Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick

by Lawrence Sutin

Paperback, 1991

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Library's review

Indeholder "Acknowledgments", "Foreword - by Paul Williams", "Introduction: If Heraclitus is Ring - And 'The Nature of Things Is In The Habit Of Concealing Itself' - Then Where Better To Look For Great Art Than In A Trash Genre?", "Chapter 1: This Mortal Coil (December 1928 - January 1928)",

"Chapter 2: Coming of Age And The Onset Of Vertigo (1929 - 1944)", "Chapter 3: Forward Into The 'Real' World, Or, Phil And The Cosmos Start To Compare Notes Seriously (1944 - 1950)", "Chapter 4: A Real Writer At Last, Phil Learns The Facts Of Life In The SF Ghetto And Tries To Get The Hell Out - But Writes His Best Stuff Inside It (Hence The Confusion) (1950 - 1958)", "Chapter 5: Phil Falls In Love, Becomes A Country Squire, Starts Writing Great Books, & Has 'Nervous Breakdown' #3 (Love Can Be A Very Deep Hole To Fall Into (1958 - 1963))", "Chapter 6: Phil's Marriage Mimics 'Reality' By Coming Apart At The Seams. A Vision In The Sky Inspires The Most Brilliant Invasion Of Earth Story Ever Written, And, Country Squire o More, Phil Moves To The East (Gak!) Oakland, Gets Weird, And Finds A New Wife (1963 - 1965)", "Chapter 7: A New Start, A Quiet Life, Then Everything Falls Apart Again - And Phil Can't Find The Handy Spray Can Of Ubik That Could Make It All Cohere (1965 - 1970)", "Chapter 8: Dark Night Of The Soul, Dark-Haired Girls, A Scanner Darkly-It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn, Of Course, But Try Remembering That When The Shit Has Finally Hit The Fan Like It Does In Those Weird Phil Dick Novels (1970 - 1972)", "Chapter 9: Contemplating Suicide In A Foreign Land, Phil Decides Instead To Commence A New Life From The Bottom Up, Kicks The Amphetamine Urge, Finds A New Wife In Orange County, Writes A Tragic Classic On The Drug Culture, And Concludes That Reality Is 'Amazingly Simple' Just As His Life Is Turned Upside Down Once More (1972-1974)", "Chapter 10: Annus Mirabilis: Information-Rich Pink Light, The Black Iron Prison And The Palm Tree Garden Superimposed, Christopher's Life Saved. A Meta-abstraction Of Ultimate Infinite Value-But Who KNEW What The Hell It REALLY Meant? Not Phil, Not Even As It Beamed Out Nightly Dreams Explaining It All In Giant Books (February 1974 - February 1975)", "Chapter 11: As 2-3-74 Ripes Into Valis, Phil Fashions New Theories Nightly Yet Wonders - Meta-abstractions Be Damned-If Ever He'll Find The True Love He Deserves (Who Doesn't?), While Slowly He Discovers (Sometimes) Something Like Happiness Anyway (1975 - 1978)", "Chapter 12: Big Bucks and Condo Comfort. First Mainstream Sale To A New York House. The Gosh Wow Hollywood Dazzle Of Blade Runner - None Of These Are Enough, Not Nearly, Not With A World Crying Out For Redemption And Stubborn Reality Still Undefined. But Time Is Running Out And Phil Knows It (1979 - 1982)", "Chronological Survey and Guide", "Sources and Notes", "Index".

En biografi om Philip K. Dick.

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Genres

Biography & Memoir

Biography

Publication

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (1991), Paperback, 368 pages

Description

"The only biography I've ever read that's as exciting as a spy novel . . . Phil Dick's life was as weird and mysterious as any of his science fiction books."--Robert Anton Wilson With thirty-eight books currently in print and seven of his novels and short stories adapted into blockbuster films, Philip K. Dick is recognized worldwide as one of our time's greatest and most influential novelists. Lawrence Sutin's Divine Invasions, acknowledged by the Dick family as the official Philip K. Dick biography, illuminates the life of the man who loosed the bonds of the science-fiction genre and profoundly influenced such writers as Pynchon, Delillo, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Lethem. Absorbing, beautifully written, and profoundly revealing, Divine Invasions is a must-read for Dick fans and for all fans of contemporary fiction and film.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen

Philip K Dick was/is a difficult subject for a biography. In addition to being a writer within the science fiction genre, he believed that he had been contacted by God, or at the very least, some superior intelligence that had the solutions to man's plight. Lawrence Sutin reports this in a factual

way and leaves the reader to decide as to whether Dick was some kind of John the Baptist, proclaiming a new coming, or in need of mental health treatment. This seems to have been a concern to Dick, as well as Sutin.

Whatever the truth of the matter (and yes, I think I know which too) Philip K Dick had an interesting life and produced some of the finest books of the science fiction oeuvre. Dick's books tend not to concentrate upon the technology of the future so much as the interactions of an advanced society and so, his personal history are an interesting insight into his working. It is not imperative to read this book to enjoy Dick's fiction, but it certainly enhances the experience.

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LibraryThing member delta351

I have mixed feelings about this book, but overall I don't think it lives up to my expectations. I enjoyed the background material on the various books that PKD wrote. There are extensive quotes from "Exegesis", which I think is fantastic. Certainly prefrerable to wading through thousands of pages

of material to get the highlights. He goes into great detail on the Valis phase of PKD's life, which is fine. Hardly any mention of Electric Sheep though.

My biggest problem is that the rest of the book reads like an oral history of the subjects life. It takes on a soap opera flavor at times, which arguably is unavoidable with this man's life.
Editing was poor, and I think it was hastily thrown together. I also note Tessa Dick's review on Amazon, which was insightful for me.

The summary of all of PKD works at the end was a great addition. It is impossible to separate the man from his books.

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LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind

A mildly informative biography on PKD that focuses a bit too much on his marriages and a bit too little on his fiction and a literary analysis thereof.

LibraryThing member Xiguli

DIVINE INVASIONS is a readable, revealing biography of the 20th-century sci-fi titan into whose mind we all most wish we could climb. Philip K. Dick’s brilliance is never in doubt, even as author Lawrence Sutin guides us through the labyrinthine emotional upheavals and relationships of his life.

And boy, are they fraught, particularly when it comes to women. From his love/hate vacillations with his mother to a slew of girlfriends to all five of his wives, PKD’s life reads at times like a hormone-filled, drug-addled teen drama. Sutin is clearly a superfan, but he presents his subject’s literary prowess and social prescience in counterpoint to a painful lifelong search for emotional wholeness. His approach feels both balanced and intimate, but isn’t afraid of a little humor now and then.

Tessa B. Dick, PKD’s fifth wife, has criticized Sutin on Amazon for giving the impression that he interviewed her for this book. But Sutin documents his sources in copious endnotes, also making clear in the text when something she says comes from a letter to him or when it comes from her writings, so careful readers shouldn’t be confused. Sutin drew on a vast number of sources throughout, including (but not limited to) extensive interviews with the people who lived and worked most closely with PKD.

Although, as a biography, DIVINE INVASIONS rightfully focuses on life events, Sutin also delves deeply into a number of PKD’s most important works, including VALIS, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, UBIK, and FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID, and also the lengthy EXEGESIS of his final years. For everything else, Sutin provides a comprehensive bibliography of publications and lost works, including synopses and ratings. Despite its wealth of detail, this biography is quick to devour and provides a welcome insight into the man and his prolific output.

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