Are these the thoughts of a pulp SF writer, or a serious and underappreciated thinker?
"I am a fictionalizing philosopher, not a novelist; my novel & story-writing ability is employed as a means to formulate my perception. The core of my writing is not art but truth. Thus what I tell is the truth, yet I can do nothing to alleviate it, either by deed or explanation. Yet this seems somehow to help a certain kind of sensitive troubled person, for whom I speak. I think I understand the common ingredient in those whom my writing helps: they cannot or will not blunt their own intimations about the irrational, mysterious nature of reality, &, for them, my corpus is one long ratiocination regarding this inexplicable reality, an integration & presentation, analysis & response & personal history."
Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will Favorite posts | Manifold podcast | Twitter: @hsu_steve
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4 comments:
Last night I watched the movie “Waking Life” recommended to me by my younger son Peter, the budding plant biologist at UC Santa Cruz. Years ago, in high school he introduced me to the Man in the High Castle. Waking Life concludes with a retelling of one of Dick’s short stories. Check it out.
I am still entangled & puzzled.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - PKD
My favorite novel is actually "The Transmigration of Timothy Archer," one of his last novels, and not exactly science fiction. "That is the trouble with education, I realized; you have been everywhere before, seen everything, vicariously; it has all already happened to you..."
Dave,
Nice PKD quote!
Lemme guess - you are transiting Narita on your way back to Seattle from Singapore? :-)
Good guess! Now I am jet lagged and my brain appears to be working at one forth speed. Very strange indeed.
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