Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick
01/03/2006 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: Vintage/Random House. 169 page enlarged paperback. Price: $10.95 (US), $15.95 (CAN). ISBN: 1-4000-3009-9. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.randomhouse.co.uk/vintage, www.vintagebooks.com and www.philipkdick.com
When Doctor Jim Parsons is picked from his own time and dropped into the far future, he is curious about many things. First, his colour is an issue. This civilisation has long since moved past having any variation in their skin tone. Then when he tries to help a mortally wounded girl, he is told that this society doesn't believe in prolonging life. As a doctor, he is appalled but there is worse to come. A bizarre further journey in time results in helping reshape both the past and the future. As Parsons travels on, he is uncertain what his role really is.
There are lots of ideas contained in this relatively short novel but the story is spoilt by the style of writing. Something is not quite right. There is a long section where Parsons is stuck on a time-travelling spaceship that made me feel I was stuck there with him. At other points, the language feels histrionic and stilted. Pow-bam zap! This is Science Fiction in the school of apostrophe-overload as Dick writes for the pulp-fiction market .The ideas that he wants to explore are fascinating but the clunky story breaks it up.
Dealing easily with the kind of time travel paradoxes that have many people swallowing their own teeth despite its many problems, this is a worthy story that plays with our own sense of time. The reader makes the same discoveries as the protagonist and, of course, this builds our sense of shared experience. Familiarity makes us feel we are living through it with him but possibly with fewer exclamation marks.
Put in its historical context, this novel was produced shortly before 'Eye In The Sky', a fascinating study in human psyche. This story also lays some controversial ideas before us as a way that society might develop after devastating wars. The passivity of the majority of the population reminded me of the Eloi in H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine'. What a writer fears most are people who have no desire to learn and grow for what would be the point of books?
Sue Davies |
|
Add SFcrowsnest.com daily news updates to your
own web site or blog - just cut and paste the code
below...
POST YOUR COMMENTS  CLICK HERE TO HAVE YOUR SAY
|
