Divine madness: Philip K. Dick

Novelist Philip K. Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) sold his first story in 1952 and his first novel, The Solar Lottery, in 1955. He published almost exclusively within the science fiction genre, but dreamed of a career in mainstream literature, writing In 1960 that he was willing to "take twenty to thirty years to succeed as a literary writer." During the ‘50s he produced a series of non-science fiction novels, only one of which, Confessions of a Crap Artist, was published before his death.

Throughout February and March 1974, which he referred to in shorthand as "two-three-seventy four" (2-3-74), Phil experienced a series of visions. As these increased in length and frequency, he came to believe he was living a double life, one as himself, and one as "Thomas", a Christian persecuted by Romans in the 1st century A.D. Unwilling to accept this self-diagnosis unquestioningly, he sought other rationalist and religious explanations for these experiences, which are chronicled in the semi-autobiographical novels VALIS (the title of which is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) and Radio Free Albemuth.

At one point Dick felt he had been taken over by the spirit of the prophet Elijah, and is regarded today as a postmodern prophet of sorts himself. After a burglary of his house, in which documents were stolen, Phil suspected a plot against him by the CIA or KGB, though on occasion, he himself speculated as to whether he may have suffered from schizophrenia.

He has made a number of post-mortem appearances in other writers' fiction, notably in Michael Bishop's Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas, first published as The Secret Ascension in 1987. which novel is set in a Gnostic alternative universe where his mainstream work is published but his science fiction is banned by a totalitarian USA in thrall to a demonically possessed Richard Nixon (review coming soon).

Lawrence Sutin's 1989 biography of Dick, Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick, is considered the standard biographical treatment of Dick's life, and his The Shifting Realities of Philip K.Dick is a further examination into the events of 2-3-74 and their effect on Phil's understanding of religion, history and society. Sutin was one of my advisors at Vermont College, just one of several exceptional talents encountered there, and it was a pleasure to work with him. He has also written a biography of English occultist Aleister Crowley called Do What Thou Wilt, and just published a new work of fiction titled When To Go Into The Water.
 

 To read my review of Tessa B. Dick's The Owl In Daylight, click HERE