Summary Response: Exploring Philip K. Dick's Literary Impact

This essay presents a summary and response to Adam Gopnik's article "Blows Against the Empire," focusing on the life and works of Philip K. Dick. It characterizes Dick as a genre-hack-turned-genius, comparing him to Edgar Allan Poe due to his interest in the supernatural. The essay highlights...Read More

Running head: SUMMARY RESPONSE
SUMMARY RESPONSE
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1SUMMARY RESPONSE
The aim of this essay is to discuss the article published in The New Yorker in August 20,
2007 by Adam Gopnik. The article is purely based in the life of Philip K. Dick and talks about
facets of his works entangled with the incidents of his life. The article namely Blows Against the
Empire, the return of Philip K. Dick is a complete package of information and reputation of the
genius of this writer (Gopnik and Talbot). On this article the author has described Philip K. Dick
as genre-hack-to-hidden-genius among all the contemporary American writers of his time. This
science fiction writer is mainly reputed for his works that inspired different film directors for a
long time. The author of this article has compared Dick to be the modern Edgar Allen Poe due
their similarity in the interest of supernatural and out of the world. This article carries evidence
of the love and respect of the readers of Dick and how his works are being admired till today
though was neglected in his lifespan.
In the article by Gopnik, the readers get a complete view of the activities of Philip Dick
as this has researched the statements of the biographer of Dick also. The author states that
despite the fact that the works of Dick though was not seen in Times Book Review, he stared to
gain popularity after winning Hugo Award in 1963 (Gopnik and Talbot). After his birth in
California and poisoned personal relationship with his mother, Dick had a bitter American
childhood. His love for science fiction since his childhood led him to be hysteric possessing
intellectual passion. This article widely discusses most of his important works and points it out to
be original and dutifully realistic that make him perfectly fitting in his time and how his thoughts
ultimately madden him to death.
Thesis statement: The main theme of Dick’s works is not art but truth which he has presented
through different shapes and subjects in his writing.

2SUMMARY RESPONSE
This article has perfectly guided the reader how to start reading the works of Dick and
how to get engrossed in his exception style of writing and imagination. By comparing other
contemporary writers as well as the writers of his same genre, the author has appropriately
differentiated the characteristics of Philip Dick to be unique. The author of his article has
pointed out that the time Dick was writing, there was a huge opportunity to be famous as the
publishers wanted such works so also the readers therefore, Dick mixed satire and fantasy that
affected the minds of his readers (Miller). It has perfectly captured the core of Dick’s theme that
he had offered in different science fiction stories. This article has perfectly pointed out his efforts
to mix mordant comedy with wild metaphysics. It has described Dick to be a man burning up
with ideas and observations who found in a pop form the perfect vehicle for expressing them.
The article has described Dick to be a magician who shuffled the ideas in his novel to
novel and artfully presented to truth before the reader’s eye. Starting from the subject selection
of Dick’s novel, his characters, to his fantasies and symbols, the article has perfectly described
Dick’s genius to reflect his complex thought process and strange satiric capabilities (McManus).
These force the readers to get hallucinated by the visions of the writer who sees the vision if
Germany won the second World War. The article The Philip K Dick book I love most by
Moorcock, Roberts and Barker, the readers can find similar expression of the authors with that of
Gopnik. In this article also, the authors have pointed out Dick’s philosophy impregnated by
extraordinary spiritual visions all connected to establish the truth. His straight novels though
expressed his focus on protest as well as instant social satire, did not gain much popularity.
However, with time, the importance of Dick’s works is being researched and established. This is
the reason why this article seems to be one of the best works bearing most of the aspects of the
novelist’s life.

3SUMMARY RESPONSE
Therefore, it can be concluded that the article by Adam Gopnik has perfectly enlightened
the readers to understand the true features of the science fictions of Philip Dick. It has shown
aspects unthought about Dick and his genius that effectively contributes in the literatures, movies
and analysis of the incidents took place in his time. This has thrown light upon the truth believed
and observed by Philip Dick, one f the most neglected writer of his time.

4SUMMARY RESPONSE
References:
Gopnik, Adam, and Margaret Talbot. "Blows Against The Empire." The New Yorker. N.p., 2018.
Web. 24 Oct. 2018.
McManus, Darragh. "What Philip K Dick Needed Was A Co-Author | Darragh Mcmanus." the
Guardian. N.p., 2018. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.
Miller, Laura. "On Writers And Writing; It's Philip Dick's World, We Only Live In It."
Nytimes.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.
Moorcock, Michael, Adam Roberts, and Nicola Barker. "The Philip K Dick Book I Love
Most…." the Guardian. N.p., 2018. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.