"Dick: Wrote almost as many novels as Anthony Trollope (who wrote 47). Scads of readers revere him. Blade Runner, the film (1982), was famously adapted from Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). To be perfectly damn honest, though the movie’s in my personal Top Ten, I think Dick was a better thinker/imaginer than he was a writer. Feel free to challenge me on this—give me a title you think is first-class writing and I’d be happy to revise my opinion." I agree—original and inventive, but not a great writer. I always warned students who borrowed my copy of the novel. [And I hated Ice. Pretentious and idiotic, imo.]
Some books I don't argue about. ICE is a tough read and I really don't have a fixed opinion of it myself, but some books are significant in how they mark changes in the writing zeitgeist, or do something differently, which ends up allowing other writers to do different other things. I've noticed in my own reading how my tolerance for not knowing what's going on fluctuates with the book.
ICE was pitched to me as "feminist." I disagreed. It was a lot of things but just because it was written by a woman and involved a female character doesn't make it feminist. That happens a lot. As to reading in confusion? I recall reading a third of the way through Beloved and abruptly understanding what Morrison was doing, so I went back and read it again from the beginning. I probably said: "I think Dick was a better thinker/imaginer than he was a writer" to you nearly twenty years ago—I've been saying that for at least 30 years.
Exit West is probably one of my favorite books... and I don't say that lightly! I'm def going to check out others on this list: slipstream often appeals to me though I find some versions of it more tolerable than others.
Well, that's the thing about "slipstream": it's a box with all the slipstream in it . . . but the pieces can be unlike each in the extreme. You should read THE MEMORY POLICE first. Thanks for responding!
Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience struck me as this kind of work; I never felt I was on a solid ground of understanding.
I'll have a look.
"Dick: Wrote almost as many novels as Anthony Trollope (who wrote 47). Scads of readers revere him. Blade Runner, the film (1982), was famously adapted from Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). To be perfectly damn honest, though the movie’s in my personal Top Ten, I think Dick was a better thinker/imaginer than he was a writer. Feel free to challenge me on this—give me a title you think is first-class writing and I’d be happy to revise my opinion." I agree—original and inventive, but not a great writer. I always warned students who borrowed my copy of the novel. [And I hated Ice. Pretentious and idiotic, imo.]
Some books I don't argue about. ICE is a tough read and I really don't have a fixed opinion of it myself, but some books are significant in how they mark changes in the writing zeitgeist, or do something differently, which ends up allowing other writers to do different other things. I've noticed in my own reading how my tolerance for not knowing what's going on fluctuates with the book.
ICE was pitched to me as "feminist." I disagreed. It was a lot of things but just because it was written by a woman and involved a female character doesn't make it feminist. That happens a lot. As to reading in confusion? I recall reading a third of the way through Beloved and abruptly understanding what Morrison was doing, so I went back and read it again from the beginning. I probably said: "I think Dick was a better thinker/imaginer than he was a writer" to you nearly twenty years ago—I've been saying that for at least 30 years.
That's probably where I got it. I think I've read only The Man in the High Castle. Never tempted to read more, I guess.
Exit West is probably one of my favorite books... and I don't say that lightly! I'm def going to check out others on this list: slipstream often appeals to me though I find some versions of it more tolerable than others.
Well, that's the thing about "slipstream": it's a box with all the slipstream in it . . . but the pieces can be unlike each in the extreme. You should read THE MEMORY POLICE first. Thanks for responding!
Will do!