Upon the Dull Earth and Other Stories

De: Philip K. Dick

Narrado por: William Coon

Duración: 4 h y 18 m

Resumen del Editor

When an interviewer asked Phillip K. Dick “What is the most important quality for a writer to have?” he replied “A sense of indignation... A writer writes because it's his response to the world. It's a natural process, like respiration... The capacity for indignation is the most important thing for a creative person. Not the aesthetic capacity but the capacity for indignation... And especially indignation at the treatment afforded other people. To see some of the things that are going on in the world and to feel indignant...That is the basis of the writer.”

Whatever it was that stimulated his creative juices, we are the lucky beneficiaries, as demonstrated in this collection of five stories, all first published in 1954.

In “Exhibit Piece” a long-suffering museum worker becomes a little too attached to his display of mid-20th century lifestyle.

In “Upon the Dull Earth” a young man refuses to let go of his soul mate, and he creates a chain reaction that he couldn’t have anticipated.

In “Progeny” one man’s idea of how to raise a child is challenged by new, more scientific techniques.

“The Last of the Masters” explores a post-apocalyptic world, where anarchists don’t just occupy Wall Street, they occupy the entire planet.

Finally, in “Breakfast at Twilight”, a family awakes to find theirs is the only house left on their street, and they are forced to make the most important decision of their lives.

Public Domain (P)2012 Eloquent Voice, LLC

Reseñas de la Crítica

The world’s most consistently brilliant science fiction writer." (Paul Williams)

"Fifty or one hundred years from now, Dick may well be recognized in retrospect as the greatest American novelist of the second half of the 20th century." (Norman Spinrad)

"Dick has been... casting illumination by the klieg lights of his imagination on a terra incognita of staggering dimensions." (Harlan Ellison)

Waste of time

The stories are too much like each other to make it worthwhile to overlook the other problems. The uninspired narration doesn’t make up for Dick’s sophomoric writing. During the first story, I thought the book might be interesting as a window onto the sensibilities of the 1950s. By the time I finished the second story, however, I was thoroughly ready to delete the book from my phone.