ABSTRACT

Attempts to characterize Philip K. Dick range from that of a paranoid, psychotic individual and writer to the most important American post-WW II author and philosopher. A few critics, like Carl Freedman and Eric Rabkin, hold both views: Dick as the paranoid and masterful writer. Freedman discusses the author’s paranoia as a function of his literary and philosophical viewpoint rather than a psychological trait, while Slusser’s understanding of Dick as either paranoid or mad, points to the utilization of paranoia “as an ever present potentiality for systematic thinking” (207).1 Ursula Le Guin and Daniel Fondanèche see Dick as a literary and cultural prophet; in Europe he is a widely translated and infl uential voice. Others see Dick as a mystic, or as an important Gnostic thinker.2