Friday, August 17, 2007
THE MAINSTREAMIZATION OF PHILIP K. DICK
The New Yorker has graciously bestowed literary worthiness on Philip K. Dick, with a surprisingly good essay on the man and his 1974 religious freak-out in the latest issue. As usual, the New Yorker is late to the party celebrating the talents of this unique author and announcing his influence. Bookforum was on this one back in 2002, Wired in 2003, Time in 2004. The New York Times also chimed in earlier this year, proclaiming their approval as the Gatekeepers of Literatoor, and yours truly promptly complained about it.
I shall bitch, and I shall moan, but I must admit I am capable of appreciating those moments when a literary highbrow shares his enthusiasm for a writer from the fringes, as Michael Dirda did in the Washington Post about Clark Ashton Smith. Good on you, Michael--doubly heroic since Smith is hardly in vogue like PKD, and triply so because Smith's books are being reissued by a very worthy press.
The New Yorker has graciously bestowed literary worthiness on Philip K. Dick, with a surprisingly good essay on the man and his 1974 religious freak-out in the latest issue. As usual, the New Yorker is late to the party celebrating the talents of this unique author and announcing his influence. Bookforum was on this one back in 2002, Wired in 2003, Time in 2004. The New York Times also chimed in earlier this year, proclaiming their approval as the Gatekeepers of Literatoor, and yours truly promptly complained about it.
I shall bitch, and I shall moan, but I must admit I am capable of appreciating those moments when a literary highbrow shares his enthusiasm for a writer from the fringes, as Michael Dirda did in the Washington Post about Clark Ashton Smith. Good on you, Michael--doubly heroic since Smith is hardly in vogue like PKD, and triply so because Smith's books are being reissued by a very worthy press.
# posted by toner_low @ 10:42 PM 
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