THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

[E. Magill]

Our new selection for November/December is THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE by Philip K. Dick. It's one of the few stories by Dick that I've never gotten around to reading, even though it is often listed as one of his best. Here's the Amazon description:

"It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war--and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.

"This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake."

[E. Magill]

Where is everybody? Anyway, my thoughts:

I get what the novel is going for, a meditation on the concept of reality as an artifice. Like the fake Americana being manufactured and sold, the multitude of characters with false identities, and the ultimate reveal that the eponymous man in the high castle was using the oracle to write his book, reality is, in Dick's view, a subjective, mercurial thing. It's a common theme in a lot of his work, and I can dig it.

I also respect the imagination and work he put into crafting his alternate history, though I don't know if I would classify this as science-fiction. Sure, it won the Hugo award, is considered a seminal work in sci-fi, and even justifies its classification within the story, but I would call this "magical realism" or "fantasy" before I would call it sci-fi. There's just no real science involved, unless you consider history a science. It's a deeply philosophical story and does mention in passing that the Nazis are colonizing Mars, but it never sets its sights on any scientific themes or ideas. Also, the I-Ching is deeply rooted in pseudoscience, which in Dick's alternate reality lords over real science.

Having studied Taoism in depth, I can say that Dick's interpretation of Taoist philosophy is pretty much in line with my understanding of it, and I like the way he incorporates Taoist thinking into virtually all of his characters (especially the Japanese). I also think it's interesting how everybody also has a touch of Nazi racism, placing people in tight stereotypical boxes based on their ethnicity, even as the characters themselves buck those same stereotypes.

Still, I don't know why this is considered such a landmark book, or why it is even rated as Dick's best. The writing is very stilted and manic--like he was dictating it rather than writing it--and the plot feels underdeveloped, especially during the meandering first half. Why Dick decided to do away with so many articles is beyond me. There are lots of good ideas in there, but they exist in spite of an amateurish, young Philip K. Dick.

Lastly, I have no idea what my cover of the book has to do with the novel contained within. 1.bp.blogspot.com/_z5vpNAABjv8/S9YysGXEfyI/AAAAAAAABUs/TSk1Hm0VReY/s1600/man-castle.jpg

[Diane]

Hi Honey. I tried tio read it but couldn't get to the end (got a little over half way). The premise was not new to me and basically he handled it well. However, to me it dragged some and I kept falling asleep reading (so abnormal for me). I agree that it shouldn't be Sci-Fi as there isn't a science basis. I think philosophic fiction is a better category or historical fiction. Anyway, sorry I couldn't get into it--it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[E. Magill]

Thanks for trying! I did forget to mention that I think Fatherland by Robert Harris is a much better book that deals with the "what if the Nazis had won" premise.

[sarahcv]

WTF was that? That is the worst Philip K Dick novel I have ever read. And I've read almost all of them. Interesting premise, possibly the very first alternative history Nazi victory novel ever written which might have earned the Hugo award all on its own, but it wasn't very well thought out story-wise, was it? It's like he spent all his creative effort on the world & didn't have any left over for, you know, AN ENDING.

All that stuff about the Germans & Japanese infighting & the state of world affairs in the wake of an Axis victory was interesting, and clearly got the lion's share of his research & thought. I enjoyed it when I thought it was going somewhere. Also, I did like how he actively changed his writing voice for each character's internal monologue. Tagomi used almost no articles, just like he talked. Reiss was a huge racist, etc. The method in which they were delivered was interesting, but slogging through them was a real chore. When Tagomi was meditating on the silver pin, I had to go get some coffee. But I liked Juliana's crazy-pants monologue where she gets in the shower in her wool suit, I really felt her nuttiness. A lot of that in A Scanner Darkly too. I did kind of hate Juliana's character, vacant shell of a woman, but then it turns out that she's the most transcendent of all, possibly even the protagonist. He did that in The Simulacrum as well.

So what is the premise here exactly? Alternate dimension? Who is really inside the book? Reality is all a construct existing only in our minds? And what about Juliana's question at the end, is there a way out? What way did the characters have? Just close the book? Click your heels together? Clap if you believe in fairies? What is so special about Juliana? Was she really a demon or whatever Abendsen called her? WTH was the point of Baynes meeting up with the secret agent to request instructions only to have the guy turn up the following day? Why was that even in the story, except maybe he felt it needed to be longer? Ugh, so many questions. I hate when a book doesn't have a proper ending.

Let's add Valis to the list, might be fun to read a story about aliens visiting someone who actually thought he was being visited by aliens.

[sarahcv]

Also I have no idea why that is considered sci-fi. Maybe there weren't as many genre choices in the 60s?

[sarahcv]

Eric, the cover of mine is just as nonsensical but in a different ridiculous way: d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1385189684l/216363.jpg

[E. Magill]

Valis is much better. I'm definitely adding it to the list to redeem Philip in the eyes of the book club.

[kwirk]

Okay. i read the book, but didn't feel like being the first post again. So I waited and then forgot. But I agree with Sarah. WTF...

I didn't like this book at all. It had a lot of potential in the beginning but in the end it was a huge let down. It's probably too philosophical for my brain. The only part I liked was when Juliana had her psychotic break and went all murdery.

I don't know much about Taoism except what I learned in the 'Tao of Pooh'. I didn't think it was so mystical. If the I-ching were some sort of AI driven thing I could see this as sci-fi but otherwise I didn't see it. I'm not very well read in Philip K Dick either but haven't been super impressed in what I've read so far. From what I have seen he has cool premises but never fleshes them out into a good story. But I've only really read a few short stories in a free kindle book.