Weeks 7 and 8
Science fiction - PKD
1) What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
2) According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of Man in the High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?
3What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction?
4) What does Dick(1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?
5) A Scanner Darkly is not really Science Fiction but a thinly disguised autobiography.
A Scanner Darkly is true Science Fiction in that it takes a trend in society, in this case surveillance, and takes it to its logical extreme.
Comment on these two different views with reference to the film and/or the novel and what you can discover about the author's life.
Blog Post 5: A Scanner Darkly
ReplyDelete-A Scanner Darkly is not really Science Fiction but a thinly disguised autobiography.
-A Scanner Darkly is true Science Fiction in that it takes a trend in society, in this case surveillance, and takes it to its logical extreme. Comment on these two different views with reference to the film and/or the novel and what you can discover about the author's life.
Science fiction has changed over time to mean something entirely different now than it did then. It depends on an individual’s view of ‘science fiction’ on what they truly believe to be Sci-Fi whether its Star Wars, a story set in the future or about a person’s reality.
Although Phillip K Dicks’ work is mostly what he knew to be Sci-Fi, a lot of them have glimpses of his life in them. For example, the first-person narration of Radio Free Albemuth is written from the perspective of a young science fiction writer named Philip who lives in Berkeley and the Valis trilogy (Fisher). It gives a lot of insight into his life, including the visions he had, continuing to blur the lines between fiction and Dick’s twisted reality (Fisher).
A Scanner Darkly was Philip K Dick’s fortieth novel, one of his best-known works. It wasn’t a vision of the future, to some, it was a memoir (Lee,2017). At one point in his life, Dick was addicted to drugs. In A Scanner Darkly, Substance D is basically speed, which is what he took (Lee, 2017). He was writing about his grief in this novel, about all the people he lost (Lee, 2017). In the authors note at the end of the book, Dick says, “This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did” (Lee,2017). This included the list of people who were harmed or who he lost, including himself.
This novel, however, is not just for drug addiction but about a person losing their grip with reality (Lee,2017). He read especially widely in mysticism, theology and spirituality, asking a lot of abstract questions with his own fantastically idiosyncratic responses; who am I? And is this reality the only reality (Lee,2017). The essences’ of this is evident in a lot of his novels, but specially A Scanner Darkly with Arctor unknowingly spying on himself.
This novel does, nevertheless, have elements of science fiction. The scramble suit is an example of this. Surveillance, however, is the biggest Sci-Fi element in the novel. Dick’s surveillance dreams are the reality of social control today (Lee,2017). You could say that Arctor’s split into two is an analogue of the real-life self and the self on the internet; the former watches the latter, and the latter is, of course, enmeshed in a web of monitoring (Lee,2017) In this way, it may be a true science fiction, taking trends in society.
Still, the reality of Dicks life is so embedded in his stories, its hard to say A Scanner Darkly is just memoir or just a Sci-Fi novel. In my opinion it is a thinly disguised autobiography with Sci-Fi elements sprinkled in.
Fisher, M. (n.d.). Biography Philip K. Dick Fan Site. [online] Philipkdickfans.com
http://www.philipkdickfans.com/biography/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2017].
Lee, E. (2017). The Quietus | Features | Tome On The Range | Collapsed Horizon: Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly, 40 Years On. [online] The Quietus. Available at: http://thequietus.com/articles/21571-philip-k-dick-a scanner-darkly-anniversary-drugs-addiction-surveillance-grief [Accessed 20 Sep. 2017].
Blog post 4
DeleteBlog Post Week 7-8: The Man in the High Castle
ReplyDeleteFocus Question: What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
Science fiction (SF) and speculative fiction are, as defined by Thomas (2013) “genres that move readers to imagine alternative ways of being alive”. Speculative fiction is a “broad term that includes all science fiction - fantasy, horror, supernatural, apocalyptic, alternative history, or other type of fiction that is not strictly realistic” (Pryor, n.d.). SF, on the other hand, is a genre which consists of imaginative prose works that speculate on the nature and direction of human knowledge (Wimmer, n.d.). Revisiting what Ursula K Guinn from our week 3 – 4 texts explained in “Plausibility Revisited Wha Hoppen and What Didn't” (2005). “In fiction, the story is not what happened. Fiction didn’t happen” “What validates fiction is plausibility”. She says that the created world more or less relates to or depends on the actual world outside the book (Le Guin, 2005).
So, which is man in the high castle? Science fiction or Speculative fiction. Philp K. Dick is considered a science fiction author. The man in the high castle is also considered a science fiction novel. The most prominent theme in this novel is alternative reality. Which can fall under both SF and speculative fiction. The novel plays with real historic event and flips it right around while creating many more possibilities for it. Though alternative reality is also thought to be a subgenre of speculative fiction. I personally think this novel shift slightly towards the SF genre. One; because of Ursula Le Guinn’s definition on SF where she say’s “what validates fiction is plausibility”. We as the reader know that what happens in the man in the high castle didn’t happen in our reality but ‘what if’ it did in another reality. The book explores the idea of multiple realities. To us readers , this may seem bizarre but we also question whether multiple realities do exist. There is so much about our universe and the way it works we have yet to discover. So what if? and this brings up point two; the book asks that classic ‘what if?’ question. Which can be seen in many classic SF novels such as Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstien'. What if this is the way the world was? What if this is the way the world really is in another reality? Philip K. Dick created a world of fiction using elements of the real world that seem unreal but still plausible.
Reference:
Thomas, P. L. (2013). Science fiction and speculative fiction: challenging genres. Rotterdam : Sense Publishers, [2013]
Le Guin, U. K. (2005). Plausibility Revisited Wha Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved on 21st August 2017, from //www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
Wimmer, J. (n.d). Study.com: What is Science Fiction? - Definition, Characteristics, Books & Authors. Retrieved on 30 September 2017. From http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-science-fiction-definition-characteristics-books-authors.html
DeletePryor, M. (n.d). Study.com: Utopia & Dystopia: Definition, Characteristics & Examples. Retrieved on 30 September 2017. From http://study.com/academy/lesson/utopia-dystopia-definition-characteristics-examples.html
What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction?
ReplyDeleteBrown (2001) interprets the novel to be of the Alternative World sub-genre of Science Fiction. He mentions that it was a sub-genre little explored at the time of Dick’s writing. This is an interesting as it is often taken for granted that science fiction generally lies in the future of our current world, or occasionally in the past, but rarely in another world. Of course, now that niche has been filled, but in the sixties it is easy to see how it would have been a new concept. When reading Brown’s (2001) work on The Man in the High Castle, it reminded me of a book I have read and loved, The House on the Stand by Daphne du Maurier published in 1969. It is split between worlds, both the ‘present’ day (60s Britain) and early 14th century Britain. The main character, Dick, is transported between worlds by taking a radical drug developed by a slightly unhinged professor. Though it is not in the same sci-fi vein as The Man in the High Castle, is a book that also pushed boundaries at the same time, addressing drug taking and to some extent infidelity. Brown (2001) describes The Man in the High Castle as a novel that scrutinizes the incompatible ideas of totalitarianism and Eastern philosophy. He also mentions the fact that the characters are trapped in a world where the circumstances they find themselves in are beyond their control. For the most part, this is a leitmotif of the science fiction genre as characters in many more contemporary sci-fi works have creatures or obstacles thrown in front of them that are unforeseen and out of the blue.
Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K., The Man in the High Castle (p.v-xii). London: Penguin.
What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
Simply put, science fiction is a genre that explores the impossible while speculative fiction explores the possible. Margaret Atwood presented the definition that sci-fi has “monsters and spaceships” while speculative fiction “could really happen”. For instance, her novel The Handmaid’s Tale could be considered speculative of a future where reproductive rates are so low, a select group of women used for population growth. At the time of writing in 1985, it may have been considered to be more sci-fi as issues of female reproductive rates may not have been as prominent as today. Though this may be an unlikely scenario to find ourselves in, it is not impossible all facts and situations considered. The Man in the High Castle is in some ways a crossover between the two genres. In one sense, it is science fiction because we cannot go back in time to a situation where Germany and Japan could win the war. So from that point of view, it’s impossible and sci-fi. From another view, it could be seen as speculative fiction because it is improbable, but not impossible, that the world could emulate World War 2, with the Allies defeated.
Mancuso, C. (2016, August 10). Speculative or science fiction? As Margaret Atwood shows, there isn't much distinction. Retrieved from theguardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/10/speculative-or-science-fiction-as-margaret-atwood-shows-there-isnt-much-distinction
Hi Megan, Great post! I learnt a lot from your two answers, both are in depth and straight to the point. And I like how your recollection of an old book you read. It would be better if you could reference more secondary academic sources, will help to embellish the content. Good luck!
DeleteAccording to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of Man in the High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?
ReplyDelete"I Ching doesn't seem like a symbol of imperialism, as Childan thinks of it. It's more like a symbol of cultural borrowing and exchange." -Philip, K. Dick
Suppose the world in The Man In The High Castle was The Matrix, then the role that I Ching plays in this world would be the programme of matrix. A bunch of people including both Japanese and American use I Ching as a fortunetelling in the book. Frank uses it in the art plot, Tagomi uses it in the spy plot, and Juliana uses it in the art-spy plot, Abendsen applies I Ching to the book The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. I Ching basically connects the intersected characters that are living in different dimensions of the world and device their actions by its oracles. Also as Mountfort states, I Ching was also used as the direction of this book.(2006) In my opinion, I Ching also added some superstitious elements to the story, somehow sprinkled more flavors into the plot.
I.e. There's one scene in the book describing Juliana using the I Ching, "Hexagram Forty-two, Increase, with moving lines in the second, third, fourth and top places; therefore changing to Hexagram Forty-three, Breakthrough. She scanned the text ravenously, catching up the successive stages of meaning in her mind……
'it furthers one
To undertake something.
It furthers one to cross the great water.'
Juliana knew through the oracle of I Ching that she needed to get up to Cheyenne and warn Abendsen that he's is till in danger.
The use of I Ching is a main thread throughout the entire story, it affects their decisions, behaviors and existence. Regarding to the situations his characters faced, how they should interpret events, what they should do next and what the result would be. (Mountfort , 2006.) It sort of gives the characters in parallel world a close connection with one another. Also makes the story tied up together and not loosely organised.
Reference
Dick, P.K. (2001; 1962). The Man in the High Castle. London: Penguin
Mountfort, P. (2006). Oracle-text/Cybertext in Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. Conference paper, Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association annual joint conference, Atlanta, 2006.
What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction?
ReplyDeletePhilip K Dick’s ‘The Man In The High Castle’ is a science fiction novel set in an alternative reality in which Nazi Germany won World War II. The novel envisions an alternative timeline where if the war had gone differently, what the rest of the world, in particular America, could have become under Nazi rule. Science fiction is defined as “fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets.” Brown (2001) talks about Dick, “He wrote about big ideas in his fiction, but never lost sight of the fact that science fiction was about the effect of events on individuals.” In ‘Man In The High Castle’ Dick writes of themes of society and class, power, politics and how the characters deal with conflict.
Brown (2001) talks about the key themes in ‘The Man In The High Castle’ in relation to the genre of science fiction. The most important theme is the idea of an ‘alternate reality’. He talks about Dick as being “…obsessed with the idea that the universe was only apparently real, an illusion behind which the truth might dwell. Again and again in his work, we find that reality as perceived by both reader and protagonist is a hoax, a shadow-play conceived by malign forces.” Brown (2001) continues to praise various elements of the novel as proof of Dick’s genius, he comments that Dick had ‘set the stage’ for a sub-genre of science fiction, the ‘Alternative World’, which was little explored at the time the novel was written. The alternative world is essentially a ‘what if?’ scenario, what if the allies had lost the war, though Dick adds an interesting twist by including his ‘novel within a novel’, within this Nazi-ruled alternative timeline, there is a book similar to the book the reader is reading, a reversal of ‘The Man In The High Castle’. The novel within Dick’s alternate reality is called ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ and tells of an alternate world where the allies have won the second world war and Nazi Germany was defeated, it basically depicts the world we, the reader live in.
One of Dick’s characters Juliana Frink becomes obsessed with the vision of this alternate world, perhaps mimicking Dick’s own obsession with his own theories of infinite alternative realities. The character also has a breakthrough which changes her perception, another important theme as indicated by Dick’s own obsessions with ‘perceived reality’ (Brown 2001). Perception is important in distinguishing what is ‘reality’.
Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K., The Man in the High Castle (p.v-xii). London: Penguin.