Philip K. Dick: The Golden Man and Selected Short Stories

The hyper real transition to movies from books or short stories, especially short stories by philip k dick, is a constant exercise in tedium ad infinitum. Witness the sarcasm of such resources as The Golden Man by Philip K Dick based on the movies trailer. (arent film trailers supposed to have all the best parts anyway?). But the short story The Golden Man, written by philip k dick in 1954, is just so good, it must be revisited, and often. In short, its the story of a future mutant, Cris Johnson, who doesnt speak. Hear that, Nicholas Cage? Shut up already! Anyway, its not even sure that Cris Johnson is human, really. Hey! Hear that, Nicholas Cage? Not Human! Ok, enough. The story is primarily about the fear of the little blue collar working guy, whom Philip K Dick primarily identified with tire regroovers and television repair men, when confronted with a superior race who can outbreed, out perform, and basically out out the little guy. This, of course, doesnt only threaten the little man, the working man, but the little-minded men.. in this case, ruling members of the military and technocratic elite. Even though Cris isnt human, his mutational powers, brought about by the stupidity of the, bring them back on stage: ruling members of the military and technocratic elite, allow him to out run, out think, and out dodge his enemies. In a stunning recognition of the coming future embodied by The Selfish Gene, PKD makes the character nothing more than an embedded expression of his genetic line. I wont give away the end. But its one of those ten page stories that say so much, an ontological depth of perception and art to which PKD will always be referred. – reviewed by PKD Android

August 26, 2009
Tax: » Philip K. Dick , Celebrity, Science Fiction
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