Philip K. Dick is a sci-fi legend, but the boys have only ever seen the film adaptations of his work (Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly).

Dick's 1969 classic Ubik has us divided. Benny is mad that major premises are introduced and then abandoned, internal logic is sloppy, and the twist ending is lazy writing. Rich and Cam are charmed by the imperfections and think it heightens the sense of (un)reality.

Is Ubik a metaphor for God? What are the parallels to Gnosticism, and who is the demiurge behind the false reality of half-life? Do people who experience psychotic breaks even know that it's happening? What does Plato have to do with all of this?

“He felt all at once like an ineffectual moth, fluttering at the windowpane of reality, dimly seeing it from outside.”

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) intro to the world of Ubik
• (00:08:35) critique of PKD’s worldbuilding
• (00:20:10) Cold storage and half-life suspended animation
• 00:25:00) Why is everything decaying? entropy and platonic essences
• (00:34:43) Joe Chip’s search for Ubik + the battle between Jory and Ella
• (00:43:10) Christian parallels and PKD’s gnostic epiphany
• (00:58:35) Arguing whether the twist ending is lazy writing
• (01:06:28) Is PKD under or overrated?
• (01:09:54) Psychosis, psychedelics, and paranoia

SEND US MAIL:

douevenlit@gmail.com

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

The Fall - Camus

Hamlet - Shakespeare

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect.”

(who amongst us, etc)

This week we're talking Kafka's 1915 novella The Metamorphosis.

Rich swoons over Gregor and is deeply moved by his plight. Cam wonders whether the giant freaky bug might bear some responsibility for events. Benny starts out sorta lukewarm on the whole thing but comes around in the end.

Is this story meant to be a depiction of depression? An autobiographical work about an artist becoming alienated from his philistine family? A Marxist commentary on capitalism? A subconscious Freudian incest thriller?

We fearlessly explore all of these interpretations... and if you can believe it, even more

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) reinterpreting kafka thru the lens of richard dawkins tweets
• (00:01:50) what kinda filthy vermin are we dealing with here??
• (00:06:57) arguing about what Gregor’s initial reaction means
• 00:15:44) part two synopsis: I didn't choose the bug life
• (00:19:17) Cam’s incest theory: who is the real parasite?
• (00:25:15) Metamorphosis as kafka's autobiographical self-therapy
• (00:36:30) Alienation and depression
• (00:44:12) genuinely upset about Gregor’s plight
• (00:50:48) Is kafka meant to be funny?
• (00:54:23) Refreshing subversion of realism
• (01:01:29) closing thoughts

Send us mail: doyouevenlitbro@gmail.com

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

Ubik - Philip K Dick The Fall - Camus Hamlet - Shakespeare

Wrapping up Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which we all loved.

Nature vs nurture: the monster as proto-incel, to what extent do we feel sympathy for him, should Victor have made him a bride, self-loathing and recrimination, and whether hot people are actually more virtuous than ugly people.

Also: why rousseau was a giant piece of shit, the monster as Byronic hero, importance of pariahs and moral entrepreneurs, pitbull discourse, etc

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) just grave robber problems
• (00:05:20) peephole language learning montage
• (00:09:00) Nature vs nurture debate
• 00:17:00) Cam’s crank theory that hot people are more virtuous
• (00:24:11) Frankenstein as the original incel
• (00:28:40) pitbull digression
• (00:33:31) Ethics of making frank a bride and letting him go
• (00:42:20) The monster as the true Byronic hero
• (00:52:50) Sympathy for the devil
• (00:59:02) Romantic heroes as moral entrepreneurs

Send us mail: doyouevenlitbro@gmail.com

COMING UP

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

Ubik - Philip K Dick

The Fall - Camus