The novels of Philip K. Dick (Studies in speculative fiction) [Hardcover]

Kim Stanley Robinson (Author)

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From the Publisher

This product is not a traditionally bound book. Many ProQuest UMI products are black-and-white reproductions of original publications produced through the Books On Demand ® program. Alternately, this product may be a photocopy of a dissertation or it may be a collection reproduced on microfiche or microfilm if it is intended for library purchase. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: UMI Research Press (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835715892
• ISBN-13: 978-0835715898
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,529,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Stanley Robinson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He is the author of eleven previous books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Fifty Degrees Below, Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Antarctica--for which he was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation as part of their Antarctic Artists and Writers' Program. He lives in Davis, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best introduction to PKD in the context of SF, October 16, 2005

By 

Albert Hand "student-teacher of alchemical arts" (northern CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The novels of Philip K. Dick (Studies in speculative fiction) (Hardcover)

this is the essential, seminal work in PKD studies. read it.
excellent overview of the various SF conventions that PKD played with, and precise prolegomeno of various critical attempts to define what his unique contribution was. analysis of all the novels, some of which i have mixed feelings about, sometimes KSR is perhaps too hasty in his critical disapproval of various moves PKD made. there are always levels upon levels, subtleties within subtleties. much of what is most of value in pkd, beyond the gnostic mindblowing stuff, is often what seems at first the most oddball/bonehead move. "god in the gubbish-heap" should be kept in mind, and a litmus test for the careful hermeneutic.

when KSR discusses the novels he likes, here we get a more detailed, "fair" perspective, althought the lights KSR applies are often harsh and exacting. I am impressed by the example of a rigorous approach applied to such a large project, but felt that much was left out in KSR's brisk negative appraisals of various of the mid-level novels. I do feel that it is necessary to group PKD novels in terms of which are "great" (at least a dozen, i'd say) which are "still valuable" and which are, at best, "hastily constructed" and KSR's work has laid a solid foundation for critics to expound upon, and argue about for years, forging simulacra upon simulacra of interpretation and representation further andriodizing and humanifying PKD's shining memory