Philip K Dick The Man In The High Castle
Gollancz 2009 (1962)
Alternate history | given alternate history; | what’s true? What isn’t?
Authentic. Genuine. How often are these words used, and abused. Clothing stamped with ‘authentic’, meaning imitation US sports wear. Sweatshop items I remember seeing in the 60s labelled ‘genuine imitation leather’. Beguiling items sold right now for their ‘cosy faux fur’, as though faux was a kind of animal.
Authenticity is one of the big ideas residing at the heart of this haunting novel, one of Dick’s earliest and one for which he won a Hugo Award. Does authenticity reside in objects purporting to be historic relics or in the minds of humans who trade and purchase and use and treasure them? Who really won the last global conflict? What is the significance of the alternate history of the world written by the Man in the High Castle? Is there really a High Castle in the medieval sense? Indeed, are the characters we meet really who or what they say they are? Moreover, can writings such as the I Ching truly predict the future, or do they merely offer solace to the humans who use them? Continue reading “Truth, terrible as death”
Calmgrove 