Comments on: Orwellian references are boring — let’s plunder Philip K. Dick

By: Torley

Torley — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:28:10 +0000

@Mari: Yes, Godwin's Law and all that! Spoiled fruit at that, too… since I prize creativity.

@Nicholaz: I was looking for instances where PKD refers to Owell. I felt there must be some influence (to paraphrase Newton, we see farther from the shoulders of giants), and this gem showed up: http://totaldickhead.blogspot.com/2008/06/old-vertex-magazine-pkd-interview-and.html Specifically on page 7, in the lower-left.

Incidentally, I had actually read the cited work, The Android and the Human ( http://www.philipkdickfans.com/pkdweb/The%20Android%20and%20the%20Human.htm ), and while terribly dense and challenging at parts, I'd call it the closest I've seen so far about PKD's views on Orwell's writings.

As for references, I tend to mix things up, but have a proportion of obscure references — I continually hope people will help popularize things which deserve attention by seeking them out.

@CyFishy: Since PKD's work keeps riding the Hollywood train and he's in the Library of America, I hope his work — and its relevancy to our Third Wave (as Alvin Toffler wrote) societies — continues to rise.

@Kim: Ubik had some wonderfully sly subtext about marketing! =)

By: Kim Anubis

Kim Anubis — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:50:55 +0000

PK Dick's The Man in the High Castle was required reading for some English classes at my high school. That said, I follow your point, but . . . Dick does make a nice change from all the Orwell references and I think Tor's right about that gaussian blur over Orwell's works. Last time I re-read 1984 it was really refreshing to see again what it actually said, clearly, without peering through the fog of memories of things that people attribute to it.

By: CyFishy Traveler

CyFishy Traveler — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:38:08 +0000

Pretty much seconding what Nicholaz said–the reason we use such references is because they provide a simple shorthand for certain concepts.

E. D. Hirch, Jr. came up with the term "cultural literacy" for the knowledge needed grasp common references. In other words, the reason we need to learn Shakespeare in high school isn't just as literature, but so we can understand what the heck people are talking about when they refer to Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet.

In the US at least, Orwell is taught in high school. Dick isn't. Ergo, an Orwellian reference will be understood more readily than a Dickian one.

By: Kim Anubis

Kim Anubis — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:38:47 +0000

"Ubik drops you back in the thick of things fast. Taken as directed, Ubik speeds relief to head and stomach. Remember: Ubik is only seconds away. Avoid prolonged use."