Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Weeks 7 and 8
Science fiction - PKD
1) What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
2) According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of Man in the High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?
3What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction?
4) What does Dick(1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?
5) A Scanner Darkly is not really Science Fiction but a thinly disguised autobiography.
A Scanner Darkly is true Science Fiction in that it takes a trend in society, in this case surveillance, and takes it to its logical extreme.
Comment on these two different views with reference to the film and/or the novel and what you can discover about the author's life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
ENGL 602. Blog
ReplyDeleteWeek 7-8: Science fiction. The Man in the High Castle.
Alister Kreft. 17974588.
The Man in the High Castle was released in 1962 to some critical acclaim (Hugo Prize winner) however never achieved global success and recognition, not to the levels that Phillip K. Dick’s work is achieving now, after his death in 1982. This can be attributed to science fiction’s(sci-fi) generally low cultural status in the US and P. K. Dick was often pigeonholed as a sci-fi writer, despite some of his more mainstream novels. Recent examinations of his seminal work The Man in the High Castle(TMintHC) have shown that, while Dick did lean heavily on the themes of sci-fi in much of his work, TMintHC is a work more closely related to speculative fiction and other sub-genre often related to sci-fi.
Sci-fi is generally described as fiction that draws on imagined futures with advanced technologies, frequently using themes of interplanetary travel, aliens etc; while speculative fiction has been used to apply more broadly to themes of fantasy, horror and alternative worlds. There are undoubtable elements of sci-fi in TMintHC, fast rocket travel, Nazi ambitions to reach mars, however these are not the central concern of the novel. Dick was known for writing novels that did not follow conventional narrative rules in terms prose and plot but went to great lengths to explore philosophical and spiritual ideas through his characters.
In this way his focus in TMintHC is not on the technological advancements of his alternate world but how this imagined society affected normal people on an emotional and psychological level. Eric Brown (2001) notes, “one of the many strengths of his work was the empathy with which he wrote about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.” Evidence of this from the novel is the tension that builds in the mind of Juliana Frink as she travels with Joe Cinadella and her uncertainty of him and the entire situation; until her revelation of his true intentions and the resulting conflict between them. Dick seriously underplays the events that occur around Joe’s supposed death as though to reflect the trauma and lack of coherent thought that must occur when someone is put in Juliana’s situation.
An important and often overlooked aspect of TMintHC is the presence of the I Ching. The I Ching or Book of Changes as it is translated to English is an ancient Chinese oracle text, used to achieve divination. As Dick himself states, “the I Ching gives advice beyond the, advice that transcends the immediate situation. The answers have a universal quality” (Quote from P. K. Dick in Mountfort, P. 2006) This is to say that the I Ching works on the concept of synchronicity or the inter-relatedness of everything, outside of the notion of cause and effect. Dick used the I Ching not only as a sub textual tool for his characters to interpret events and actions but each reading of the I Ching in the novel corresponds to a reading Dick himself made in order to plot the novel and resolve actions between characters, Dick himself asserted, “The Oracle - the I Ching- told me to write this book” (Quote from P. K. Dick in Mountfort, P. 2006)This understanding of the I Ching being used beyond the text can help us make sense of the actions of certain characters in the novel and how seemingly unrelated happenings can have an effect on someone half a world away. For example, how Frank Frink and Nobusuke Tagomi both consult the Oracle several times throughout the novel, often when faced with similar challenges. Though the two never meet the use of the Oracle text and their interpretation of its advice can help us understand the significance Dick placed on the idea of synchronicity and how two isolated incidences can be closely linked and reveal an aspect of human nature in how these characters and their motivations shape their actions and futures, ultimately showing how ineffectual yet significant the individual is in the greater scape of things.
ReplyDeleteReference list:
Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K., The Man in the High Castle (pp.-xii). London: Penguin.
Mountfort, P. (2006). Oracle-text/Cybertext in Philip K. Dick’s the Man in the High Castle. Conference paper, Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association annual joint conference, Atlanta, 2006.
The Man in the High Castle
ReplyDeleteDivyesh Kumar
16949662
What is speculative fiction? Speculative fiction is an umbrella term for a genre of fiction that includes ideas and themes in which the setting is some place other than this present reality. It generally encompasses most of the genres like superhero fiction, horror, supernatural fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, etc. What is science fiction? Although science fiction may fall under speculative fiction, it is a construct generally considering futuristic elements and themes which report back to science, gadgets, technology and populaces from the futuristic world and even their reality itself. “‘It’s a Bird ... It’s a Plane ... It’s ... a Comic Book in the Classroom?’: Truth: Red, White, and Black as Test Case for Teaching Superhero Comics,” opens by acknowledging the powerful connection between SF, speculative fiction, and comic books.” (Thomas, 2013). Science fiction in popular culture might be characterized more by film as by some other medium. A more sequential analysis of the science fiction films is exhibited by Cornea (2007), and in addition features key and characterizing subjects and components of science fiction. According to Thomas, Atwood (2011) states that science fiction can be recognised by in what way the content is displayed. Anything from a book cover, to a movie poster. “Thus: looks like science fiction, has the tastes of science fiction—it IS science fiction!” (Atwood, 2011, p.3). Speculative fiction and Science fiction both give new point of views and is equipped for nudging the limits of our imagination. It conveys Dick('s) (2001) significant theme, the figments of imagination concealing the reality which is described throughout the text. Firmly identified with this subject is the investigation of a connection between what is fictitious or subjective and genuine, and how to differentiate between the two. The narrative for the Man in the High Castle is set in a universe of Alternate history. (Alternate history is another genre of fiction entailing tales in which the historic occurrences befall in another way.) To sum up, The Man in the High Castle is speculative fiction because of the setting and storyline. It often makes indications to the events which occurred in World War II.
Dick, P. K. (2001; 1962). The Man in the High Castle. London: Penguin
Thomas, L. P. (2013). Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction: Challenging Genres
1. What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
ReplyDeleteScience fiction is a genre in literature which deals with fictional and imaginative concepts which can be related back to a form of science. Concepts include things like, technology and advance technology, space travel, extra-terrestrial life forms, parallel universes, futuristic science, time travel etc. Science fiction looks to explore the innovation and consequences of that can bought about by using science and has been deemed ‘the literature of ideas’.
Speculative fiction an ‘umbrella genre’ which incorporates futuristic and supernatural elements. It is a mix of the science fiction genre combined with features from other genres such as, supernatural fiction, fantasy fiction and horror to create one single genre.
The Man in the High Castle was a critically acclaimed novel by Phillip K. Dick. Whilst it was a crtical success, the book wasn’t perceived well globally and did not have the same level of commercial success as it did critical. This can be due to the science fiction genre not being a cultural phenomenon globally like it is today back when the book was released in 1962. Dick was seen to be a science fiction writer through most his work and whilst that is true when it comes to The Man in the High Castle. The book is about an alternate world where the axis powers gained victory in the second world war and it is seen taking place when the world has been divided by the winners of the war, The German Third Reich and Imperial Japan. Alternate realities or parallel universes as they’re sometimes known as are a common feature of the science fiction genre. Other things that show that the novel belongs to the science fiction genre is the use of ‘what if’ in the beginning of the novel. Many pieces of science fiction literature uses a what if to build their narratives and plotlines…” the book starts with a classic "what if?," the same sort of question that starts off lots of other science fiction works. "What if you could make life?" asks Frankenstein. "What if we could see the effects of time?" asks The Time Machine. "What if Arnold Schwarzenegger was an awesome time-traveling robot?" asks Terminator. Here, the question is, "What if the Axis powers won the war?"” ("The Man in the High Castle Genre", 2017).
Dick, P.K. (2001; 1962). The Man in the High Castle. London: Penguin.
The Man in the High Castle Genre. (2017). Shmoop.com. Retrieved 27 October 2017, from https://www.shmoop.com/man-in-the-high-castle/genre.html