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Search for Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982. A Memoir and Biography of the Science Fiction Writer
| Author: | Dick, Anne | |
| Year: | 1995 | |
| Pages: | 396 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-9137-6 978-0-7734-9137-3 | |
| Price: | $239.95 | |
Anne Dick, married to science fiction writer Philip K. Dick from 1959-1965, researched and completed this, the first biography of his life, in the mid '80s. Since then, two biographies of Dick have been published, both depending heavily on Anne's original research and manuscript. This makes available for the first time the original manuscript from which so much information was taken. She gives a wonderfully vivid and sensitive account, portraying him as person and artist, giving insights into his work habits as well as the sources and inspirations of many of his stories. The author provides many important facts about the circumstances in which the novels were written. In her account, Philip Dick emerges as neither saint nor madman, but a flawed human being capable of great error but possessed of even greater passions.
Reviews
". . . moving and absorbing. . . . Anne's references to the real people behind Phil's characters are what fascinate. . . . Her examples of conversations are often hilarious, as in their argument about hominids. This lay behind The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike. . . . I tend to agree with a lot of Anne's final summations. . . " - Michael Tolley in Utopian Studies
"Search for Philip K. Dick is a difficult book to assess. It is what it says it is: a search, an attempt by a wife to puzzle out the character of a disturbed and dangerous husband whom she loved and admired, and who insulted and injured her gravely. . . . When she writes about events that affected her directly, Anne can be moving and chilling. . . . interesting because it has a complex emotional agenda beneath its surface coolness. . . . After collecting materials for her own story, Anne continued to interview Phil's associates and relations about his life after their divorce. Most valuable is her attempt to reconstruct the reputation of Dorothy, Phil's mother, with whom she sympathizes throughout the book. . . . this is not a book for most readers, but it is impossible to say what fans and biographer of Philip Dick might find interesting." - Science Fiction Studies
"Search for Philip K. Dick is a difficult book to assess. It is what it says it is: a search, an attempt by a wife to puzzle out the character of a disturbed and dangerous husband whom she loved and admired, and who insulted and injured her gravely. . . . When she writes about events that affected her directly, Anne can be moving and chilling. . . . interesting because it has a complex emotional agenda beneath its surface coolness. . . . After collecting materials for her own story, Anne continued to interview Phil's associates and relations about his life after their divorce. Most valuable is her attempt to reconstruct the reputation of Dorothy, Phil's mother, with whom she sympathizes throughout the book. . . . this is not a book for most readers, but it is impossible to say what fans and biographer of Philip Dick might find interesting." - Science Fiction Studies