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Occhio nel cielo
Un'esplosione in un impianto nucleare scaglia otto persone in un universo impazzito, dove le leggi non sono più quelle conosciute, dove i miracoli esistono, dove si può volare fino in Paradiso appesi al manico di un ombrello, dove si può far scomparire il mare o il cielo solo con la forza del pensiero, e dove una casa può trasformarsi in un mostro orrendo pronto a divorare i suoi abitanti. Come in una scatola cinese, i protagonisti percorreranno una specie di inferno dantesco popolato dai peggiori incubi della loro psiche, e quando ne usciranno non saranno più gli stessi.
Dick ci offre allo stesso tempo un romanzo pieno di pathos, una girandola di geniali invenzioni e soprattutto una singolare parabola sull’America maccartista, a cavallo fra denuncia sociale e riflessione ironica.
Dick ci offre allo stesso tempo un romanzo pieno di pathos, una girandola di geniali invenzioni e soprattutto una singolare parabola sull’America maccartista, a cavallo fra denuncia sociale e riflessione ironica.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1957
309 people are currently reading
5441 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,008 books22.5k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
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September 13, 2023
“Anti-cat is one jump away from anti-Semitism.”
― Philip K. Dick, Eye in the Sky
For liberal, open-minded men and women, dealing with religious fundamentalists can be most unpleasant. From my own experience, I recall several nasty cases: a Sunday school teacher giving us kids a pep talk on the virtues of racism and segregation; accompanying a college buddy to his church and listening to the minister browbeat the congregation with threats of hellfire; having to deal with aggressive bible thumpers at my front door; a loudmouth bully manager using the Bible as a billy club to manipulate subordinates.
Looking back on my boyhood, I got off easy. There are many young boys and girls who have been emotionally traumatized and even physically abused and beaten in the name of fundamentalist-style religion.
Although PKD had a liberally inclined upbringing (his mother sent young Philip to a Quaker school), I’m quite certain he had his own brushings with fundamentals in one form or another. Anyway, unlike a book attempting to counter narrow-mindedness with well-reasoned, heartfelt advice on tolerance, compassion, awareness or presence, written by, say, the Dali Lama or Eckhart Tolle, PKD’s Eye in the Sky is a searing, no-nonsense, tell it like it is novel addressing fundamentalist religion with all its rigidity, brutality, suffocation and kitschy ugliness.
Indeed, one of the most entertaining, inventive works of science fiction you will ever read. Did Christopher Hitchens read Eye in the Sky? If so, undoubtedly many a time Hitch chuckled and nodded his head in approval.
But the novel’s pointed black as midnight humor and blistering satire has a wider target than religion; after fundamentalism, PDK shifts his focus to a frumpy woman who holds an antiquated vision of life that is saccharine, shallow and out-and-out dishonest. Then, more swings and moves!
And, when each character’s distorted, cartoonish view of life becomes the reality of the external world, the story clicks from one universe to another, and with each click, PDK vividly portrays how intolerance and mean-spiritedness of any stripe or flavor is a nightmarish reality.
Thus, on one level, Eye in the Sky can be read as a philosophical meditation on how human perception shrinks the world into its own stultifying vision. And, on another level, the implications of solipsism, that is, a view of the world having no extension or externality; rather, the entire universe living in the head of the solipsist. All in all, a book that’s vintage PKD, a book that, in my modest view of the universe, should be required high school reading.
December 28, 2020
Beyond Belief
(Or How The Fascist Senator Joe McCarthy Inspired Silicon Valley)
No religion comes out unscathed from Dick’s satire of spiritual belief. Judaism, Catholicism, various Protestant sects, Pentecostalism, Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, all share his ire and his pointed wit. He has created a fundamentalist’s dream come true - a society united by faith in its rigid beliefs, in which science and religion are merged into the quest for the most efficient channel of communication to God.
The universe itself is biblical (or rather Bablical in reference to the dominant Faith of the Second Bab). The Earth is the centre of the cosmos and sits over a vast fiery mining camp called Hell. The whole is surveyed from above by an enormous eye, which has very little insight into the human condition but which (who?) responds well but not always reliably to human obsequiousness.
No one works for wages but for salvation credits that are determined by one’s rank in society. One’s living is provided (or not) based on the the results of prayer. The key to life is “to get inside with the Lord.” God Himself (or more properly and respectfully: Tetragrammaton) preaches on Sundays via network television hookup. Righteous racism and militarism are, naturally, de riguer.
But this is only one of the fantasy worlds contained in Eye in the Sky. There is a distinctive one for each of the victims of an industrial accident in an experimental physics lab. Each has their own view of reality and the proper mores to which human beings should adhere. Given the chance, these become tactics of power. After the accident they “keep getting into each other’s heads” in highly directive and annoying ways.
Dick has an interesting idea for a multiple worlds hypothesis based on quantum theory (first formulated by the physicist Hugh Everett in 1957, the same year as Dick published his story. Who, one might ask, inspired whom?). Dick’s suggestion is that the possibility of parallel worlds is based on an entirely subjective experience which can be projected into the consciousness of others. This is not incompatible with the 17th century philosopher Leibniz’s concept of the monadic (and therefore strictly subjective) structure of the universe which is coordinated by... well, by a big Eye in the Sky!’
In such a Leibnizian universe we are all “distorted figments of somebody’s fantasy world,” just as Dick says. Under normal circumstances no one notices because we are “unaware that every aspect of their existence is being manipulated by an invisible presence.” But if no one, particularly no God, is ensuring that the fantasies link up in a coherent way, life becomes not just chaotic but potentially lethal, with even the fundamental laws of physics mutating around us.
Dick’s target is not religion but power. What he has done in this incredible tale, therefore, is to use an atheistic satire about religion to suggest the logical necessity of God in order to counter the desire of human beings for power over one another. Certainly not the God of any of the religions he pillories, but some hidden, abstract force or intelligence that somehow maintains reasonably civil behaviour, despite the power-hungry crazies that exist among us. What this entity might be called is open to discussion, but not to dogmatisation. So why not simply the Eye in the Sky?
(Oh yeah, and it’s also about two guys from Belmont who drop out of the security-mad, Communist-obsessed establishment to play with non-lethal high-tech do-dads around San Jose, thus demonstrating the point above that somebody’s hand is moving in some mighty strange ways, particularly in California.)
(Or How The Fascist Senator Joe McCarthy Inspired Silicon Valley)
No religion comes out unscathed from Dick’s satire of spiritual belief. Judaism, Catholicism, various Protestant sects, Pentecostalism, Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, all share his ire and his pointed wit. He has created a fundamentalist’s dream come true - a society united by faith in its rigid beliefs, in which science and religion are merged into the quest for the most efficient channel of communication to God.
The universe itself is biblical (or rather Bablical in reference to the dominant Faith of the Second Bab). The Earth is the centre of the cosmos and sits over a vast fiery mining camp called Hell. The whole is surveyed from above by an enormous eye, which has very little insight into the human condition but which (who?) responds well but not always reliably to human obsequiousness.
No one works for wages but for salvation credits that are determined by one’s rank in society. One’s living is provided (or not) based on the the results of prayer. The key to life is “to get inside with the Lord.” God Himself (or more properly and respectfully: Tetragrammaton) preaches on Sundays via network television hookup. Righteous racism and militarism are, naturally, de riguer.
But this is only one of the fantasy worlds contained in Eye in the Sky. There is a distinctive one for each of the victims of an industrial accident in an experimental physics lab. Each has their own view of reality and the proper mores to which human beings should adhere. Given the chance, these become tactics of power. After the accident they “keep getting into each other’s heads” in highly directive and annoying ways.
Dick has an interesting idea for a multiple worlds hypothesis based on quantum theory (first formulated by the physicist Hugh Everett in 1957, the same year as Dick published his story. Who, one might ask, inspired whom?). Dick’s suggestion is that the possibility of parallel worlds is based on an entirely subjective experience which can be projected into the consciousness of others. This is not incompatible with the 17th century philosopher Leibniz’s concept of the monadic (and therefore strictly subjective) structure of the universe which is coordinated by... well, by a big Eye in the Sky!’
In such a Leibnizian universe we are all “distorted figments of somebody’s fantasy world,” just as Dick says. Under normal circumstances no one notices because we are “unaware that every aspect of their existence is being manipulated by an invisible presence.” But if no one, particularly no God, is ensuring that the fantasies link up in a coherent way, life becomes not just chaotic but potentially lethal, with even the fundamental laws of physics mutating around us.
Dick’s target is not religion but power. What he has done in this incredible tale, therefore, is to use an atheistic satire about religion to suggest the logical necessity of God in order to counter the desire of human beings for power over one another. Certainly not the God of any of the religions he pillories, but some hidden, abstract force or intelligence that somehow maintains reasonably civil behaviour, despite the power-hungry crazies that exist among us. What this entity might be called is open to discussion, but not to dogmatisation. So why not simply the Eye in the Sky?
(Oh yeah, and it’s also about two guys from Belmont who drop out of the security-mad, Communist-obsessed establishment to play with non-lethal high-tech do-dads around San Jose, thus demonstrating the point above that somebody’s hand is moving in some mighty strange ways, particularly in California.)
November 7, 2021
I’ve only read five PKD novels so far, but that’s enough for me to notice some recurring themes. Like The Cosmic Puppets, Time Out of Joint, and Ubik, the world in Eye in the Sky is not what it appears to be. In all four of these books, what the characters take to be reality isn’t reality at all.
In The Cosmic Puppets and Time Out of Joint, the illusion is imposed from without. In Ubik and Eye in the Sky, it is imposed from within. This is the theme of the world as a creation of the mind. It is a much more philosophical theme than the more general theme of the world as illusion.
An illusion imposed from an external source is mere deception. The illusion may come from other people who create a fake town. It may come from supernatural entities who can alter the appearance of reality. But in either case, the illusion is intended to make someone believe reality is other than it truly is. In the theme of the world as a creation of the mind, the very nature of reality comes into question.
Eye in the Sky shares more with Ubik than just the theme of the world as a creation of the mind. Both novels leave the reader wondering whose mind is the mind creating the world and both have ambiguous endings. But this is all done with greater subtlety and finesse in Ubik. In Eye in the Sky, once the author of the first version of the world is discovered, it is not too difficult to figure out the authors of the later versions. And the ambiguity of the ending is little more than a tease.
Almost half the book is devoted to the first version of the world. I was surprised and intrigued to find this religious world based on a nineteenth century Islamic cult. I would have been even more surprised if I hadn’t first read The Cosmic Puppets, with its Zoroastrianism. I know a little bit about Zoroastrianism, but next to nothing about the Bahá’í Faith. Apparently it grew out of an earlier cult called Bábíism, named after its leader, the Báb. The holy book of Bábíism is the Bayán. Dick simply imagined a second Báb.
(If Tillingford had offered me the use of the intercom to heaven that he offered Hamilton, I wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to talk with Dick. What a fascinating guy he must have been!)
The second, third, and fourth versions of the world reveal more of Dick’s interests: morality, mental illness, and politics. The prudish morality of the second world is hilarious. The paranoid fantasy of the third world is horrifying. And the McCarthyism of the fourth world is very apropos of the time in which Eye in the Sky was written.
Of these three worlds, the world of the paranoiac was the most fascinating. Whether this reveals something about Dick’s own mind or not, it certainly reveals something about how the world is experienced by people suffering from mental illness. It quickly reaches the point of absurdity, but before it does, it displays some of the mundane horrors that fill the world of the mentally ill. The knife which turns on its user. The can of peaches that intentionally falls on one’s foot. The ominous meaning behind a ringing telephone or a blown light bulb. Things that most people regard as harmless or accidental or meaningless are dangerous and malevolent to the paranoid.
There’s actually another world in this book that isn’t a world created by a character’s mind. It’s the world of Bill Laws. And there’s no sci-fi here. Bill is willing to live in Mrs. Pritchet’s world because, despite her prissy and silly ideas, he can make something of himself in her world. He and Hamilton argue about this and Bill sets Hamilton straight on what it’s like to be black in 1959.
“You try being colored a while.... Try putting yourself through six years of college washing white men’s dishes in a two-bit hash house. I’ve heard about you; your Dad was a big-shot physicist. You had plenty of money; you weren’t working in any hash house. Try getting a degree the way I did. Try carrying that degree around in your pocket a few months, looking for a job” (148-149).
“Want to know why I’m better off here? Because of you, Hamilton. It’s your fault, not mine. Think that over. You had your wife and house and cat and car and job. You had it fine . . . naturally, you want to go back. But not me; I didn’t have it so fine. And I’m not going back” (149).
I enjoyed Eye in the Sky, but not as much as Ubik. Although that’s probably an unfair comparison. Twelve years separate the two novels. Comparing it with the other 1950s novels I’ve read, I’d have to say I enjoyed it more than The Cosmic Puppets, but not as much as The World Jones Made or Time Out of Joint. But that might not be fair either. Each book has its own merits and flaws. But one thing that they all have is originality. And that will keep me coming back for more.
In The Cosmic Puppets and Time Out of Joint, the illusion is imposed from without. In Ubik and Eye in the Sky, it is imposed from within. This is the theme of the world as a creation of the mind. It is a much more philosophical theme than the more general theme of the world as illusion.
An illusion imposed from an external source is mere deception. The illusion may come from other people who create a fake town. It may come from supernatural entities who can alter the appearance of reality. But in either case, the illusion is intended to make someone believe reality is other than it truly is. In the theme of the world as a creation of the mind, the very nature of reality comes into question.
Eye in the Sky shares more with Ubik than just the theme of the world as a creation of the mind. Both novels leave the reader wondering whose mind is the mind creating the world and both have ambiguous endings. But this is all done with greater subtlety and finesse in Ubik. In Eye in the Sky, once the author of the first version of the world is discovered, it is not too difficult to figure out the authors of the later versions. And the ambiguity of the ending is little more than a tease.
Almost half the book is devoted to the first version of the world. I was surprised and intrigued to find this religious world based on a nineteenth century Islamic cult. I would have been even more surprised if I hadn’t first read The Cosmic Puppets, with its Zoroastrianism. I know a little bit about Zoroastrianism, but next to nothing about the Bahá’í Faith. Apparently it grew out of an earlier cult called Bábíism, named after its leader, the Báb. The holy book of Bábíism is the Bayán. Dick simply imagined a second Báb.
(If Tillingford had offered me the use of the intercom to heaven that he offered Hamilton, I wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to talk with Dick. What a fascinating guy he must have been!)
The second, third, and fourth versions of the world reveal more of Dick’s interests: morality, mental illness, and politics. The prudish morality of the second world is hilarious. The paranoid fantasy of the third world is horrifying. And the McCarthyism of the fourth world is very apropos of the time in which Eye in the Sky was written.
Of these three worlds, the world of the paranoiac was the most fascinating. Whether this reveals something about Dick’s own mind or not, it certainly reveals something about how the world is experienced by people suffering from mental illness. It quickly reaches the point of absurdity, but before it does, it displays some of the mundane horrors that fill the world of the mentally ill. The knife which turns on its user. The can of peaches that intentionally falls on one’s foot. The ominous meaning behind a ringing telephone or a blown light bulb. Things that most people regard as harmless or accidental or meaningless are dangerous and malevolent to the paranoid.
There’s actually another world in this book that isn’t a world created by a character’s mind. It’s the world of Bill Laws. And there’s no sci-fi here. Bill is willing to live in Mrs. Pritchet’s world because, despite her prissy and silly ideas, he can make something of himself in her world. He and Hamilton argue about this and Bill sets Hamilton straight on what it’s like to be black in 1959.
“You try being colored a while.... Try putting yourself through six years of college washing white men’s dishes in a two-bit hash house. I’ve heard about you; your Dad was a big-shot physicist. You had plenty of money; you weren’t working in any hash house. Try getting a degree the way I did. Try carrying that degree around in your pocket a few months, looking for a job” (148-149).
“Want to know why I’m better off here? Because of you, Hamilton. It’s your fault, not mine. Think that over. You had your wife and house and cat and car and job. You had it fine . . . naturally, you want to go back. But not me; I didn’t have it so fine. And I’m not going back” (149).
I enjoyed Eye in the Sky, but not as much as Ubik. Although that’s probably an unfair comparison. Twelve years separate the two novels. Comparing it with the other 1950s novels I’ve read, I’d have to say I enjoyed it more than The Cosmic Puppets, but not as much as The World Jones Made or Time Out of Joint. But that might not be fair either. Each book has its own merits and flaws. But one thing that they all have is originality. And that will keep me coming back for more.
July 30, 2019
The Gregg Press Science Fiction Series, was created by David G. Hartwell & L. W. Currey as Editors.
The PKD Gregg Press Editions were largely distributed to libraries, and their print runs were typically around 500.
A new introduction by Sandra Miesel. Frontispiece illustration by Hannah Shapero.
Eight visitors to a Bevatron site in Belmont, California have an accident when a scaffolding collapses, and they fall sixty feet to the floor below, passing through the beam of the particle accelerator on the way to the ground. One of those visitors, Jack Hamilton, has just been fired from his job at the guided missile plant because the military staff fear his wife Marsha may have Communist sympathies.
When he awakes he finds himself in the hospital along with the other victims of the accident: Marsha, McFeyffe the head of security at the missile plant, Bill Laws, the Negro tour guide, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchet and their son, and Miss Joan Reiss. Luckily no one is hurt badly so they return to their homes, only to discover that the world has strangely changed.
They slowly discover that the world is now directed by a deeply involved god. Physics, electronics, even economics work based on the grace of the One True God of (Tetragrammaton). More grace means your car works. Loss of grace means that boils are visited upon your person. The ruler of this world is Horace Clamp, prophet of the One True God in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The PKD Gregg Press Editions were largely distributed to libraries, and their print runs were typically around 500.
A new introduction by Sandra Miesel. Frontispiece illustration by Hannah Shapero.
Eight visitors to a Bevatron site in Belmont, California have an accident when a scaffolding collapses, and they fall sixty feet to the floor below, passing through the beam of the particle accelerator on the way to the ground. One of those visitors, Jack Hamilton, has just been fired from his job at the guided missile plant because the military staff fear his wife Marsha may have Communist sympathies.
When he awakes he finds himself in the hospital along with the other victims of the accident: Marsha, McFeyffe the head of security at the missile plant, Bill Laws, the Negro tour guide, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchet and their son, and Miss Joan Reiss. Luckily no one is hurt badly so they return to their homes, only to discover that the world has strangely changed.
They slowly discover that the world is now directed by a deeply involved god. Physics, electronics, even economics work based on the grace of the One True God of (Tetragrammaton). More grace means your car works. Loss of grace means that boils are visited upon your person. The ruler of this world is Horace Clamp, prophet of the One True God in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
March 11, 2016
The Eye in the Sky by Philip K. Dick is a smart, satirical, absurdist and brilliant allegory on Conservatism and McCarthyism.
It could also be a theological spoof with a psychological twist. Or a psychological comedy with theological themes.
It is also vaguely reminiscent of Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice. Not to be taken too seriously, it is PKD approaching his best: imaginative science fiction with religious undertones. In this case the religion is a central element, but used in such a way as to have fun, I think his Vonnegutesque sense of humor is in full form here, and his humanistic observations, his “back-fence carnality” is evocative of Bradbury.
Perhaps not for a new reader of PKD, it is however, one that a fan will definitely want to read.
It could also be a theological spoof with a psychological twist. Or a psychological comedy with theological themes.
It is also vaguely reminiscent of Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice. Not to be taken too seriously, it is PKD approaching his best: imaginative science fiction with religious undertones. In this case the religion is a central element, but used in such a way as to have fun, I think his Vonnegutesque sense of humor is in full form here, and his humanistic observations, his “back-fence carnality” is evocative of Bradbury.
Perhaps not for a new reader of PKD, it is however, one that a fan will definitely want to read.
July 30, 2020
A fun Sci-Fi-Lite book, Eye in the Sky is the story of what happens when one person's inner world becomes reality for others.
On the day Hamilton is fired from his job because his wife "might" be a Communist (she signed liberal petitions and attended a couple left leaning political meetings), he goes to visit the Belmont Bevatron.
A freak accident shoots a bolt of radiation at him and the others on the observation platform. When Hamilton regains consciousness, he quickly learns he is in another reality because all of a sudden there is a god in charge of things, a god who likes doling out Old Testament punishments. The laws are wacky and people are paid their salaries by praying for money.
God likes to be called Tetragrammaton and has an insatiable appetite. He is, we are told, "A childish, nebulous personality that require[s] constant praise—and in the most obvious terms."
When it is discovered that this new reality is actually the inner world and desires of one of the men on the observation deck, Hamilton and the others have to figure out a way to get free from this madness.
Unfortunately, escaping the religious fanatic's reality only means they're plunged into another, this time of a woman with Victorian Era sentimentalities where sex and bad words don't exist, and adult's bodies have reverted to pre-pubescent ones.
As you might have guessed, each time they find a way to escape one alternate reality, they descend into another. What follows is a wryly amusing tale.
Eye in the Sky is a nice palate cleanser but has little in the way of science. Fun, witty, enjoyable. Not a must read but delightful.
On the day Hamilton is fired from his job because his wife "might" be a Communist (she signed liberal petitions and attended a couple left leaning political meetings), he goes to visit the Belmont Bevatron.
A freak accident shoots a bolt of radiation at him and the others on the observation platform. When Hamilton regains consciousness, he quickly learns he is in another reality because all of a sudden there is a god in charge of things, a god who likes doling out Old Testament punishments. The laws are wacky and people are paid their salaries by praying for money.
God likes to be called Tetragrammaton and has an insatiable appetite. He is, we are told, "A childish, nebulous personality that require[s] constant praise—and in the most obvious terms."
When it is discovered that this new reality is actually the inner world and desires of one of the men on the observation deck, Hamilton and the others have to figure out a way to get free from this madness.
Unfortunately, escaping the religious fanatic's reality only means they're plunged into another, this time of a woman with Victorian Era sentimentalities where sex and bad words don't exist, and adult's bodies have reverted to pre-pubescent ones.
As you might have guessed, each time they find a way to escape one alternate reality, they descend into another. What follows is a wryly amusing tale.
Eye in the Sky is a nice palate cleanser but has little in the way of science. Fun, witty, enjoyable. Not a must read but delightful.
February 13, 2009
Whenever I meet someone whose world-view is really different from mine, I tend to think of this book. You know, they still believe that Saddam was behind 9/11 and hid his nukes in Syria, or Al Gore made up global warming for political reasons, or the Grand Canyon was formed a few thousand years ago during Noah's flood... that kind of thing. Read it and you'll see why. It's fun!
Next time you come across one of these people, they'll notice you're smiling rather than snarling, and probably they'll be relieved. You'll spread a lot of happiness. Unless you're foolish enough to tell them what you're smiling about.
PS If you're a PKD fan, check out my Quiz question: http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/detai...-
Next time you come across one of these people, they'll notice you're smiling rather than snarling, and probably they'll be relieved. You'll spread a lot of happiness. Unless you're foolish enough to tell them what you're smiling about.
PS If you're a PKD fan, check out my Quiz question: http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/detai...-
July 9, 2022
"I like to call it awakening conscience.... I've seen a lot of aspects of reality I didn't realize existed. I've come out of this with an altered perspective. Maybe it takes a thing like this to break down the walls of the groove. If so, it makes the whole experience worth it."
It continually amazes me that Dick can hit so many of the same underlying themes over and over again in his vast collection of stories yet they all somehow feel unique and original. Eye in the Sky has many of the paranoid, schizophrenic undertones of his later work and gets quite a bit darker than I was expecting from one of his early novels while still maintaining his usual sense of humor. Similar to Ubik, alternate realities surface through a shared consciousness and reveal the neuroses and extreme views apparent in those that outwardly seem most benign. Like Confessions of a Crap Artist, I found it to be both a satirical deconstruction of post war bourgeois values and ideological conformity as well as a rebuke of society's notion of "normalcy", that the people who might seem ordinary on the surface can in fact be far more dysfunctional than those whose quirks and crackpot beliefs are more readily apparent. This is definitely right up there with Dick's best work.
It continually amazes me that Dick can hit so many of the same underlying themes over and over again in his vast collection of stories yet they all somehow feel unique and original. Eye in the Sky has many of the paranoid, schizophrenic undertones of his later work and gets quite a bit darker than I was expecting from one of his early novels while still maintaining his usual sense of humor. Similar to Ubik, alternate realities surface through a shared consciousness and reveal the neuroses and extreme views apparent in those that outwardly seem most benign. Like Confessions of a Crap Artist, I found it to be both a satirical deconstruction of post war bourgeois values and ideological conformity as well as a rebuke of society's notion of "normalcy", that the people who might seem ordinary on the surface can in fact be far more dysfunctional than those whose quirks and crackpot beliefs are more readily apparent. This is definitely right up there with Dick's best work.
October 21, 2020
An accident at a tech plant. leads to the merging of the consciousnesses of Jack Hamilton and 7 others and appears to have propelled them into fantastical fantasy worlds! Hamilton seeks to lead the group through a number of these cray cray fantasy worlds, each more nuts than the previous! Is there a way out? Another piece of innovative out-there wonderment from Dick, who plays with the English language to better describe the otherness of these realities. 7 out of 12.
March 8, 2020
A masterful demonstration on how every point of view is eventually flawed (even a big bloated eye hanging up in the sky's :D).
Musical sibling :
Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky
--------------------
Une illustration magistrale de l'imperfection de tout point de vue (même de celui d'un œil dans le ciel)
Correspondance musicale :
Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky
Musical sibling :
Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky
--------------------
Une illustration magistrale de l'imperfection de tout point de vue (même de celui d'un œil dans le ciel)
Correspondance musicale :
Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky
January 18, 2016
Don't think sorry's easily said
Don't try turning tables instead
You've taken lots of chances before
But I ain't gonna give anymore, don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin'
Like most of PKD's novels, 'Eye in the Sky' has several things going on at once. It is a not-so-subtle Anti-McCarthyism tract (written in 1957, close to the end of peak Red Scare), showing the absurdity of prosecuting and persecuting people for what they think. After that it is a rather interesting, but still flawed and uneven Sci-Fi novel that shows what happens when those thoughts are the very thing that controls the Universe. You let the mind of an old, religious dogmatist control the Universe and you end up with a tribal deity, reminiscent of the angry and arbitrary God of the Old Testament (in the novel it is Bábism) that is ALL bluster and thunder. You let the Universe be dictated by a frumpy mother, you end up with a genocide of unpleasant things: weeds, cats, bad smells, and reproductive parts ... >> poof << ... all gone.
Although written in the late 1950s, this novel reminded me a lot of Morrow's Towing Jehovah (1994). Both take the absurd-level of religion or prejudice, or fear and blow them up and examine them. It was fun and clever, but in the end it wasn't top-shelf Philip K Dick. Probably more influential than good. Still, I don't regret reading it.
Don't leave false illusions behind
Don't cry, I ain't changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain't gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the signs are deceiving
Don't try turning tables instead
You've taken lots of chances before
But I ain't gonna give anymore, don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin'
Like most of PKD's novels, 'Eye in the Sky' has several things going on at once. It is a not-so-subtle Anti-McCarthyism tract (written in 1957, close to the end of peak Red Scare), showing the absurdity of prosecuting and persecuting people for what they think. After that it is a rather interesting, but still flawed and uneven Sci-Fi novel that shows what happens when those thoughts are the very thing that controls the Universe. You let the mind of an old, religious dogmatist control the Universe and you end up with a tribal deity, reminiscent of the angry and arbitrary God of the Old Testament (in the novel it is Bábism) that is ALL bluster and thunder. You let the Universe be dictated by a frumpy mother, you end up with a genocide of unpleasant things: weeds, cats, bad smells, and reproductive parts ... >> poof << ... all gone.
Although written in the late 1950s, this novel reminded me a lot of Morrow's Towing Jehovah (1994). Both take the absurd-level of religion or prejudice, or fear and blow them up and examine them. It was fun and clever, but in the end it wasn't top-shelf Philip K Dick. Probably more influential than good. Still, I don't regret reading it.
Don't leave false illusions behind
Don't cry, I ain't changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain't gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the signs are deceiving
February 7, 2017
Back in 1954, newspaper headlines announced the recently completed construction of the Bevatron at the Berkeley Lab, California. This device, a particle accelerator so called because it could impart billions of EVs (electron volts) to supercharge its manipulated protons, made the news again the following year, when scientists employed it in their discovery of the antiproton. And it was this news story, in all likelihood, that gave young author Philip K. Dick the inspiration to write his novel "Eye in the Sky." Written in a burst of creativity in just two weeks in 1955, the book first saw the light of day in '57; one of Dick's first six sci-fi novels, out of an ultimate three dozen. The book is an important one in Dick's oeuvre as it is his first to explore one of his overriding pet themes: the slippery mutability of so-called "reality." Highly imaginative, occasionally mind-blowing, and evincing bursts of humor as well as philosophical speculations, the book might well be considered Dick’s first great sci-fi novel; personally, I loved it.
In the book, the reader makes the acquaintance of a young electronics engineer named Jack Hamilton, who, when we first encounter him, is getting some very bad news from his bosses at the weapons manufacturing firm known as California Maintenance. The company's security chief, Charley McFeyffe, has accused Hamilton's wife, Marsha, of being a Communist sympathizer, and thus, Hamilton is about to lose his security clearance...and his job. By chance, later that same day, the Hamiltons and McFeyffe attend a guided tour of the newly opened Bevatron (in the Bay Area city of Belmont; not Berkeley)...on very much the wrong day, as things turn out. An accident at the Bevatron plant causes the 6 billion-volt proton beam to hit the observation platform on which they are standing, incinerating it instantly, and causing the three, as well as five others--senior war vet Arthur Silvester; middle-aged biddy Edith Pritchet and her 10-year-old son David; neurotic spinster Joan Reiss; and the black Bevatron guide, Bill Laws--to go plummeting 60 feet to the floor of the installation, passing through the beam itself. Miraculously, none of the eight is killed, but what happens next is almost as miraculous. Somehow, the octet finds itself trapped in the fantasy-laced consciousnesses of four of the injured party, segueing from one bizarre mental landscape to the next, in an ever more harrowing turn of events, in what Hamilton later describes as a "crackpot universe"....
Dick takes especial pains to engender plausibility at his story's outset by having Laws give us an explanation of just how the Bevatron operates; the author's explanation for what happens later, of course, could not possibly be as convincing. But what a phantasmagoria of wonders he has compiled for his readers! In the first fantasy realm that our eight injured protagonists find themselves in, they are immersed in the imaginings of Silvester, who subscribes to an oddball, latter-day religion that itself has been inspired by the Muslim splinter group of the mid-1800s known as Babists. In this world, lies can bring instant punishment, swearing can cause locusts to descend, and all commerce is geared to the spreading of the word of the Second Bab. In this section's most hallucinatory segment, Hamilton and McFeyffe ascend to Heaven via a holy water-sprinkled umbrella and see our geocentric (not heliocentric) planetary system at a nice remove.
In the next segment, the eight find themselves in the fantasy world of Mrs. Pritchet, a very proper, ultraconservative fusspot with a prim, Victorian bent. In this world, sex organs are nonexistent, and everything the old biddy deems "unpleasant"--insects, noise, garbage, slums, and on and on and on--becomes abolished, one by one. Next, our befuddled eight find themselves sharing the consciousness of Miss Reiss, a woman who is paranoid of just about everything. In this world, hence, food becomes poisonous, kitchen implements turn deadly, and, in one of the book's most memorable scenes, Hamilton's house itself turns into a very hungry, living organism, and several of our heroes turn into voracious insects! Finally, in the novel's last section, our by-now completely dismayed eight find themselves in a world where the capitalist forces are very much in civil conflict with the Communists (Marsha's fantasy world, it would appear), with warfare and bloodshed in the streets. As you can tell, it is Philip K. Dick at his wildest and most unhinged.
Pleasingly, though, the author maintains complete control of his bizarro conceit from beginning to end. Unlike some later Dick novels, in which he seemed to not know how to wrap up his outré story lines, the author here manages to impress with a very tight rein, tying things up wonderfully by the book's end. It really is a bravura performance from Phil here. Though written in that aforementioned brief time span, "Eye in the Sky" feels as if Dick had tried extra hard to compose something special here. There are no inconsistencies, such as plagued many of his later books, and my guess would be that Dick gave his first draft a very careful editing later on. (Still, an occasional ungrammatical turn of phrase, such as "a handful of technicians were visible," pops up here and there.)
Besides an early demonstration of Dick's "alternate realities" theme, the novel gives the reader an inkling of some of the other concerns and obsessions that would feature in the author's later work. For one thing, Hamilton is a devotee of stereo systems and classical music (it will be remembered that Dick was, in the early '50s, the manager of a record store and the programmer for a classical-music radio station), and references are made to such composers as Brahms, Stravinsky and Dowland, and to such works as "The Mikado" and "Daphnis and Chloe." Later Dickian subjects such as cigars, the German language, divorce and drugs are not to be found here, but strangely enough, there is a reference to Cheyenne, Wyoming...a town that would be spotlighted in several later Dick books. (I've long wondered, Why Cheyenne?) Happily, the wonderful, dry humor that seemed to come so easily to Dick, and his sympathy for his "little-man characters," are both in evidence here. How funny it is, when some religious-fanatic scientists challenge Hamilton to a knowledge duel, are given some assistance from a literal angel, and Hamilton demands "Who's kibitzing?" Or when the pudgy McFeyffe attains godlike stature, only to declare "I don't feel so good...I think I'll go take a bromo." And Dick, never a sci-fi author who was overly concerned with making accurate predictions regarding mankind's future, here hits the nail squarely on the head with his reference to "President Nixon."
The author, of course, grew increasingly paranoid himself regarding government surveillance in his later years, and in "Eye in the Sky," he is pleasingly right on, regarding the subject of McCarthy-like witch hunts ruining people's lives in modern society. Another instance of his enlightened, P.C. outlook on the world is to be found in his treatment of the novel's black character, Laws; a fully qualified physicist now being forced to eke out a living as a tour guide. But, as Hamilton winningly tells the racist Silvester at one point, Laws is "good enough to sit down at the dinner table with any man alive."
In short, "Eye in the Sky" combines a fantastic story line with imaginative set pieces, larded with humor, well fleshed-out characters, and an enlightened view of the world. It is a wholly satisfying creation from Philip K. Dick, and a complete success; still another great work from this author that would make for an impressive Hollywood, big-screen production. Writing in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," Scottish critic David Pringle calls the novel "thoroughly enjoyable," and I could not agree more. It comes very highly recommended by yours truly. And just get a load of that inside-out house cat!
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Philip K. Dick....)
In the book, the reader makes the acquaintance of a young electronics engineer named Jack Hamilton, who, when we first encounter him, is getting some very bad news from his bosses at the weapons manufacturing firm known as California Maintenance. The company's security chief, Charley McFeyffe, has accused Hamilton's wife, Marsha, of being a Communist sympathizer, and thus, Hamilton is about to lose his security clearance...and his job. By chance, later that same day, the Hamiltons and McFeyffe attend a guided tour of the newly opened Bevatron (in the Bay Area city of Belmont; not Berkeley)...on very much the wrong day, as things turn out. An accident at the Bevatron plant causes the 6 billion-volt proton beam to hit the observation platform on which they are standing, incinerating it instantly, and causing the three, as well as five others--senior war vet Arthur Silvester; middle-aged biddy Edith Pritchet and her 10-year-old son David; neurotic spinster Joan Reiss; and the black Bevatron guide, Bill Laws--to go plummeting 60 feet to the floor of the installation, passing through the beam itself. Miraculously, none of the eight is killed, but what happens next is almost as miraculous. Somehow, the octet finds itself trapped in the fantasy-laced consciousnesses of four of the injured party, segueing from one bizarre mental landscape to the next, in an ever more harrowing turn of events, in what Hamilton later describes as a "crackpot universe"....
Dick takes especial pains to engender plausibility at his story's outset by having Laws give us an explanation of just how the Bevatron operates; the author's explanation for what happens later, of course, could not possibly be as convincing. But what a phantasmagoria of wonders he has compiled for his readers! In the first fantasy realm that our eight injured protagonists find themselves in, they are immersed in the imaginings of Silvester, who subscribes to an oddball, latter-day religion that itself has been inspired by the Muslim splinter group of the mid-1800s known as Babists. In this world, lies can bring instant punishment, swearing can cause locusts to descend, and all commerce is geared to the spreading of the word of the Second Bab. In this section's most hallucinatory segment, Hamilton and McFeyffe ascend to Heaven via a holy water-sprinkled umbrella and see our geocentric (not heliocentric) planetary system at a nice remove.
In the next segment, the eight find themselves in the fantasy world of Mrs. Pritchet, a very proper, ultraconservative fusspot with a prim, Victorian bent. In this world, sex organs are nonexistent, and everything the old biddy deems "unpleasant"--insects, noise, garbage, slums, and on and on and on--becomes abolished, one by one. Next, our befuddled eight find themselves sharing the consciousness of Miss Reiss, a woman who is paranoid of just about everything. In this world, hence, food becomes poisonous, kitchen implements turn deadly, and, in one of the book's most memorable scenes, Hamilton's house itself turns into a very hungry, living organism, and several of our heroes turn into voracious insects! Finally, in the novel's last section, our by-now completely dismayed eight find themselves in a world where the capitalist forces are very much in civil conflict with the Communists (Marsha's fantasy world, it would appear), with warfare and bloodshed in the streets. As you can tell, it is Philip K. Dick at his wildest and most unhinged.
Pleasingly, though, the author maintains complete control of his bizarro conceit from beginning to end. Unlike some later Dick novels, in which he seemed to not know how to wrap up his outré story lines, the author here manages to impress with a very tight rein, tying things up wonderfully by the book's end. It really is a bravura performance from Phil here. Though written in that aforementioned brief time span, "Eye in the Sky" feels as if Dick had tried extra hard to compose something special here. There are no inconsistencies, such as plagued many of his later books, and my guess would be that Dick gave his first draft a very careful editing later on. (Still, an occasional ungrammatical turn of phrase, such as "a handful of technicians were visible," pops up here and there.)
Besides an early demonstration of Dick's "alternate realities" theme, the novel gives the reader an inkling of some of the other concerns and obsessions that would feature in the author's later work. For one thing, Hamilton is a devotee of stereo systems and classical music (it will be remembered that Dick was, in the early '50s, the manager of a record store and the programmer for a classical-music radio station), and references are made to such composers as Brahms, Stravinsky and Dowland, and to such works as "The Mikado" and "Daphnis and Chloe." Later Dickian subjects such as cigars, the German language, divorce and drugs are not to be found here, but strangely enough, there is a reference to Cheyenne, Wyoming...a town that would be spotlighted in several later Dick books. (I've long wondered, Why Cheyenne?) Happily, the wonderful, dry humor that seemed to come so easily to Dick, and his sympathy for his "little-man characters," are both in evidence here. How funny it is, when some religious-fanatic scientists challenge Hamilton to a knowledge duel, are given some assistance from a literal angel, and Hamilton demands "Who's kibitzing?" Or when the pudgy McFeyffe attains godlike stature, only to declare "I don't feel so good...I think I'll go take a bromo." And Dick, never a sci-fi author who was overly concerned with making accurate predictions regarding mankind's future, here hits the nail squarely on the head with his reference to "President Nixon."
The author, of course, grew increasingly paranoid himself regarding government surveillance in his later years, and in "Eye in the Sky," he is pleasingly right on, regarding the subject of McCarthy-like witch hunts ruining people's lives in modern society. Another instance of his enlightened, P.C. outlook on the world is to be found in his treatment of the novel's black character, Laws; a fully qualified physicist now being forced to eke out a living as a tour guide. But, as Hamilton winningly tells the racist Silvester at one point, Laws is "good enough to sit down at the dinner table with any man alive."
In short, "Eye in the Sky" combines a fantastic story line with imaginative set pieces, larded with humor, well fleshed-out characters, and an enlightened view of the world. It is a wholly satisfying creation from Philip K. Dick, and a complete success; still another great work from this author that would make for an impressive Hollywood, big-screen production. Writing in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," Scottish critic David Pringle calls the novel "thoroughly enjoyable," and I could not agree more. It comes very highly recommended by yours truly. And just get a load of that inside-out house cat!
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Philip K. Dick....)
February 25, 2024
Barely even feels like a Philip K. Dick novel, if I'm honest. I can understand almost all of it.
March 10, 2016
Imagine a world formed by your very own points of view. By your very own fears and insecurities. Now, imagine a world made by a religious, patriarchic war veteran's personality. Or a conservative, insecure, unmarried, neurotic, man-fearing woman's hang-ups. These, among others, are the main themes of this novel by Philip K. Dick.
After an accident, eight people have to survive through four different realities in order to come back to the real world. These realities are products of the minds of the four of them. And so a surreal, psychedelic journey begins. Catchy, right?
Dick gets his hands on many stereotypic matters such as religious prejudice, phenomenically innocent obsessions, political fanaticism and sociopathic phobias. He handles those matters caustically and insightfully without losing his witty (sarcastic I daresay) sense of humor. The result is a joyful ride full of twists and turns. A world with a heaven above it and a hell below it, another in which all men and women are asexual, one where houses are alive and eat people (that's from the mind of the aforementioned neurotic woman. you can make the connection. brilliant isn't it?). And those are mere, superficial examples. Flaws? I guess there are some, but I think they're trivial among all the bright and powerful elements.
In short, I think this is a book that can make you see certain things differently. I know how this sounds but I love Dick.
After an accident, eight people have to survive through four different realities in order to come back to the real world. These realities are products of the minds of the four of them. And so a surreal, psychedelic journey begins. Catchy, right?
Dick gets his hands on many stereotypic matters such as religious prejudice, phenomenically innocent obsessions, political fanaticism and sociopathic phobias. He handles those matters caustically and insightfully without losing his witty (sarcastic I daresay) sense of humor. The result is a joyful ride full of twists and turns. A world with a heaven above it and a hell below it, another in which all men and women are asexual, one where houses are alive and eat people (that's from the mind of the aforementioned neurotic woman. you can make the connection. brilliant isn't it?). And those are mere, superficial examples. Flaws? I guess there are some, but I think they're trivial among all the bright and powerful elements.
In short, I think this is a book that can make you see certain things differently. I know how this sounds but I love Dick.
December 30, 2015
"I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind"
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind"
May 8, 2016
K. Dick'in oldukça erken işlerinden birisi; vefakat yine harika. Yine aynı dönemlerde yazdığı The World Jones Made'i de andırıyor biraz.
Bir şeyler oluyor, bir patlama, sekiz kişi, hepsinin zihni birbirine karışıyor. O sırada içinde yaşadıkları dünya, her birinin zihni durumuna ve psikolojisine göre değişiyor. İlki de, en güzel olanı. Muhteşem bir hicivle, 'kutsal kitaptaki her şey gerçek olsa, bir tanrı var olsa hayat nasıl olurdu' irdeleniyor. Dick, mesela dua etmeyi, dini oportünizmi komik şekilde hicvediyor:
"Açıklasana," diye mırıldadı Hamilton. "Burası bu meyhane. Tanrı niçin silip atmıyor burayı? Eğer bu dünya manevi kurallara göre işliyorsa-"
"Bu meyhane manevi düzenin selameti için gerekli. Burası çürümenin ve günahkârlığın aktığı bir lağım, bir fesat çukuru. Lanetlenme olmadan selamet olabilir mi sanıyorsun? Siz ateistlerin sorunu da bu zaten; kötülüğün iç mekaniğini anlayamıyorsunuz. Sen de katıl ve yaşamdan zevk al, ahbap. Eğer inananlardan biri olursan korkacak bir şeyin kalmaz."
"Oportünist."
"Aynen öyle."
*
Hamilton aniden, "Niçin?" diye sert ve yüksek bir sesle saldırdı. "Tanrı sanki o duaya ne diye yanıt verdi ki? Niçin diğer bazı dualara değil de buna? Niçin Bili Laws'unkine değil?"
"Tanrı senin duanı uygun buldu," dedi İpeksi. "Ne de olsa bu O'na kalmış bir şey; nasıl düşüneceğine o karar verir."
"Bu rezillik."
İpeksi omuzlarını silkti. "Belki öyledir."
"Buna nasıl dayanabiliyorsunuz? Ne olacağını hiç bilemezsiniz. Bir düzen, bir mantık yok." Kızın karşı çıkmaması, her şeyi olduğu gibi kabul etmesi onu çıldırtıyordu. "Çaresiziz; işimiz keyfe kalmış. Bu bizi insan olmaktan alıkoyuyor, beslenmeyi bekleyen hayvanlara benziyoruz. Ödüllendirilen ya da cezalandırılan hayvanlara."
*
(Tetragrammaton)'un [yani tanrının] doymak bilmez bir iştahı olduğuna karar verdi. Sürekli olarak en açık bir biçimde övülmek isteyen, tam olgunlaşmamış, çocuksu bir kişilik. Hemen öfkelenebilen (Tetragrammaton)‟un heyecana kayması da aynı derecede hızlı oluyor, en bariz yağcılığa bile hemen kapılıveriyordu.
Bir denge, ilahi uyutmanın bir yöntemi. Ama ne ince bir mekanizma! Herkes her an tehlikede... Aniden heyheylenen o Varlık hep yakınınızda. Hep dinlemekte.
Gökteki Göz ismi, bu ilk isimden geliyor zaten, diğer zihinlerdeki durumlar daha farklı olsa da, zaten kitapta en büyük kısmı burası tutuyor. K. Dick en çok, dini eleştiriye yönelmiş.
Bir şeyler oluyor, bir patlama, sekiz kişi, hepsinin zihni birbirine karışıyor. O sırada içinde yaşadıkları dünya, her birinin zihni durumuna ve psikolojisine göre değişiyor. İlki de, en güzel olanı. Muhteşem bir hicivle, 'kutsal kitaptaki her şey gerçek olsa, bir tanrı var olsa hayat nasıl olurdu' irdeleniyor. Dick, mesela dua etmeyi, dini oportünizmi komik şekilde hicvediyor:
"Açıklasana," diye mırıldadı Hamilton. "Burası bu meyhane. Tanrı niçin silip atmıyor burayı? Eğer bu dünya manevi kurallara göre işliyorsa-"
"Bu meyhane manevi düzenin selameti için gerekli. Burası çürümenin ve günahkârlığın aktığı bir lağım, bir fesat çukuru. Lanetlenme olmadan selamet olabilir mi sanıyorsun? Siz ateistlerin sorunu da bu zaten; kötülüğün iç mekaniğini anlayamıyorsunuz. Sen de katıl ve yaşamdan zevk al, ahbap. Eğer inananlardan biri olursan korkacak bir şeyin kalmaz."
"Oportünist."
"Aynen öyle."
*
Hamilton aniden, "Niçin?" diye sert ve yüksek bir sesle saldırdı. "Tanrı sanki o duaya ne diye yanıt verdi ki? Niçin diğer bazı dualara değil de buna? Niçin Bili Laws'unkine değil?"
"Tanrı senin duanı uygun buldu," dedi İpeksi. "Ne de olsa bu O'na kalmış bir şey; nasıl düşüneceğine o karar verir."
"Bu rezillik."
İpeksi omuzlarını silkti. "Belki öyledir."
"Buna nasıl dayanabiliyorsunuz? Ne olacağını hiç bilemezsiniz. Bir düzen, bir mantık yok." Kızın karşı çıkmaması, her şeyi olduğu gibi kabul etmesi onu çıldırtıyordu. "Çaresiziz; işimiz keyfe kalmış. Bu bizi insan olmaktan alıkoyuyor, beslenmeyi bekleyen hayvanlara benziyoruz. Ödüllendirilen ya da cezalandırılan hayvanlara."
*
(Tetragrammaton)'un [yani tanrının] doymak bilmez bir iştahı olduğuna karar verdi. Sürekli olarak en açık bir biçimde övülmek isteyen, tam olgunlaşmamış, çocuksu bir kişilik. Hemen öfkelenebilen (Tetragrammaton)‟un heyecana kayması da aynı derecede hızlı oluyor, en bariz yağcılığa bile hemen kapılıveriyordu.
Bir denge, ilahi uyutmanın bir yöntemi. Ama ne ince bir mekanizma! Herkes her an tehlikede... Aniden heyheylenen o Varlık hep yakınınızda. Hep dinlemekte.
Gökteki Göz ismi, bu ilk isimden geliyor zaten, diğer zihinlerdeki durumlar daha farklı olsa da, zaten kitapta en büyük kısmı burası tutuyor. K. Dick en çok, dini eleştiriye yönelmiş.
March 22, 2016
4.5 stars. I'm rounding it up to five because it was really quite brilliant.
The story is about 8 people who are involved in an accident. While they're unconscious, they live through a series of worlds that trap them in the worldview of the mind of one after the other of the unconscious or semi-unconscious people. These are often hilarious and I laughed out loud several times. But they're also fascinating because it shows how our perceptions of the world are really quite different from one another. We see everything from a man who thinks that all black men "shuffle" and talk in dialect to what a paranoiac endures on a daily basis.
I think Dick captured these four minds quite brilliantly and what's actually more important is that it really made me think. What would my world be like? What would I subject these innocent bystanders to? All I can say is that it's an immense relief that I will never have to deal with the situation that happens in this book.
What makes it so brilliant to me is that it's highly entertaining, humorous, terrifying, absurd, and totally and completely thought-provoking. It's a total win-win and I couldn't recommend it more.
The story is about 8 people who are involved in an accident. While they're unconscious, they live through a series of worlds that trap them in the worldview of the mind of one after the other of the unconscious or semi-unconscious people. These are often hilarious and I laughed out loud several times. But they're also fascinating because it shows how our perceptions of the world are really quite different from one another. We see everything from a man who thinks that all black men "shuffle" and talk in dialect to what a paranoiac endures on a daily basis.
I think Dick captured these four minds quite brilliantly and what's actually more important is that it really made me think. What would my world be like? What would I subject these innocent bystanders to? All I can say is that it's an immense relief that I will never have to deal with the situation that happens in this book.
What makes it so brilliant to me is that it's highly entertaining, humorous, terrifying, absurd, and totally and completely thought-provoking. It's a total win-win and I couldn't recommend it more.
September 5, 2019
Un grupo de ocho personas están visitando el Bevatrón, una instalación de radiaciones, cuando se produce un accidente que les hace caer de la plataforma. Cuando despierten, descubrirán que su mundo no es exactamente el mismo.
‘Ojo en el cielo’ (Eye in the Sky, 1957), de Philip K. Dick, es una interesante y entretenida novela, catalogada como ciencia ficción aunque a mí me parece más fantasía. El primer tramo de la historia es el que más me ha gustado, con ese mundo que nos presentan y del que no voy a hablar para no fastidiar la lectura. Después, y paulatinamente, el libro ha ido dejando de interesarme. En mi opinión, hubiera quedado mejor como novela corta. Aun así, la idea es genial.
‘Ojo en el cielo’ (Eye in the Sky, 1957), de Philip K. Dick, es una interesante y entretenida novela, catalogada como ciencia ficción aunque a mí me parece más fantasía. El primer tramo de la historia es el que más me ha gustado, con ese mundo que nos presentan y del que no voy a hablar para no fastidiar la lectura. Después, y paulatinamente, el libro ha ido dejando de interesarme. En mi opinión, hubiera quedado mejor como novela corta. Aun así, la idea es genial.
April 3, 2023
My 12th PKD novel. Since the idea of bailing at any point from a PKD book doesn't appeal to me, I more or less picked up the speed on this one halfway, just so I could get through it. I didn't really stop to 'smell the flowers'. I kept moving along, halfheartedly, with the tour.
If the story of this early-career experimentation had been in the hands of a more mainstream writer, we might have been reading a straightforward, McCarthyism-influenced political thriller, something along the lines of 'The Manchurian Candidate' - with a fall guy being selected and pounced on with 'You Commie rat!'
But, though that element is within (if you can recognize it), that's not the book we get. This is a PKD book so... it ain't gonna be that simple. Something very weird has to happen at the outset - which it does. And reality will have to bend - which it does, in this case several times, collectively giving us a mini-history of humanity:
If this were a movie, it might have been co-directed by Mel Brooks and George Romero. It almost flirts with being slapstick horror. (As Sondheim once wrote, "It's so schizo.")
I did perk up somewhat in the read midway - while in the alternate universe governed by a woman who realizes that she doesn't approve of anything in life. Systematically she bounces between deciding and being talked into deciding that, one-by-one, things in life must go... everything... until there's nothing left. Visually, that was amusing - methinks intentionally so.
Basically this exercise in excess didn't grab me much. But it's certainly very large and very boisterous; like a Madison Square Garden presentation of 'Chaos On Ice'. Wheeeeeee!
If the story of this early-career experimentation had been in the hands of a more mainstream writer, we might have been reading a straightforward, McCarthyism-influenced political thriller, something along the lines of 'The Manchurian Candidate' - with a fall guy being selected and pounced on with 'You Commie rat!'
But, though that element is within (if you can recognize it), that's not the book we get. This is a PKD book so... it ain't gonna be that simple. Something very weird has to happen at the outset - which it does. And reality will have to bend - which it does, in this case several times, collectively giving us a mini-history of humanity:
"All eight of us dropped into the proton beam of the Bevatron. During the interval, there was only one consciousness, one frame of reference, for the eight of us."Don't you hate when that happens?
If this were a movie, it might have been co-directed by Mel Brooks and George Romero. It almost flirts with being slapstick horror. (As Sondheim once wrote, "It's so schizo.")
I did perk up somewhat in the read midway - while in the alternate universe governed by a woman who realizes that she doesn't approve of anything in life. Systematically she bounces between deciding and being talked into deciding that, one-by-one, things in life must go... everything... until there's nothing left. Visually, that was amusing - methinks intentionally so.
Basically this exercise in excess didn't grab me much. But it's certainly very large and very boisterous; like a Madison Square Garden presentation of 'Chaos On Ice'. Wheeeeeee!
May 4, 2024
If anyone needs more proof of my existence, look no further than this book!
PKD must have been a wizard. There is simply no other explanation for this “novel,” which is clearly just an excuse to publish his fiercely insightful visions of different universes. The first one the characters inhabit, which is notably characterized by A GIANT EYE IN THE SKY (*cough*cough), must be a vision of the future of Middle-Earth. Men will be the dominant species, which does not surprise me - they reproduce so very quickly. Also unsurprising is the fact that I will be in charge, ruling the world through a reign of terror.
PKD must have been a wizard. There is simply no other explanation for this “novel,” which is clearly just an excuse to publish his fiercely insightful visions of different universes. The first one the characters inhabit, which is notably characterized by A GIANT EYE IN THE SKY (*cough*cough), must be a vision of the future of Middle-Earth. Men will be the dominant species, which does not surprise me - they reproduce so very quickly. Also unsurprising is the fact that I will be in charge, ruling the world through a reign of terror.
February 25, 2008
Jack Hamilton, his wife and six other tourists visit a science institution and fall into the particle accelerator. They fall right in. Who is maintaining this institution, we may want to ask. Are the eight people killed in the fall? Are they burned to death in the electric fire?
These are questions that Philip K. Dick initially sidesteps completely.
The eight hapless individuals end up in another world. Dick loves this device; it’s something he used in his novel A Crack In Space (aka: Cantata-140) to great effect. But here, instead of merely regurgitating the same narrative conclusions, Dick takes himself for a ride.
Dick was above all a great thinker and philosopher, why the hell his work is called science fiction, I don’t really understand. Yeah, I know, there’s usually some scientific angle associated with his work but this is a backdrop to the mind of the book. It is this psychological element that truly rules the PKD product. Plus, I’ll say this again and again; PKD was a very funny writer. Just take this central premise: don’t go to science institutes, you could fall into another universe. I mean; if that’s not funny, I just lost my smile.
Anyway, back to the book - what happens in this parallel world? How do these eight victims escape their dilemma? That, you’ll soon understand, is where the very simple premise of the book unfolds its complex sheathes of narrative possibility to the full. It’s not just a simple case of one parallel world. There is an encounter with God at the centre of a pre-Galilean ‘Solar system’, a house that devours people to survive and a world where sex (in fact all things considered ‘dirty or unhygienic’) are slowly being eradicated. But this isn’t about space travel, aliens and oppressive forces from off-world. Nope, the origin of this parallel world’s horror lies much closer to home.
The characters in Eye in the Sky are distinctive. While they all appear very normal on the surface, dark secrets lurk in the recesses of their minds. And these personal secrets are the key to the power of the narrative twists and turns. It’s really a book about character winning over narrative, the way it should always be in my opinion.
I am so sick of books (or movies) that are just narrative with peaks and troughs of action, merely a tightly written beginning, middle and end. Philip K Dick says to hell with that: reader, you will live the world of my characters, and I will analyse and figurise them and embed you in the consequences.
Eye in the Sky presents a masterful novelist at the peak of his creative art.
These are questions that Philip K. Dick initially sidesteps completely.
The eight hapless individuals end up in another world. Dick loves this device; it’s something he used in his novel A Crack In Space (aka: Cantata-140) to great effect. But here, instead of merely regurgitating the same narrative conclusions, Dick takes himself for a ride.
Dick was above all a great thinker and philosopher, why the hell his work is called science fiction, I don’t really understand. Yeah, I know, there’s usually some scientific angle associated with his work but this is a backdrop to the mind of the book. It is this psychological element that truly rules the PKD product. Plus, I’ll say this again and again; PKD was a very funny writer. Just take this central premise: don’t go to science institutes, you could fall into another universe. I mean; if that’s not funny, I just lost my smile.
Anyway, back to the book - what happens in this parallel world? How do these eight victims escape their dilemma? That, you’ll soon understand, is where the very simple premise of the book unfolds its complex sheathes of narrative possibility to the full. It’s not just a simple case of one parallel world. There is an encounter with God at the centre of a pre-Galilean ‘Solar system’, a house that devours people to survive and a world where sex (in fact all things considered ‘dirty or unhygienic’) are slowly being eradicated. But this isn’t about space travel, aliens and oppressive forces from off-world. Nope, the origin of this parallel world’s horror lies much closer to home.
The characters in Eye in the Sky are distinctive. While they all appear very normal on the surface, dark secrets lurk in the recesses of their minds. And these personal secrets are the key to the power of the narrative twists and turns. It’s really a book about character winning over narrative, the way it should always be in my opinion.
I am so sick of books (or movies) that are just narrative with peaks and troughs of action, merely a tightly written beginning, middle and end. Philip K Dick says to hell with that: reader, you will live the world of my characters, and I will analyse and figurise them and embed you in the consequences.
Eye in the Sky presents a masterful novelist at the peak of his creative art.
September 16, 2023
For me, it is the best book by this author, the quintessence of his Art and the interpretation of all the issues he addressed. A true masterpiece both in terms of construction and artistry. There is probably no better way to tell the story of how everyone creates their own reality in which they are who they really want to be.
January 13, 2017
-Un Dick suave y satírico.-
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Un accidente en las instalaciones del Bevatrón de Belmont causará que Jack Hamilton, al frente de las investigaciones en el centro, y otras siete personas entrarán en una realidad muy diferente en la que la religión es la base de todo, desde lo social hasta lo “científico”. Pero no será ese el único universo paralelo que conocerán.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Un accidente en las instalaciones del Bevatrón de Belmont causará que Jack Hamilton, al frente de las investigaciones en el centro, y otras siete personas entrarán en una realidad muy diferente en la que la religión es la base de todo, desde lo social hasta lo “científico”. Pero no será ese el único universo paralelo que conocerán.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
December 9, 2019
Me es extraño dar una calificación tan baja a una novela de K. Dick luego de todas las historias por las que me ha hecho pasar y luego de tanta alabanza que le he dedicado estos últimos dos años. Pero nadie es perfecto, y comprendo, asimismo, que los escritores siempre están en un constante proceso de maduración. Que esta novela me parezca experimental en varios aspectos no me sorprende; de hecho, era de esperarse: solo así se logra perfeccionar la técnica. Phil, estoy seguro, sacó mucho provecho de esta obra al momento de trazar las líneas que dibujarían todo su universo posterior. Por esto y por los méritos que contiene, no la puedo desmerecer del todo.
La historia da inicio con un accidente en el que se ve involucrado un grupo de personas que visitan una atracción turistico-científica. El foco central, empero, lo lleva Jack Hamilton, ingeniero que será el punto de referencia a través de la obra. Más que eso no se puede revelar sin hacer spoiler de lo que es lo más interesante y crucial. Y si bien las sinopsis que están en internet ofrecen otra concepción de la obra, así como el título —Ojo en el Cielo—, la realidad es muy diferente. Creo que este fue uno de los puntos en los que me decepcionó: hay, en parte, una carencia de cohesión de los ejes propuestos en el principio y el título. Esto, si bien no es suficiente como para considerarlo un punto débil —lo del nombre de la novela—, sí crea expectativas falsas que, una vez frustradas, son difíciles de soslayar.
Un punto que me sorprendió fue el acercamiento que tuvo en este caso Phil. A pesar de que se perfila como la típica novela Dickiana, comenzando con Fecha, Locación y Evento, Ojo en el Cielo pronto difiere de las demás abogando por un estilo algo más opresivo en su presentación, y luego, cuando se desencadenan los hechos principales, por una prosa jocosa y rebosante de crítica enmascarada de hilaridad, en donde se ridiculiza el fanatismo y —sin malas intenciones— la ignorancia despreocupada. Los que la califican como comedia, cuentan con mi apoyo: están en lo cierto. A este autor le he visto en muchos casos echar mano de tales medios para agregar sabor a sus historias. En este caso, solo el principio me logró golpear como debía. Los chistes cortos, estimo, son su especialidad. Cuando llega a los que requieren más desarrollo y que apelan al absurdismo desmesurado, el ánimo decae un poco, mas persistirán las ganas de, al menos, esbozar una sonrisa.
La estructura está dada por dieciséis capítulos sin interrupciones. No obstante, tras mi lectura, creo poder separar la novela en seis partes distinguibles, que están en constante relación a la trama: una especie de prólogo, parte primera, segunda, tercera, cuarta y la continuación directa de esta última que sirve de epílogo. Para mí, las que más fuerza tuvieron fueron la parte uno y dos, de enfoque religioso —con un espectro más amplio al mero cristianismo, quizá rayano al sincretismo— y con juegos que recuerdan a las paradojas de Zenón, así como ciertos guiños al Gran Hermano, encarnado bajo otro Avatar. El prólogo y epílogo, por otro lado, representaron los puntos más débiles; hay un marcado tinte político que, si bien sí se ha visto en otras ocasiones en obras de Phil, a mi parecer, aquí no es ejecutado con su característica fluidez. También sufre de esto la parte cuatro, pero esta cuenta con algunos hechos válidos que la ponen por sobre las otras. Y, la que me dio una sorpresa, la tres, sobre obsesiones persecutorias, me mostró que K. Dick no solo es hábil en el campo de la ciencia ficción: si se lo propone, también puede llegar a perturbar, y con destreza.
Los personajes son varios, casi ocho, si no me falla la memoria, pero el hecho de que no pueda recordarlos a todos bien ya da luces de alarma. Su desarrollo es, por no decir nulo, ínfimo. Solo algunos de ellos son utilizados con mayor o menor frecuencia. Algunos carecen de personalidad distintiva, cosa importante en las novelas de K. Dick —a pesar de las esporádicas repeticiones y reminiscencias—, y otros solo están allí para completar la escena y porque el autor no podía chasquear los dedos y deshacerse de ellos (a diferencia de otra persona). Siento que si se hubiera acotado el número de individuos a tratar, el resultado habría sido mejor. Lo que debo destacar, a riesgo de revelar un detalle menor, es que todas sus personalidades se ven reflejadas de una u otra manera en la historia, y de formas bastante originales, que dan un aire más jovial al producto final; sin embargo, la carencia de backstory es una mella no menor. Memoria es, a despecho de lo que digan algunos, parte de nuestra constitución. Se necesita saber de sucesos anteriores para tener mejor perspectiva de los personajes, para que se sientan humanos; en la novela, por desgracia, hay veces en las que se sienten como marionetas.
Debo destacar que K. Dick sí consigue crear un ambiente de impotencia y hostilidad ante una realidad incierta e ilusoria durante toda la novela. Se nos revela desde temprano el factor clave, el quiebre que Phil suele guardar hasta el final; pero esto, lejos de repercutir de forma negativa, sienta el tablero de juego. Dick apuesta el todo por todo, y da rienda suelta a algunas de las maquinaciones más inventivas y divertidas de su arsenal. Lo que en otros casos está recubierto de un aire de seriedad, aquí se mezcla con las risas, la lujuria, la ciencia milagrosa y hasta con un terror que recuerda al Slapstick por un lado, y al miedo a lo desconocido por el otro. El manejo de las emociones que el lector muestra ante las atrocidades es magistral. Hoy, mientras leía, estaba tan inmerso en este mundo que me equivoqué de metro y me pasé varias estaciones con una sonrisa tonta en la cara. Es digno de ser referido.
El mérito final que esperaba del desenlace no se cumplió. Quizá esto representa en sí mismo otra broma, pero yo no la capté como tal. Esperaba una revelación final que diera vuelta el tablero y me dejara con cara atónita. Como no ocurrió, se quedó con la nota que había estimado a mitad de la novela.
Para el lector que no conozca a Phil y su rotunda escritura, quizá pueda servir para pasar el rato y quizá cuestionarse un poco sobre el idios kosmos con el que debe convivir día a día. Para el que ya lo ha leído, puede resultar algo menos alentador. Por mi parte, estoy seguro de que volveré a leerla, para la próxima en kindle, y si bien no puedo recomendar en totalidad su lectura, insto al interesado a que, si tiene tiempo, se atreva a perderse en estas páginas. Quizá el humor y optimismo del Phil de este "mundo" consiga alegrarte el día.
La historia da inicio con un accidente en el que se ve involucrado un grupo de personas que visitan una atracción turistico-científica. El foco central, empero, lo lleva Jack Hamilton, ingeniero que será el punto de referencia a través de la obra. Más que eso no se puede revelar sin hacer spoiler de lo que es lo más interesante y crucial. Y si bien las sinopsis que están en internet ofrecen otra concepción de la obra, así como el título —Ojo en el Cielo—, la realidad es muy diferente. Creo que este fue uno de los puntos en los que me decepcionó: hay, en parte, una carencia de cohesión de los ejes propuestos en el principio y el título. Esto, si bien no es suficiente como para considerarlo un punto débil —lo del nombre de la novela—, sí crea expectativas falsas que, una vez frustradas, son difíciles de soslayar.
Un punto que me sorprendió fue el acercamiento que tuvo en este caso Phil. A pesar de que se perfila como la típica novela Dickiana, comenzando con Fecha, Locación y Evento, Ojo en el Cielo pronto difiere de las demás abogando por un estilo algo más opresivo en su presentación, y luego, cuando se desencadenan los hechos principales, por una prosa jocosa y rebosante de crítica enmascarada de hilaridad, en donde se ridiculiza el fanatismo y —sin malas intenciones— la ignorancia despreocupada. Los que la califican como comedia, cuentan con mi apoyo: están en lo cierto. A este autor le he visto en muchos casos echar mano de tales medios para agregar sabor a sus historias. En este caso, solo el principio me logró golpear como debía. Los chistes cortos, estimo, son su especialidad. Cuando llega a los que requieren más desarrollo y que apelan al absurdismo desmesurado, el ánimo decae un poco, mas persistirán las ganas de, al menos, esbozar una sonrisa.
La estructura está dada por dieciséis capítulos sin interrupciones. No obstante, tras mi lectura, creo poder separar la novela en seis partes distinguibles, que están en constante relación a la trama: una especie de prólogo, parte primera, segunda, tercera, cuarta y la continuación directa de esta última que sirve de epílogo. Para mí, las que más fuerza tuvieron fueron la parte uno y dos, de enfoque religioso —con un espectro más amplio al mero cristianismo, quizá rayano al sincretismo— y con juegos que recuerdan a las paradojas de Zenón, así como ciertos guiños al Gran Hermano, encarnado bajo otro Avatar. El prólogo y epílogo, por otro lado, representaron los puntos más débiles; hay un marcado tinte político que, si bien sí se ha visto en otras ocasiones en obras de Phil, a mi parecer, aquí no es ejecutado con su característica fluidez. También sufre de esto la parte cuatro, pero esta cuenta con algunos hechos válidos que la ponen por sobre las otras. Y, la que me dio una sorpresa, la tres, sobre obsesiones persecutorias, me mostró que K. Dick no solo es hábil en el campo de la ciencia ficción: si se lo propone, también puede llegar a perturbar, y con destreza.
Los personajes son varios, casi ocho, si no me falla la memoria, pero el hecho de que no pueda recordarlos a todos bien ya da luces de alarma. Su desarrollo es, por no decir nulo, ínfimo. Solo algunos de ellos son utilizados con mayor o menor frecuencia. Algunos carecen de personalidad distintiva, cosa importante en las novelas de K. Dick —a pesar de las esporádicas repeticiones y reminiscencias—, y otros solo están allí para completar la escena y porque el autor no podía chasquear los dedos y deshacerse de ellos (a diferencia de otra persona). Siento que si se hubiera acotado el número de individuos a tratar, el resultado habría sido mejor. Lo que debo destacar, a riesgo de revelar un detalle menor, es que todas sus personalidades se ven reflejadas de una u otra manera en la historia, y de formas bastante originales, que dan un aire más jovial al producto final; sin embargo, la carencia de backstory es una mella no menor. Memoria es, a despecho de lo que digan algunos, parte de nuestra constitución. Se necesita saber de sucesos anteriores para tener mejor perspectiva de los personajes, para que se sientan humanos; en la novela, por desgracia, hay veces en las que se sienten como marionetas.
Debo destacar que K. Dick sí consigue crear un ambiente de impotencia y hostilidad ante una realidad incierta e ilusoria durante toda la novela. Se nos revela desde temprano el factor clave, el quiebre que Phil suele guardar hasta el final; pero esto, lejos de repercutir de forma negativa, sienta el tablero de juego. Dick apuesta el todo por todo, y da rienda suelta a algunas de las maquinaciones más inventivas y divertidas de su arsenal. Lo que en otros casos está recubierto de un aire de seriedad, aquí se mezcla con las risas, la lujuria, la ciencia milagrosa y hasta con un terror que recuerda al Slapstick por un lado, y al miedo a lo desconocido por el otro. El manejo de las emociones que el lector muestra ante las atrocidades es magistral. Hoy, mientras leía, estaba tan inmerso en este mundo que me equivoqué de metro y me pasé varias estaciones con una sonrisa tonta en la cara. Es digno de ser referido.
El mérito final que esperaba del desenlace no se cumplió. Quizá esto representa en sí mismo otra broma, pero yo no la capté como tal. Esperaba una revelación final que diera vuelta el tablero y me dejara con cara atónita. Como no ocurrió, se quedó con la nota que había estimado a mitad de la novela.
Para el lector que no conozca a Phil y su rotunda escritura, quizá pueda servir para pasar el rato y quizá cuestionarse un poco sobre el idios kosmos con el que debe convivir día a día. Para el que ya lo ha leído, puede resultar algo menos alentador. Por mi parte, estoy seguro de que volveré a leerla, para la próxima en kindle, y si bien no puedo recomendar en totalidad su lectura, insto al interesado a que, si tiene tiempo, se atreva a perderse en estas páginas. Quizá el humor y optimismo del Phil de este "mundo" consiga alegrarte el día.
August 9, 2023
Over the years, I've read a number of the Sci-Fi stories of Philip K. Dick, 10+ I'd guess. Some have been outstanding; The Man in the High Castle is favorite all-time story of mine. Doctor Bloodmoney and Do Androids Dream Electric Dreams are among others that I've enjoyed very much. Even those that weren't necessarily favorites still were unique and interesting. That applies to my latest venture in Dick's work, Eye in the Sky. It was originally published in 1957.
The basic premise is that a group of people go on a tour of a bevatron, an electronic device. There is a disaster and the eight find themselves basically traveling in different 'dimensions' or alternate earths. Each is created from the dreams or wishes of one of the others. Each is a unique and in some ways devastating. There is the ultra religious world. There is the world where every ugly thing is is wished out of existence by one of the characters. In another, Armstrong's home becomes a living thing and wants to destroy everyone within. In another, one character's communist leanings change America, making it a cesspool of crime, drugs, violence.
The only way to get out of these alternate worlds is to either kill or render unconscious the person who has created it. It's an interesting concept. The story isn't perfect but it moves along nicely and the characters are all interesting. Dick is always worth trying. He is one of the quirkiest Sci-Fi authors that I've tried. Check Dick out. (3.0 stars)
The basic premise is that a group of people go on a tour of a bevatron, an electronic device. There is a disaster and the eight find themselves basically traveling in different 'dimensions' or alternate earths. Each is created from the dreams or wishes of one of the others. Each is a unique and in some ways devastating. There is the ultra religious world. There is the world where every ugly thing is is wished out of existence by one of the characters. In another, Armstrong's home becomes a living thing and wants to destroy everyone within. In another, one character's communist leanings change America, making it a cesspool of crime, drugs, violence.
The only way to get out of these alternate worlds is to either kill or render unconscious the person who has created it. It's an interesting concept. The story isn't perfect but it moves along nicely and the characters are all interesting. Dick is always worth trying. He is one of the quirkiest Sci-Fi authors that I've tried. Check Dick out. (3.0 stars)
February 12, 2016
Let's get one thing out of the way, because this will be important to people soon: This is not the story that the new movie starring Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman was based on. Please do not think that Alan Rickman's final role was in a science fiction story; as cool as that would have been, this is just not the case.
Sorry to break your hearts.
This novel, written in 1957 by Philip K. Dick, is kinda sorta like a lot of Dick's novels in that there's always this paranoia of McCarthyism throughout, and this one is no exception. It doesn't seem like there should be all of that, but there is. Because Dick.
The story is actually sort of cool in that eight guests visiting a particle accelerator called the Bevatron are thrown into a series of alternate realities and worlds when the accelerator has a boo-boo. And because it's Dick here, shit gets pretty weird and you're not really sure what's going on. At least, I didn't always know what was going on. As my brother pointed out (when I was already over halfway through the story), Philip K. Dick may not be the best author to listen to in an audio format. He was probably right. But I wasn't upset by not really keeping up with it because it was written well and it kept my interest. Whatever I didn't get I just assume is some made-up bullshit, like science.
As with most of Dick's novels (and I don't think I've even read that many), he (like Heinlein and many others in the field) had a huuuuuuge problem writing women. It's not simple enough to say "Well, yeah, but they're not women, so..." because that's dumb. Plenty of men can write realistic female characters. Dick was not one of them. Jack Hamilton's wife, Marsha, is probably one of the most annoying women in science fiction, just because Dick really made her pretty stupid. It was unnecessary. It didn't help that the narrator did a falsetto to portray her dialogue and it just gave the whole thing a sort of mocking tone. Maybe Marsha wasn't as stupid in print as she is in audio.
In any case, it was a good book to have while walking the beastlies, and I would recommend it to others who a) are into science fiction and b) are into Philip K. Dick. It might be better to read it rather than listen to it, but that's probably just a personal thing.
Strangely, this is the second book I read recently that discussed the tetragrammaton. How often does that word come up in literature anyway? I can tell you it came up here in this book, and it also came up in one of the stories in Ficciones that I was reading during the same period. That's just sort of fucked up, and seems like a detail that should come up in a different Philip K. Dick novel. Along with all sorts of other mind-fuckery that makes me question where I am while I'm even walking the dogs in my own neighborhood.
Or maybe I'm just living inside someone else's reality.
Oh, shit.
Sorry to break your hearts.
This novel, written in 1957 by Philip K. Dick, is kinda sorta like a lot of Dick's novels in that there's always this paranoia of McCarthyism throughout, and this one is no exception. It doesn't seem like there should be all of that, but there is. Because Dick.
The story is actually sort of cool in that eight guests visiting a particle accelerator called the Bevatron are thrown into a series of alternate realities and worlds when the accelerator has a boo-boo. And because it's Dick here, shit gets pretty weird and you're not really sure what's going on. At least, I didn't always know what was going on. As my brother pointed out (when I was already over halfway through the story), Philip K. Dick may not be the best author to listen to in an audio format. He was probably right. But I wasn't upset by not really keeping up with it because it was written well and it kept my interest. Whatever I didn't get I just assume is some made-up bullshit, like science.
As with most of Dick's novels (and I don't think I've even read that many), he (like Heinlein and many others in the field) had a huuuuuuge problem writing women. It's not simple enough to say "Well, yeah, but they're not women, so..." because that's dumb. Plenty of men can write realistic female characters. Dick was not one of them. Jack Hamilton's wife, Marsha, is probably one of the most annoying women in science fiction, just because Dick really made her pretty stupid. It was unnecessary. It didn't help that the narrator did a falsetto to portray her dialogue and it just gave the whole thing a sort of mocking tone. Maybe Marsha wasn't as stupid in print as she is in audio.
In any case, it was a good book to have while walking the beastlies, and I would recommend it to others who a) are into science fiction and b) are into Philip K. Dick. It might be better to read it rather than listen to it, but that's probably just a personal thing.
Strangely, this is the second book I read recently that discussed the tetragrammaton. How often does that word come up in literature anyway? I can tell you it came up here in this book, and it also came up in one of the stories in Ficciones that I was reading during the same period. That's just sort of fucked up, and seems like a detail that should come up in a different Philip K. Dick novel. Along with all sorts of other mind-fuckery that makes me question where I am while I'm even walking the dogs in my own neighborhood.
Or maybe I'm just living inside someone else's reality.
Oh, shit.
December 23, 2023
People like your wife are dangerous…They don’t belong to any group. They fool around with everything. - Charles McFeyffe
Today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups... So I ask, in my writing, What is real?
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - PKD
I won't do this one justice with anything short of a dissertation, so will just suggest that the framework used by our rational protagonists be considered, pondered, and, if it moves the reader, applied.
Applied to our present 'reality' and its arguments of 'no alternative', 'expediency', 'practicality', 'just', 'right', etc. mostly manufactured fantasy narrative--driven not by reality but by subjective personal preference and belief about what "should be", inevitably rooted in some wacky nonsense ideology and/or psychosis. We see all around us today the long-term results of going along with these spurious realities: war, famine, disease, hatred, poverty, massacres.
Reading stuff like Eye is, in the words of our McCarthy stand-in quoted above, dangerous to the interests of those whose lives are built around the spurious manufactured realities with which we daily go along (e.g. those who make money from religion, philosophy, weapons, inhumanity, exploitation of advantage, etc.). I'm not alone in my irrational hope that humanity will arrive at a day when reason and human kindness win out over false narratives, but it's difficult not to despair.
Today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups... So I ask, in my writing, What is real?
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - PKD
I won't do this one justice with anything short of a dissertation, so will just suggest that the framework used by our rational protagonists be considered, pondered, and, if it moves the reader, applied.
Applied to our present 'reality' and its arguments of 'no alternative', 'expediency', 'practicality', 'just', 'right', etc. mostly manufactured fantasy narrative--driven not by reality but by subjective personal preference and belief about what "should be", inevitably rooted in some wacky nonsense ideology and/or psychosis. We see all around us today the long-term results of going along with these spurious realities: war, famine, disease, hatred, poverty, massacres.
Reading stuff like Eye is, in the words of our McCarthy stand-in quoted above, dangerous to the interests of those whose lives are built around the spurious manufactured realities with which we daily go along (e.g. those who make money from religion, philosophy, weapons, inhumanity, exploitation of advantage, etc.). I'm not alone in my irrational hope that humanity will arrive at a day when reason and human kindness win out over false narratives, but it's difficult not to despair.
January 4, 2015
Our beliefs color how we see the world. We know this, but how far does this go in shaping our reality? Can we know for sure? Typical PKD theme, handled here in a very early incarnation of 1957: Eight people are caught in a scientific accident and discover their circumstances mysteriously altered by it. Sounds like Ubik, perhaps, and like that novel we're dealing with perception and reality in a kind of absurdist horror mode. But this quickly diverges into breakneck shifts in tone and context as the plot morphs somewhat unexpectedly. Stabile throughout, though, are the social and political concerns that Dick clearly had for his pre-Civil Rights, Red Scare fifties. The latter is especially central to the plot, and he manages to critique Communist paranoia while sowing some of his own along somewhat different lines, and satirizing Communist ideas of America in a kind of amazing way so as to be clear that he doesn't actually endorse Communism while still including semi-subversive moments. The satisfying, but altogether overly perfect, finish contains one spurious or is it?! moment, and one more deeply embedded suggestion that we can never know, with our flawed subjective sensing devices, that we've actually struck upon the one true reality. Totally fun, kinda spazzy and uneven, surprisingly provocative for such an early entry in the Dick bibliography.
September 24, 2023
pkd's best description of a superposition of subjective worlds
June 12, 2020
Първото, което се набива на очи в тази книга, е близкото й подобие с шедьовъра "Юбик" от същия автор. "Око в небето" обаче е писана десетина години по-рано и като цяло бледнее пред наследника си.
Група хора стават жертва на злополука при туристическа обиколка в научна лаборатория. Докато телата им лежат в несвяст на пода, съзнанията им се прехвърлят в поредица от абсурдни и смахнати светове, изградени от фантазиите на някой от тях и контролирани от него.
Това е един от ранните романи на Дик и му личи. На моменти ни връхлитат познатите взривове от шантави идеи и психоебавки, но пък има и определено скучни пасажи. Като цяло, струваше си четенето, но мисля, че повече от три звезди ще са й множко.
Група хора стават жертва на злополука при туристическа обиколка в научна лаборатория. Докато телата им лежат в несвяст на пода, съзнанията им се прехвърлят в поредица от абсурдни и смахнати светове, изградени от фантазиите на някой от тях и контролирани от него.
Това е един от ранните романи на Дик и му личи. На моменти ни връхлитат познатите взривове от шантави идеи и психоебавки, но пък има и определено скучни пасажи. Като цяло, струваше си четенето, но мисля, че повече от три звезди ще са й множко.
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