Philip K. Dick, �Eye in the Sky�
If certain reports are to be believed, Philip K. Dick went seriously looney-toony in the later years of his life, most likely, according to Everything is Under Control by Robert Anton Wilson, in 1971 after his house was burglarized and vandalized.
Dick, being active in the anti-war and civil rights movement, decided he was under watch by subversive intelligence gatherers such as COINTELPRO and Nixon�s �Ratfuckers.� Add to the fact that a psychotherapist involved with the school of thought dealing with repressed sexual memories dubbed Dick as another victim, his books, reportedly, took a turn toward the massively paranoid after these incidents.
What I�m wondering, is what happened to him when this book was written back in 1957? Starting as a simple story of government intrusion and paranoia, ala Huxley or Orwell, this turns into a fantastical tale following the old adage of �power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.�
Sounds simple enough, but Dick doesn�t know when to stop, and a simple moral lesson turns into geometry, then calculus, then advanced quantum physics. A little restraint here would have made a book that would or could be referenced in the same vein as the aforementioned Orwell or Huxley. Instead, we�re left thinking about the style and imagination the author had rather then his near perfect finger on the pulse of society. Oh, it�s enjoyable enough, I suppose, but I was much more interested when Dick had a point, instead of the non sequitur babbling the book turns into.
But there are moments. In the story, six people find themselves in company with a person who suddenly has the power to will anything out of existence. They also find that this person is a complete and total bastard, as well as an idiot. So they conspire against her. And it works. And the world ends. And the same people come back, only somebody different now has this power. And they�re a total bastard as well. And so on. Like I said, it�s fun enough, but hollow.
So I checked the dates on the Philip K. Dick books that I have left. Four out of five of them are from 1971 or later.
Hoo-boy.
