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Philip K. Dick
After the publication of
Minority Report, we decided to present this author from several
aspects.
Since his untimely death at age
53, there has been an extraordinary growth of interest in his
writings, which during his lifetime were largely ignored by serious
mainstream critics and readers. He has become a looming and
illuminating presence not merely in American but in world culture,
with his works translated into major European and Asian languages.
There is even a bastard adjective - “phildickian “- that makes its
way into print now and then to describe the baffling twists and
turns of our times. Since 1982, when Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner
(based on Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) made
its debut, seven feature films based on Dick’s fiction have
appeared. On a spiritual level, Dick’s novels are just as relevant
today as they were when they were published. They portray the
singular individual attempting to peel back layers of consciousness
to catch glimpses and arrive at some understanding of the
transpersonal nature of humanity. When confronted by the
dehumanization that occurs through a dependency on machines and in
the face of disintegrating realities, Dick’s characters often turn
to religious thought, primarily Gnostic, to navigate their way
through the treacherous oceans of self.
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