Synopses & Reviews
"A great and calamitous sequence of arguments with the universe: poignant, terrifying, ludicrous, and brilliant.TheExegesisis the sort of book associated with legends and madmen, but Dick wasnand#8217;t a legend and he wasnand#8217;t mad. He lived among us, and was a genius."and#8212;Jonathan Lethem Based on thousands of pages of typed and handwritten notes, journal entries, letters, and story sketches,The Exegesis of Philip K. Dickis the magnificent and imaginative final work of an author who dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and the divine. Edited and introduced by Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem, this will be the definitive presentation of Dickand#8217;s brilliant, and epic, final work. In theExegesis, Dick documents his eight-year attempt to fathom what he called "2-3-74," a postmodern visionary experience of the entire universe "transformed into information." In entries that sometimes ran to hundreds of pages, Dick tried to write his way into the heart of a cosmic mystery that tested his powers of imagination and invention to the limit, adding to, revising, and discarding theory after theory, mixing in dreams and visionary experiences as they occurred, and pulling it all together in three late novels known as the VALIS trilogy. In this abridgment, Jackson and Lethem serve as guides, taking the reader through theExegesisand establishing connections with moments in Dickand#8217;s life and work.
Synopsis
Divine Invasions is the definitive biography of one of America's greatest novelists and science fiction's greatest ambassador to literary audiences. Philip K. Dick loosened the bonds of the genre, ultimately making his reputation as a literary writer who happened to write speculative fiction, and profoundly influencing such writers as Pynchon, Delillo, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Lethem.
Synopsis
"The only biography I've ever read that's as exciting as a spy novel . . . Phil Dick's life was as weird and mysterious as any of his science fiction books."--Robert Anton Wilson
With thirty-eight books currently in print and seven of his novels and short stories adapted into blockbuster films, Philip K. Dick is recognized worldwide as one of our time's greatest and most influential novelists. Lawrence Sutin's Divine Invasions, acknowledged by the Dick family as the official Philip K. Dick biography, illuminates the life of the man who loosed the bonds of the science-fiction genre and profoundly influenced such writers as Pynchon, Delillo, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Lethem. Absorbing, beautifully written, and profoundly revealing, Divine Invasions is a must-read for Dick fans and for all fans of contemporary fiction and film.
Synopsis
Divine Invasions is the definitive biography of one of America's greatest novelists and science fiction's greatest ambassador to literary audiences. Philip K. Dick loosened the bonds of the genre, ultimately making his reputation as a literary writer who happened to write speculative fiction, and profoundly influencing such writers as Pynchon, Delillo, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Lethem. Divine Invasions is being reissued to coincide with the fall 2005 release of "A Scanner Darkly," a film based on Dick's novel of the same name.
About the Author
Lawrence Sutin is an award-winning memoirist and biographer. His books include Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance; Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick; and the forthcoming Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley. Sutin teaches in the M.F.A. program at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.