Week Eight

Hey guys, sorry this late but better now than never!.

First question I am looking at this week is;
According to McKnee, what relationship did Dick’s ideas have to A) Christianity B) Religion and Philosophy.

Well firstly McKee states “Religion themes in Dick’s work from the arena of literature rather than religion studies, they seen to be ignorant of controversy surrounding the terms they use to categorize Dick’s Religious thought” (McKee, 2004), so basically Dicks work was viewed more from a literature angle verse a religious angle. Dick used religion and philosophy concept in order to come up with ideas. At times he called his work as being Gnostic.

A) Christianity: Background of Dick. Dick states himself that he was an Anglo Catholic and is a firm believer in Christian theology and was a member of church. “ Dick seems to have eventually become something of an expert on the bible”(McKee,2004),
“ Dick consistently returned to Christian theology and Greek Philosophy for most of his serious interpretations” (McKee, 2004)


B) Religion and Philosophy - Dick didn't just use Christianity as a religion he also incorporated other religions and philosophy. Other religions are such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hindu Vendanta, I Ching and more. According to McKee “ Dicks ideas came from religions and philosophical concepts”, while reading I made note that McKee stated that scholarly criticism of Dick’s writing played down a lot on the importance of philosophy and religion in his fiction. (McKee, 2004). “Dick’s earliest works to emphasize philosophical subjects is 1962 “The man in the high castle”, this novel is deeply rooted of religion and philosophy, especially the I Ching” (McKee, 2004)

My new question is; How does Dick’s essay (1999; 1994), illuminate his use of Nazism as a motif in high castle?

“ The man in the High castle illuminates Nazism by highlighting how fear is sub rational. It is sub rational; it’s psychological, not logical” (Dick, 1995). According to Dick “ we do not actually know why, in the deepest sense, they ie the Nazis, did it” ( Dick, 1982; 1962).
Ways in which Nazism illuminates as a motif in High castle.

1) To reflect on a chance that non Nazis were similar to Nazis
2) Nazism is used as a motif in Dicks work as a sense of good and bad motifs.
3) To destroy all and fear.
4) Enslave and the “ the Nazi experiment”

I like the reading the example of Dick and his Nazi friend and how they walked into the apartment and Dick said a Jewish name... and so on, I found it interesting how this is still going on “fear” even though this is after the war.

References

Dick, P.K. (1995). Nazism and the High Castle. In Sutin, L. (ed.). The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (pp. 112-117). New York: Vintage.

Dick, P.K. (1982; 1962). The Man in The High Castle. New York, NY: Berkley Publishing. Retrieved September 30, 2010, from Popular Genres.

McKee, G. (2004). A scanner darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. In Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science-fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. NY: U Press of America.