I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks that in his philosophical rants he can be spot on but also borderline insane? Sometimes when I reflect on his theories I have a clear standpoint of agreeing or disagreeing but sometimes I just don't know what the hell he is talking about. And then the more I think about it the more I feel part of my sanity slipping away.
I really enjoy most of his fictional work because they have a good balance between characters, plot and philosophy but I'm about half way through the first book in his Valis trilogy and I find myself wondering if I should just ignore some of the rants entirely instead of reflecting on them. Two things to note about that book, there are many rants and they are very long. The whole premise is that Dick was possessed by some all-knowing entity and just scribed what he felt through that entity. Maybe he had aspirations of spawning a new Bible or something? Claiming he was divinely inspired.
I am particularly a fan of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Ubik. Androids because he questions the meaning and definition of life while exploring the possibility that everything is pointless or a lie and despite the knowledge of that people continuing theirs lives anyway. Ubik because it has an exciting plot but delves into his typical fair of questioning reality as a whole.
But this Valis series has very few plot elements and a lot of philosophy or what I like to call bullshit :D. Part of what probably drove Dick insane was that by pointing out the various dimensions of our existence it didn't necessarily accomplish anything. People still have to get up the next morning and go about their business.
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