Lem, Stanislaw. “Philip
K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans,” translated from the Polish
by Robert Abernathy, Science Fiction Studies # 5 (Volume 2, Part 1),
March 1975. (Reprinted in Microworlds.)
Notes by R. Dumain
2 December 2015
Preliminary notes
1.
Style: great writing
2.
Stylistics: also reads like pulp SF
3.
Published 1969: marked by technology of time: tapes, phones, punch cards,
etc.
4.
Predicts future in general but not in specifics (cf. William Gibson)
5.
UBIK: brilliance. Shape-shifting
but universal rule of advertising, commodification
6.
UBIK: confusing: what role does in play in half-life as repellent against
invasion by predatory half-lifers (Jory)?
7.
Projections: everything commodified,
costs money: unification of advanced technology and commerce
a.
E.g. talking doors that charge for use
8.
Dick unleashes a variety of ideas
at once: his rich imagination exploits the same themes in his various stories
but he never repeats himself. Brilliant extrapolations of a variety of concepts.
(Cf. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
9.
Notion of half-life à dreamscape
10.
Plot gets bogged down in
stretch of chapters comprising the temporal regression of Joe Chip’s half-life
a.
Regression to 1930s: Midwestern bigotry
11.
Telepathy/psi & counter-psi correlated with capitalist competition &
gangsterism
12.
Stanislaw Lem insightful
about Lem (E. Europe viz. USA)
13.
Noteworthy passages
a.
Prudence organization
b.
Bonds of Erotic Polymorphic Experience: whorehouse hotel
c.
Jory Miller invading Ella Runciter/wife’s half-life
d.
Door reminding Runciter of conapt contract
e.
Kibbutz
f.
Anti-talent
g.
G.G. Ashwood: talent of recruit: goes back in time, sort of
h.
Immediate employer—subcontracting
i.
Unions
j.
Moratorium theology
k.
Joe vs automated coffee-dispenser (poscred, credit cards)
l.
Joe calls Al “Uncle Tom”
m.
Wendy Wright hiding in closet
n.
Runciter money
o.
Vidphone
p.
Message from Runciter on wall of urinal
q.
Ubik viz. pseudo-environment?
r.
Ubiquity is derivation of Ubik (spray-can)
s.
Plato / Platonism: body/soul dualism
t.
Plato’s ideal objects: survival of forms (TV—>film, etc.)?
u.
Alienness of 1990s people in 1939 midwestern social environment
v.
Francy’s Ubik dream
w.
Pat Conley the enemy
x.
“devolved world of constantly declining time-binding capacity”
y.
New & improved Ubik
z.
Ubik dangled repeatedly but always out of reach
aa.
Pat Conley or Hollis bomb
blast?
bb.
Chapter 17: “I am Ubik.
Before the universe was, I am.”
cc.
Joe Chip coin: “This was
just the beginning.” (end)
dd.
Carl Jung hospital
From book club discussion:
1.
Question 1: What is Ubik?
a.
Dumain: Trying to unify 3 different takes on Ubik
i.
The world ruled by advertising, universal commodification, a shape-shifting
outfit or organizing principle of society
ii.
Ubik in half-life: the spray-can that can reverse the effects of half-life
vampirism
iii.
Chapter 17 (Ending): Ubik as originary cosmic principle
b.
Responses:
i.
Ubik described as the hand of God: theological: Ubik a restorative force.
ii.
Related to Dick’s [later[ religious vision?
iii.
Ubik = capital
c.
The ending (Chapter 17):
i.
It appears that Joe Chip’s endeavor
to stabilize the reality-disintegrating effects of Jory is just another illusion
ii.
A marker of the self-undermining narrative: appearance of Joe Chip on
coins
iii.
Is Ubik then a universal illusion: delusional projection of a cosmic
force (theology), united with the
illusions of the advertising industry serving commerce?
iv.
Discussion of Platonic ideal forms
v.
Proposal: resignation to half-life?
vi.
Is the narrative a simple undermining of reality, or a cynical cosmic
vision?
vii.
Ubik as religion comparable to Mercerism in Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep?
1.
Dumain: Dick apparently had brilliant intuition of what new religions
would be like, tailored to the mind of late capitalist culture
2.
Dick as prophetic of the future
a.
From the vantage point of the ‘60s, foreseeing the consequences of universal
monetization
b.
An innovation in the prevailing dystopian literature” not the centralized totalitarian state but a totally privatized merger of advanced
technology & commercial enterprise
c.
Discussion of whether I am right about this: what else in the ‘60s?
i.
Recommendation: film: “The President’s
Analyst”
ii.
The Man in the High Castle: unlike usual alternative histories:
Dickian ambiguity of what is real
3.
Humor
a.
Ubik commercials
b.
Some readers found the story funny, one not
4.
Style
a.
Dumain: combination of Dick’s gift for description & good writing
combined with a pulpy style and pulpy characters
b.
Dumain: reminiscent of Samuel R. Delany’s Babel-17, Delany’s style
in ‘60s Ace Double paperbacks: sophistication disguised as pulp literature
c.
Dumain: Stanislaw Lem’s essay on Dick
& Ubik
d.
Dumain: Dick’s profligate imagination: not centered around just one idea,
but a half dozen ideas, lets the consequences rip, takes possibilities to
their extreme. This makes Dick different.
e.
Discussion & dissension over whether readers like this style
i.
One ordinarily would not but thinks Dick handled this brilliantly: it’s
subversive
ii.
Another dislikes this style: makes unfavorable comparison to crime novel
genre
1.
Dick unfavorably compared to Chandler, Hammett
2.
Once paradigm is established, repetition of the model gets stale
3.
Example of relationships in film: “Laura”