Greats of Science Fiction

Dick, Phillip K

Philip Kindred Dick was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 16 of 1928. He and his sister, Jane Charlotte Dick, were born six weeks prematurely but sadly Jane died on January 26 of 1929. This event affected Dick deeply, to the point that in later life he began imagining the presence of his sister and a reality in which she continued to be alive, something recurrent in his work.

Just before the divorce of his parents, Dick moved to Washington D.C with his mother, who wanted to raise her son alone, and attended John Eaton Elementary School. His grade in Writing Composition at the time was a C, but the teacher recognised that Dick had interest and ability in storytelling.  In 1938 he returned to California, and it was here where his interest in science fiction began to develop when he read the magazine “Stirring Science Stories”.  He attended Berkeley California High School, sharing a class with fellow science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin. After his graduation, he attended University of California, studying a variety of subjects, from history to zoology, military science and philosophy, but after two years, he turned his back on his studies.

After marrying his third wife, Kleo Apostolides, in 1950, he began writing and publishing his first stories. His debut novel was “Solar Lottery”, published in 1955, and although many of his novels stayed in science fiction, he also tried writing mainstream fiction. But, in 1963, all his non science fiction manuscripts were sent back by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency. Also in 1963, Dick received recognition when he won the Hugo Award for his book “The Man in the High Castle”. Despite this, he remained a little known author, only admired by a little sector of the audience. He divorced from Kleo in 1958 and began a relationship with Anne Williams Rubenstein, having a daughter with her and divorcing in 1964. In 1966, he married Nancy Hackett, having a second daughter. Around this time, Dick started experimenting with drugs, especially LSD and amphetamines, inducing him into an addiction that cost him not only his marriages but also his recognition as an author.

Addiction to drugs was one of the themes that greatly influenced his work. In many of his books Dick talks about personal identity and how it develops. Many of his stories are about a protagonist who begins to question his life, identity and world, seeing them as fantasies that are linked to conspiracies foreshadowed by powerful companies or dictatorial states. State control through technology and the paranoia derived from it is another common theme for Dick. Often he talks about the development of technologies, and how they can be used to control or manipulate our life for the benefit of the governments or corporations. Dystopian universes and alternative realities are other subjects of Dick’s work. He pursues the idea that alternative events can generate new universes differently from the others by several details that shows how a little change can influence a vast world. He was particularly influenced by Carl Jung’s work.

In the 70s, and still struggling with his drug addiction he developed a growing state of paranoia, derived of the drugs and schizophrenia, which made Dick to believe that he was in constant scrutiny from agencies like the FBI and the CIA. In 1975, he won the John W. Campbell Award for his novel “Flown my tears, the policeman said”, which again deals with the theme of alternative universes and in 1978 he published “A scanner darkly”, a recount of his life with drugs. Around this time, he began to experience visions. The first was in 1974, when he envisioned a woman. "From her golden necklace," stated Dick, "a pink beam came from it to my mind." After that, he began experiencing hallucinations that at first he felt to be product of his medication, but then Dick believed that these visions were messages from a superior entity that was transmitting to him wisdom and clairvoyance, making him more intelligent. These hallucinations continued and he wrote three books inspired by these events, named the VALIS Trilogy. Valis is the name Dick used to reference to the mysterious entity that communicated with him.

Finally, in 1981, Dick’s work came to Hollywood's attention with the adaptation of his 1968 novel “Do androids dream with electric sheep?”, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford as the protagonist Rick Deckard. It was renamed Blade Runner. At first, Philip was very reluctant, as he felt the adaptation would avoid important parts of the story and the themes he covered, but after seeing a demonstration in a meeting he had with director Scott, he was impressed. Unfortunately he never saw the complete movie as in March 20 of 1982, Philip K. Dick died after having two strokes. He was cremated and buried with his sister Jane.

His works have influenced many well known authors and many of his stories have been adapted into movies, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.  

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written by JoakinMar