ENGL 155 Science as Fiction -- Philip K. Dick

One version of science fiction extrapolates the technical and cultural trajectory of its society into a dystopian or utopian future. Another takes issue with the scientific method and finds in that rationalistic and metrical analysis a materialized and reductionist illusion as to the complexities of existence. From this second perspective, it is science and not literature that is the delusional fiction. Perhaps, the greatest author of this second type is Philip K. Dick. This class will read some of his weird and psychologically challenging short stories and novels against their historical antecedents such as Frankenstein, and try to understand their startling quarrel with realism and the more generally accepted logical portrait of the world. To visualize his creative deviation, we will also analyze a couple of the many movies based on his work. This class is tailored for first and second year students who have done little college level work in literature.