The Man In The High Castle: Not Impressed

[Suspicious M]

Phillip K Dick: ALL must bow down and worship him... Unless you're a freethinker who has a non-groupthink style intelligence. PHK was an amazing writer, no doubt, but his "Man in The High Castle" was neither award-warented, not particularly imaginititive writing.

The story, at the time it was written was somewhat imaginative, but not to the extent that it was talked-up by the literary press of the time. Sheesh, you'd think PKD had written another Tolkiein-style verse.

The folks that care about the author eventually find him and warn him of his imprending doom. The japanese merchant saves face. That's it; the end. Period.

Big deal.

This book was no more impressive than any other dime-a-dozen Sci-Fi author (eg. Robert Hardiman and his "Cenotaph Road" series, etc).

I guess you had to be there...

 

[coinspinner]

I'm happy that you at least got to the end of the book by the plot alone.

However, 'High Castle' was actually about the working relationships between its characters and their personal struggles against adversity set against a background of no foreseeable outcome or escape from living in a country that had lost to the Axis.

 

[Vince W]

I just finished High Castle and while it isn't my favourite PKD I also don't agree that it wasn't award winning or particularly imaginative.

I think it was talked up so highly at the time since as science fiction goes it is definitely more mainstream than many of his other works. Published only 17 years after the end of WW2 it would have struck a cord with many readers then, that today might not feel.

Overall it presents a sad world, with sad people, making the best of a steadily worsening situation. Unfortunately the ending is too open ended to make for a really satisfying end. Even Dick tried to write a sequel a couple of times, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

 

[johnnyjet]

First of all, welcome to the chrons Suspicious M! It's a lot of fun around here. Lots of great discussion.

Now, though PKD is one of my favorite authors, I see your points. And I definitely enjoy many of his other works (novels & short stories) more than The Man in the High Castle. However, there is something subtle and powerful underneath its surface. At the time that I read it, I was impressed.

You've actually inspired me to reread it again since it's been a long time since I read it. I'll get back to you!

 

[coinspinner]

I also wanted to add that I heard in an interview that it was PKD's most difficult book to write based on the amount of research he put into the story.

Within the story, what I found most fascinating was Childan's inherent racism toward the Japanese and when he gets invited to have dinner with the young Japanese couple, Childan's duality was described incredibly well by PKD. It was a highly emotionally charged scene in the book.

 

[Vince W]

I also wanted to add that I heard in an interview that it was PKD's most difficult book to write based on the amount of research he put into the story.

Within the story, what I found most fascinating was Childan's inherent racism toward the Japanese and when he gets invited to have dinner with the young Japanese couple, Childan's duality was described incredibly well by PKD. It was a highly emotionally charged scene in the book.

You're right there cs.

One thing I noticed about the Japanese characters (and Childan for that matter) is that Dick wrote their speech the way Japanese grammar really is. I've been studying Japanese for about a year now, and the speech patterns, even though in English, felt very Japanese.

 

[JoanDrake]

You're right there cs.

One thing I noticed about the Japanese characters (and Childan for that matter) is that Dick wrote their speech the way Japanese grammar really is. I've been studying Japanese for about a year now, and the speech patterns, even though in English, felt very Japanese.

Dick had probably the best ear for dialogue I've ever read. I have hung out with Stoners all my life and always laughed at what SF authors thought we sounded like. Dick is the only one, IMO, that nailed us completely. (I believe that was in Cry My Tears, the Policeman Said )

Dick did write some potboilers, (The Crack in Space comes to mind) but I don't think High Castle was one of them. Nevertheless, the fact that it was Alternate History when most people had never even heard of the concept may have gotten it points for originality not really deserved.

Dick is also, at least to me, an acquired taste, and often rewards a second reading

 

[Toby Frost]

It's been a while since I read this, but I think it's quite a good book, although a mysterious one. A few thoughts:

There isn't much in the way of clear action or drama. Unlike a lot of other alternate histories, it's not a spy or detective thriller. There are spies, but there isn't an overarching plot to be resolved or solved, especially not with violence. In a way, Frank's story is as important as that of the plot to nuke Japan.

The history is a bit ropey at points. Dick does seem to rather buy (not idealistically, of course!) the Nazi view that they would drain the sea, throw spaceships at Venus, etc. They'd probably just say that they had done and get back to the important business of infighting. Also, the Japanese get off pretty lightly. In reality, they probably would have embarked on a Holocaust of their own, using bayonets instead of gas: Nanking on a continental scale.

The book, IIRC, is really about what people think and come to understand, rather than what they do (although the gunfight in Tagomi's office is good). It seems to be about coming to a mystical understanding that the world is false, which the I Ching and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy hint at. I thought it was very interesting that a third possibility is mentioned, that of Britain rather than America coming out top in WW2. It reminds me a little of the "constants and variables" of the recent Bioshock Infinite game.

I don't think Dick's strength came from telling exciting, straightforward stories. In a way, Robert Harris' Fatherland is a much better-done version of the High Castle world. But Dick's book opens up all sorts of strange philosophical doors. I came away thinking not just "I'm glad that didn't happen" but "maybe there are alternate worlds". To use a slightly naff phrase, it made me think.

 

[coinspinner]

What I've heard time and time again is that PKD was just another another typical sci-fi writer and no different than the rest.

I believe there's sci-fi and there's PKD.
His is a subgenre of sci-fi that goes on to question the validity of life and personal identity typically found in a world that greatly mirrors ours with a few supernatural exceptions.

If you DO NOT understand PKD as a prophet of inquiry .. than.. yes, he's really no different than the rest to you.

In that case, it means you can't discern poor quality sci-fi from true Science Fiction.

 

[neopeius]

Being well-versed in 50s science fiction, I can tell you that PKD was something special. His stories were a breath of fresh air. There's a reason so many of them have been turned into movies.

That said, The Man in the High Castle may be the work of his that I enjoyed the least.

 

[Bick]

I just finished reading this. I have had to think about how good it is, and ponder it for a few days. I have come to the unavoidable conclusion that is is a terrific novel, and in some ways even superior to Roth's "Plot Against America". I'm not sure its even SF to be honest, but that doesn't matter; it's most definitely PKD.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I love this novel. I've read it three times and it inspires, and reaffirms my love of the SF genre each time. To me, there's almost an ethereal timelessness to the work; it's the one alternate history (although I don't know if it was intended, when written, to be seen as alternate history [did that term even exist at the time?]...creating a story to be defined as 'alternate history' didn't seem, to me, to be the catalyst at all for the novel having been written) I've read that really seems like an account of a world that could have come into existence. I love the characters and the characterizations; I think the world-building is terrific...I just really dig this novel. It's of course different than the other works PKD is famous for, which to me just proves again what a versatile, talented writer he was.

 

[Vince W]

Yes, Man In... is all kinds of great. It's one of those books that you have to let simmer a while, but in the end you can see why it won the Hugo.

And with all the rocketing about, Bick, this book sits squarely in science fiction.

 

[VALIS13]

You have all expressed how I feel about PKD and his writings more eloquently than I ever could.

His definition of Sci Fi is the one I abide by, i.e. that when the setting allows you to explore avenues of inquiry you wouldn't normally be able to, then it becomes science fiction (by this definition, Star Wars is merely space adventure as it is a good v evil story that doesn't require any particular setting to be told, it could be set in the middle ages or in a colony of fieldmice, or wherever).

High Castle is sci fi through and through, the alternative history setting enables him to explore certain philosophical situations that would simply not arise in any other setting.

 

[Bick]

Yes, I think the definition of the book into a particular genre is probably unimportant. I think it's very good whatever it is. Often after I've read a book of Dick's I have the view that he wrote in his very own unique sub-genre (PKD-Fi, perhaps).

 

[Bob S]

The Man in the High Castle, it was well-written and he created the alternative America very well.
But it had no point. Like PKD hit a page limit and tried to drop an ending which wasn't no ending at all.

 

[mosaix]

Even though 50s science fiction is my era I only read this book recently. I thought it was unique and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Bick]

But it had no point.

That's not a universally held view, Bob. I think it had a lot to say, and several points to make about the way distinct cultures interact and how a 'superior' position in society heavily influences the ethics, world view and expectations of individuals in either the superior culture or the subservient one.

 

[Fried Egg]

I read this nearly three years ago and were my thoughts at the time (apologies if I have already posted this elsewhere):

A somewhat restrained novel from Dick in which he explores what the world might have been like had the Axis won the war alongside themes he is more usually associated such as the nature of reality.

The story presents fragmented narrative, following an array of disparate but interconnected characters who's actions affect events in not only each other's lives but on a global scale as well.

Germany and Japan are the world's superpowers that divide the world into spheres of influence with America partitioned right down the middle. Some of the characters are individuals highly placed in the regimes and others are the oppressed, conquered people who are trying as best they can to make the best of life. Whilst tensions between the two superpowers are heightening, the lives of the characters are each undergoing transformations in the way they see themselves and their place in society.

An interesting thread running throughout is book within a book, the fictional novel that imagines what would have happened had the allies won the war. A nice touch is that the book imagines a more utopian vision of the world than what we enjoy reminding us that our world is far from ideal.

In this version of history, American industry is reduced to making replicas of traditional American goods of the pre-war era that are now prized collectibles among the Japanese occupiers. Forgeries abound and, fundamentally, Dick is concerned here with exploring the difference between the real and the fake. Does any difference really exist outside of our minds? And if this is true, how much difference is there between this alternate society and ours, outside of our state of mind?

All in all, a very good book and I can see why this is the most highly regarded of Dick's work in literary circles.

 

[althea]

I have just finished this book.It is the first book by Philip K. Dick that I have read.
I found it interesting and it made me wonder what the world would really have been like if Germany had won the war.
I can see it would make a good basis for a series on TV.
it wasn't my usual taste but I think I would read another book by this author as the writing was imaginative and thought provoking.