The Shifting Realities of PK Dick

Part Five. Essays and Speeches

This section contains the principal published essays by Dick on matters other than science fiction.

"Drugs, Hallucinations, and the Quest for Reality" was first published in Lighthouse (edited by Terry Carr), No. 11, November 1964.

"Schizophrenia & The Book of Changes" was first published in Niekas, No. 11, March 1965. It was reprinted in the PKDS Newsletter, No. 14, June 1987.

"The Android and the Human," delivered as a speech by Dick at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in February 1972, was first published in SF Commentary, No. 31, December 1972. It was most recently reprinted in the eclectic Dick anthology The Dark-Haired Girl (1988), published by Mark V. Ziesing. This essay is Dick's most extended nonfictional foray into social ethics. The rape-related humor has aged very badly, and the celebration of random ripoffs as the means of warding off centralized oppression may not convince readers who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods. But the central distinction between the android and the human remains a suggestive one.

"Man, Android, and Machine" first appeared in the British anthology Science Fiction at Large (Gollancz, 1976), edited by Peter Nicholls, and was reprinted in The Dark-Haired Girl.

"If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others" was delivered as a speech by Dick at the second Festival International de la Science-Fiction de Metz, France, in September 1977. It was first published in French translation in L'Annee 1977-78 de la S.-F. et du Fantastique (Juilliard, 1978), edited by Jacques Goimard. Its first English publication came in the PKDS Newsletter, No. 27, August 1991.

"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" was written as a speech but was likely never delivered. It was first published in I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (1985).

"Cosmogony and Cosmology," dated January 23, 1978, was expressly intended by Dick as a summary of the key insights expressed in the Exegesis as of that time. It is included here as an essay because it was sent out in typed form by Dick to his agent, Russell Galen, although with no overt publishing intentions in mind. In this sense, it differs from the remainder of the Exegesis, which Dick kept to himself, but for occasional limited disclosures to friends. It was first published in a limited edition by Kerosina Books in 1987.

"The Tagore Letter" was first published in Niekas, No. 28, November 1981.