i just finished reading philip k. dick's valis. fuck. i'm not even going to try to summarize that shit, save to say that it's like that one night when i smoked weed that was, unbeknownst to me, laced w/ angel dust (in which i saw a pink elephant, not a pink laser, alas). pkd is often called a science fiction writer, and while valis has vague elements of the genre, it's more accurate to think of it as a hallucinogenic fever dream. set in orange county.
good, good stuff. best book i've read in years, by far. but then, i have a soft spot for art that tries to capture that elusive drug-induced hallucinogenic state. call it my bid for nostalgia. from now on, whenever bizarre shit goes down, i'm going to declare it "all valis."
2 comments:
Phillip K Dick is great. I saw the movie "A Scanner Darkly" which was also about drug abuse. I must admit I only know him so far through all the movies based on his books but I find his ideas so interesting I definitely plan on delving into his fiction.
i completely recommend valis, if that wasn't already blatantly obvious. i have yet to read scanner, but i own the movie-- it's the only linklater movie i have.
pkd had a bit of a drug problem and that's reflected in a lot of his later works. he also lived and died in santa ana, which is where i grew up, so it was cool recognizing all the landmarks and street names he mentions.
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