tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post6867188267823853047..comments2023-12-18T23:20:31.042-06:00Comments on Scriblerus Club: The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick: Roog (1951).PrisonerNumber6http://www.blogger.com/profile/03156430802462353459noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-29379051019773619062022-05-01T14:20:12.821-05:002022-05-01T14:20:12.821-05:00Well, Clute is one of those interesting sorts. He&...Well, Clute is one of those interesting sorts. He's one of those genre critics whose views of science itself seems almost like a holdover from a time that the actual sciences have progressed well beyond a long time ago.<br /><br />From what I can gather, it's like his worldview has become an unintentional anachronism. Like it's still somewhere in the pre-digital revolution age, with guys like John Campbell, and H.G. Wells, thinkers whose views of technical progress never extended beyond the Age of Industrialism. Actual science, of course, is moving well past all that, embracing a more Green friendly, digitized outlook.<br /><br />In other words, science and its practitioners have shown an admirable success in learning from the mistakes of the past. Clute, meanwhile, seems kind of oblivious of all this. It's sort of like he's a walking dinosaur. This extends as well to his take on the genre, which doesn't seem to have had an upgrade in the years since his "Encyclopedia" was written. These days most fans refer to it as Sci-Fi Fantasy, in open acknowledgement of the genre's dirty little secret, that it was always more make-believe, than actually scientific. <br /><br />The fairy tale kingdom of far, far away was merely translated into space, is all. Apparently its a fascinating, continuous pattern of the human imagination. It always works on familiar material, no matter the look of the stage setting, or cast list. Every space alien, like I've said, is really just a human being, or idea, dressed up in metaphorical terms. <br /><br />I think PK was just one of the first who was willing to act as a whistleblower, to tell the dark secret, and that would allow him and future authors to treat the inherent genre backdrop less as a realistic hypothesis which has to be handled like an engineering manual, and more like what properly is, a stage setting in which various psycho-dramas can be enacted. Where the writer is free to share the dreams, nightmares, fears, and hopes about the future in symbolic terms.<br /><br />At least there's my working definition of Sci-Fi, and its one that Clute doesn't ever seem to have caught up with. That said, I'd some of his book is worth looking into. Just stay clear of his opinion of 50s Science Fiction films, it's his major blind spot.<br /><br />As for PKD, hell yeah this is a good place to start. I've been going through his early short stories, and one of the great things about approaching him in this way is you can see him advancing step by step in his craft as he releases each story for publication. In doing so, he provides his readers with a neat snapshot of the Raygun Gothic era of which he was a pivitol part, as well as foreshadowing the kind of Cyberpunk aesthetic that his serves as one of the pioneering grandfathers of. So yeah, this is definitely a recommended way of catching up.<br /><br />ChrisC.PrisonerNumber6https://www.blogger.com/profile/03156430802462353459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-51567359165925648412022-05-01T02:20:54.424-05:002022-05-01T02:20:54.424-05:00I've only read a couple of his novels ("D...I've only read a couple of his novels ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "A Scanner Darkly"), but based on those I've always wanted to go on a deep dive into his bibliography. Sounds like these would be a good place to start!<br /><br />I've got that John Clute Illustrated Encylopedia but had forgotten that an image from, of all things, "The Lawnmower Man" is front and center on the cover! I don't think I ever actually read it, though, and it kind of sounds like that might be for the best.Bryant Burnettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01189356171455609865noreply@blogger.com