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I read PKD's "The Man in the High Castle" years ago, but that clearly doesn't fit within article's description. Can anyone recommend a novel/story that most cl

I read PKD's "The Man in the High Castle" years ago, but that clearly doesn't fit within article's description. Can anyone recommend a novel/story that most clearly represents this version of dystopia?

penfold 10y ago
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. A mind-blowing masterpiece of virtual dystopia, unbelievably prescient.
- sjbase 10y ago
  Fantastic novel that'll continue aging well I think, esp. if we get more serious about putting civilians on Mars.
akud 10y ago
I would argue "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" does. The novel doesn't spend too much time focusing on the society, but, iirc, people spend much of their time with emotion-modulating machines. Also, "A Scanner Darkly" kind of hints that creating that kind of society is the goal of some nefarious forces.
evo_9 10y ago
Valis series is really what they are referring too. The books are about how a mad God is the creator of our universe and the real God has tried to force itself into our reality throughout history (Jesus, Buddha, etc), usually within the context of an oppressive government. This is probably clearest in the second Valis book - The Devine Invasion, though certainly these themes are present in Valis (book 1) and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (book 3). I would also note that these books are not a traditional 'series' in that beyond Valis being mentioned there is no direct connection between the stories.
- mhink 10y ago
  Those are pretty solidly Gnostic themes, if I'm not mistaken?
  - lobster_johnson 10y ago
    PKD loved Gnosticism, and many of his books feature variations on Gnostic mythology and metaphysics, even going back to earlier works such as Three Stigmata and UBIK, both of which put forth "false creator" mythologies. My favourite underrated PKD novel is Galactic Pot-Healer, which is a really fun read. This time the false creator is Glimmung, a large whale-like creature that claims to have godlike powers, and which is attempting to remotely contact a number of artisans across the galaxy that it needs to rebuild its physical presence on a far-away planet. The mythos is weirder and a bit less darkly dystopian this time, and the whole thing is crazy from beginning to end. Highly recommended.
nn3 10y ago
If it doesn't have to be written by Dick, the canonical work would be Stanislaw Lem's The futurological Congress
- nullc 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) is (loosely) based on that and also fits the dystopia description. It's not clear to me that this form of dystopia is really all that distinct from the Huxleyan one-- the virtuality is just a more effective soma.
  - anigbrowl 10y ago
    The Huxleyan one is apathetic. The Lem version is illusory.
  - psyc 10y ago
    How on earth could I have completely missed this movie. I just watched it, and as movies go, it was very good.
  - lobster_johnson 10y ago
    "Loosely", ha. I would argue only thing they share is the one word in the title. It's a great book. It's interesting (in the context of this discussion) that it's a satiric dystopia in which the main character spends most of the book in a drug-induced dream about being in a future utopia that turns out to be a Huxleyian dystopia that's even worse than the present day.
scoppini 10y ago
Of the books I've read by Dick, I would say "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" is probably the most dystopic.
- paulpauper 10y ago
  I have never read it but want to. I wonder what the title means? It sounds sinister
  - scoppini 10y ago
    It's been a while since I've read it, but I believe it's partially a reference to a lute song called "Flow my tears" [1], but it's also a reference to a moment near the end of the book when one of the policemen has an embrace with a man he just met at a gas station following the death of the policeman's sister. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow,_my_tears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow,_my_tears
anigbrowl 10y ago
Ubik. Not responsible for any subsequent mental breakdowns you may experience. It's a tough read but if you liked inception then you'll appreciate it.

penfold 10y ago

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. A mind-blowing masterpiece of virtual dystopia, unbelievably prescient.

sjbase 10y ago
Fantastic novel that'll continue aging well I think, esp. if we get more serious about putting civilians on Mars.

akud 10y ago

I would argue "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" does. The novel doesn't spend too much time focusing on the society, but, iirc, people spend much of their time with emotion-modulating machines. Also, "A Scanner Darkly" kind of hints that creating that kind of society is the goal of some nefarious forces.

evo_9 10y ago

Valis series is really what they are referring too. The books are about how a mad God is the creator of our universe and the real God has tried to force itself into our reality throughout history (Jesus, Buddha, etc), usually within the context of an oppressive government. This is probably clearest in the second Valis book - The Devine Invasion, though certainly these themes are present in Valis (book 1) and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (book 3). I would also note that these books are not a traditional 'series' in that beyond Valis being mentioned there is no direct connection between the stories.

mhink 10y ago
Those are pretty solidly Gnostic themes, if I'm not mistaken?
- lobster_johnson 10y ago
  PKD loved Gnosticism, and many of his books feature variations on Gnostic mythology and metaphysics, even going back to earlier works such as Three Stigmata and UBIK, both of which put forth "false creator" mythologies. My favourite underrated PKD novel is Galactic Pot-Healer, which is a really fun read. This time the false creator is Glimmung, a large whale-like creature that claims to have godlike powers, and which is attempting to remotely contact a number of artisans across the galaxy that it needs to rebuild its physical presence on a far-away planet. The mythos is weirder and a bit less darkly dystopian this time, and the whole thing is crazy from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

nn3 10y ago

If it doesn't have to be written by Dick, the canonical work would be Stanislaw Lem's The futurological Congress

nullc 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) is (loosely) based on that and also fits the dystopia description. It's not clear to me that this form of dystopia is really all that distinct from the Huxleyan one-- the virtuality is just a more effective soma.
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  The Huxleyan one is apathetic. The Lem version is illusory.
- psyc 10y ago
  How on earth could I have completely missed this movie. I just watched it, and as movies go, it was very good.
- lobster_johnson 10y ago
  "Loosely", ha. I would argue only thing they share is the one word in the title. It's a great book. It's interesting (in the context of this discussion) that it's a satiric dystopia in which the main character spends most of the book in a drug-induced dream about being in a future utopia that turns out to be a Huxleyian dystopia that's even worse than the present day.

scoppini 10y ago

Of the books I've read by Dick, I would say "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" is probably the most dystopic.

paulpauper 10y ago
I have never read it but want to. I wonder what the title means? It sounds sinister
- scoppini 10y ago
  It's been a while since I've read it, but I believe it's partially a reference to a lute song called "Flow my tears" [1], but it's also a reference to a moment near the end of the book when one of the policemen has an embrace with a man he just met at a gas station following the death of the policeman's sister. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow,_my_tears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow,_my_tears

anigbrowl 10y ago

Ubik. Not responsible for any subsequent mental breakdowns you may experience. It's a tough read but if you liked inception then you'll appreciate it.