as much insight into PKD's mind as any biography about him. Even so, it may not be a good introduction to PKD's thinking for it's very focused on a specific aspect. Then again, it may be a very good introduction for someone who would otherwise dismiss PKD as a genre writer. He was a very deep thinker and his ideas should be taken very seriously even when couched in SciFi terms. However, if you already are a PKD fan, this is a must read.

I enjoy books like this. I've returned to it many times already and I'll return to it many times more. It's a very thin book, but the author really packed in a whole lot. It's quite impressive. My only complaint is that I enjoyed it so much that I wish it was longer.