The Man in the High Castle
OCLC 145507009 | | |
813.54 |
The Man in the High Castle (1962), by
Dick's thematic inspirations include the alternative history of the American Civil War, Bring the Jubilee (1953), by Ward Moore, and the I Ching, a Chinese book of divination that features in the story and the actions of the characters. The Man in the High Castle won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963, and was adapted to television for Amazon Prime Video as The Man in the High Castle in 2015.
Synopsis
Background
In The Man in the High Castle alternative history,
By 1962, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany are the world's superpowers, fighting a
The aged Adolf Hitler is incapacitated by tertiary syphilis, Martin Bormann is the acting Chancellor of Germany and the inner-circle Nazis—Joseph Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Hermann Göring, Arthur Seyss-Inquart—vie to succeed Hitler as the Führer of the Greater Germanic Reich. Technologically, the Nazis have drained the Mediterranean Sea for lebensraum and farmland, developed and used the hydrogen bomb, developed rockets for traveling throughout the world and into outer space, such as the colonization missions to the Moon, and to the planets Venus and Mars.
Plot
In 1962, it has been fifteen years since Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany won World War II. In
Recently fired from his job at a Wyndam-Matson factory, Frank Frink (formerly Fink) is a
Frink blackmails the Wyndam-Matson Corporation for money to finance his jewelry business, threatening to expose their supplying counterfeit antiques to Childan. Tagomi and Baynes meet, but Baynes repeatedly delays conducting any real business because he awaits a third party from Japan. The Nazi news media announces that Chancellor of Nazi Germany Martin Bormann has died after a short illness. Childan takes some of Frink's "authentic metalwork" jewelry on consignment, to curry favor with a Japanese client, who, to Childan's surprise, says it possesses much Wu, spiritual awareness. Juliana and Joe travel by road to Denver, Colorado, but en route Joe impulsively decides that they take a side trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to meet Hawthorne Abendsen, the mysterious author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a novel of speculative fiction that presents an alternative history of World War II, wherein the Allies defeat the Axis. The Nazis banned it in the U.S., but the Japanese allow its publication and sale in the Pacific States of America. Supposedly, Abendsen lives in a guarded estate named the High Castle. Meanwhile, the Nazi news media inform the public that Joseph Goebbels is the new Chancellor of Nazi Germany.
After much delay, Baynes and Tagomi meet their Japanese contact, while the
Wegener flies back to Germany and learns that Reinhard Heydrich (a member of the faction against Operation Dandelion) has launched a coup d'état against Goebbels, to install himself as Chancellor of Nazi Germany. Tagomi is shocked by having killed the SD agents and goes to the antiques shop to sell the pistol back to Childan; instead, sensing the spiritual energy from one of Frink's jewelry creations, Tagomi buys the jewelry. Tagomi then undergoes an intense spiritual experience during which he momentarily perceives an alternative version of San Francisco, evidenced by the Embarcadero freeway, which he has never seen and by the fact that white people do not defer to Japanese people.
Tagomi later meets with the German consul in San Francisco and compels the Germans to free Frink, whom Tagomi has never met, by refusing to sign the order of extradition to Nazi Germany. Juliana has a spiritual experience when she arrives in Cheyenne. She discovers that Abendsen lives with his family in a normal house, having abandoned the High Castle because of a changed outlook on life; thus the possibility of being assassinated no longer worries him. After evading Juliana's questions about his literary inspiration, Abendsen says he used the I Ching, a Chinese book of divination, to guide the writing of his novel. Before leaving, Juliana infers then that Truth wrote the novel to reveal the Inner Truth that Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany did lose World War II in 1945.
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
Several characters in The Man in the High Castle read the popular novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, by Hawthorne Abendsen, the title of which the readers presume derives from the Bible verse fragment: "The grasshopper shall be a burden" (Ecclesiastes 12:5). As an alternative history of the Second World War, wherein the Allies defeat the Axis Powers, the Nazi regime bans The Grasshopper Lies Heavy in the South, whereas the Pacific States of America allow the publication and sale of the Abendsen's counterfactual novel.[2]: 91
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy postulates that President Roosevelt survives the 1933 assassination attempt but chooses not to seek
After the war, Tugwell promulgates the
Inspirations
The novelist Philip K. Dick said that he imagined the story of The Man in the High Castle (1962) from his reading of the novel Bring the Jubilee (1953), by Ward Moore, which is an alternative history of the U.S. civil war won by the Confederacy. In the acknowledgements page of The Man in the High Castle, Dick mentions the thematic influences of the popular history The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1960), by William L. Shirer; the biography Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952), by Alan Bullock; The Goebbels Diaries (1948); Foxes of the Desert (1960), by Paul Carrell; and the 1950 translation of the I Ching, by Richard Wilhelm.[3][2] As a novelist, Dick used the I Ching to craft the themes, plot and story of The Man in the High Castle, whose characters also use the I Ching to inform and guide their decisions.[3]
Dick cites the thematic influences of Japanese and Tibetan poetry upon the narrative of The Man in the High Castle; (i) The haiku in page 48 of the novel is from the first volume of the Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955), edited by Donald Keene; (ii) the waka poem in page 135 is from Zen and Japanese Culture (1955), by D. T. Suzuki and (iii) the Tibetan book of the dead, the Bardo Thodol (1960), edited by Walter Evans-Wentz and mentions the sociologic influences of the expressionist novella Miss Lonelyhearts (1933), by Nathanael West, in which an unhappy newspaper reporter pseudonymously writes the "Miss Lonelyhearts" advice column, through which he dispenses advice to emotionally forlorn readers during the Great Depression. Despite his job as Miss Lonelyhearts, the reporter seeks consolation in religion, sexual promiscuity, rural vacations and much work; no activity provides him with a sense of personal authenticity derived from his intellectual and emotional engagement with the world.[2]: 118
Reception
Avram Davidson praised the novel as a "superior work of fiction", citing Dick's use of the I Ching as "fascinating". Davidson concluded that "It's all here—extrapolation, suspense, action, art, philosophy, plot, [and] character".[4] The Man in the High Castle secured for Dick the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[5][6][7] In a review of a paperback reprint of the novel, Robert Silverberg wrote in Amazing Stories magazine, "Dick's prose crackles with excitement, his characters are vividly real, his plot is stunning".[8]
In The Religion of Science Fiction, Frederick A. Kreuziger explores the theory of history implied by Dick's creation of the two alternative realities
Neither of the two worlds, however, the revised version of the outcome of WWII nor the fictional account of our present world, is anywhere near similar to the world we are familiar with. But they could be! This is what the book is about. The book argues that this world, described twice, although differently each time, is exactly the world we know and are familiar with. Indeed, it is the only world we know: the world of chance, luck, fate.[9]
In her introduction to the Folio Society edition of the novel, Ursula K. Le Guin writes that The Man in the High Castle "may be the first, big lasting contribution science fiction made to American literature."[10]
Adaptations
Audiobook
An unabridged The Man in the High Castle audiobook, read by
Television
After a number of attempts to adapt the book to the screen, in October 2014,
Incomplete sequel
In a 1976 interview, Dick said he planned to write a sequel novel to The Man in the High Castle: "And so there's no real ending on it. I like to regard it as an open ending. It will segue into a sequel sometime."[22] Dick said that he had "started several times to write a sequel" but progressed little, because he was too disturbed by his original research for The Man in the High Castle and could not mentally bear "to go back and read about Nazis again".[23] He suggested that the sequel would be a collaboration with another author:
Somebody would have to come in and help me do a sequel to it. Someone who had the stomach for the stamina to think along those lines, to get into the head; if you're going to start writing about Reinhard Heydrich, for instance, you have to get into his face. Can you imagine getting into Reinhard Heydrich's face?[23]
Two chapters of the proposed sequel were published in The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick, a collection of his essays and other writings.[24] Eventually, Dick admitted that the proposed sequel became an unrelated novel, The Ganymede Takeover, co-written with Ray Nelson (known for writing the short story filmed as They Live).
Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth is rumored to have started as a sequel to The Man in the High Castle.[25] Dick described the plot of this early version of Radio Free Albemuth—then titled VALISystem A—writing:
... a divine and loving ETI [extraterrestrial intelligence] ... help[s] Hawthorne Abendsen, the protagonist-author in [The Man in the High Castle], continue on in his difficult life after the Nazi secret police finally got to him ... VALISystem A, located in deep space, sees to it that nothing can prevent Abendsen from finishing his novel.[25]
The novel eventually became a new story unrelated to The Man in the High Castle.[25] Dick ultimately abandoned the Albemuth book, unpublished during his lifetime, though portions were salvaged and used for 1981's VALIS.[25] Radio Free Albemuth was published in 1985, three years after Dick's death.[26]
See also
- Fatherland (novel)
- Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II
- Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
References
- ^ The events of the book take place in 1962: in chapter 6, in reference to the killing of Joe Cinadella’s brothers in 1944, Juliana says « But it’s been — eighteen years ».
- ^ ISBN 978-0-547-60120-5. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ a b Cover, Arthur Byron (February 1974). "Interview with Philip K. Dick". Vertex. 1 (6). Retrieved July 23, 2014.
- ^ Davidson, Avram (June 1963). "Books". The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: 61.
- ^ "Philip K. Dick, Won Awards For Science-Fiction Works". The New York Times. March 3, 1982. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
- ^ "1963 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
- ^ Wyatt, Fred (November 7, 1963). "A Brisk Bathrobe Canter At Cry Of 'Fire!' Stirs Blood". I-J Reporter's Notebook. Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. Retrieved October 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
Belatedly I learned that Philip K. Dick of Point Reyes Station won the Hugo, the 21st World Science Fiction Convention Annual Achievement Award for the best novel of 1962.
- ^ Silverberg, Robert (June 1964). "The Spectroscope". Amazing Stories. 38 (6): 124. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ISBN 9780879723675. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
man in the high castle cynical.
- ^ Dick, Philip K. (2015). The Man in the High Castle. London: Folio Society.
- ^ Willis, Jesse (May 29, 2003). "Review of The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick". SFFaudio. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ "The Man in the High Castle". BlackstoneAudio.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- ^ L.B. "Audiobook review: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, read by Tom Weiner". audiofilemagazine.com. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- ^ The Man in the High Castle. Audible, Inc.
- ^ Muir, Pat (October 5, 2014). "Roslyn hopes new TV show brings 15 more minutes of fame". Yakima Herald. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 24, 2014). "Amazon Studios Adds Drama 'The Man In The High Castle', Comedy 'Just Add Magic' To Pilot Slate". Deadline. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- ^ "The Man in the High Castle: Season 1, Episode 1". Amazon. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ "The Man in the High Castle". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
- ^ Lewis, Hilary (February 18, 2015). "Amazon Orders 5 New Series Including 'Man in the High Castle'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (February 18, 2015). "Amazon green-lights The Man in the High Castle TV series". The Verge. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ Moylan, Brian (November 18, 2015). "Does The Man in the High Castle prove that the best TV is now streamed?". The Guardian. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ "Hour 25: A Talk With Philip K. Dick « Philip K. Dick Fan Site". Philipkdickfans.com. June 26, 1976. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ ]
- ISBN 0-679-74787-7.
- ^ a b c d Pfarrer, Tony. "A Possible Man in the High Castle Sequel?". Willis E. Howard, III Home Page. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
- ISBN 9780877957621. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
Further reading
- Brown, William Lansing. 2006. "alternative Histories: Power, Politics, and Paranoia in Philip Roth's The Plot against America and Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle", The Image of Power in Literature, Media, and Society: Selected Papers, 2006 Conference, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Wright, Will; Kaplan, Steven (eds.); Pueblo, CO: Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, Colorado State University-Pueblo; pp. 107–11.
- Campbell, Laura E. 1992. "Dickian Time in The Man in the High Castle", Extrapolation, 33: 3, pp. 190–201.
- Carter, Cassie, 1995. "The Metacolonization of Dick's The Man in the High Castle: Mimicry, Parasitism and Americanism in the PSA", Science Fiction Studies #67, 22:3, pp. 333–342.
- DiTommaso, Lorenzo, 1999. "Redemption in Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle", Science Fiction Studies # 77, 26:, pp. 91–119, DePauw University.
- Fofi, Goffredo 1997. "Postfazione", Philip K. Dick, La Svastica sul Sole, Roma, Fanucci, pp. 391–5.
- Hayles, N. Katherine 1983. "Metaphysics and Metafiction in The Man in the High Castle", Philip K. Dick. Greenberg, M.H.; Olander, J.D. (eds.); New York: Taplinger, 1983, pp. 53–71.
- Malmgren, Carl D. 1980. "Philip Dick's The Man in the High Castle and the Nature of Science Fictional Worlds", Bridges to Science Fiction. Slusser, George E.; Guffey, George R.; Rose, Mark (eds.); Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, pp. 120–30.
- Mountfort, Paul 2016. "The I Ching and Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle", Science-Fiction Studies # 129, 43:, pp. 287–309.
- Pagetti, Carlo, 2001a. "La svastica americana" [Introduction], Philip K. Dick, L'uomo nell'alto castello, Roma: Fanucci, pp. 7–26.
- Proietti, Salvatore, 1989. "The Man in The High Castle: politica e metaromanzo", Il sogno dei simulacri. Pagetti, Carlo; Viviani, Gianfranco (eds.); Milano: Nord, 1989 pp. 34–41.
- Rieder, John 1988. "The Metafictive World of The Man in the High Castle: Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Political Ideology", Science-Fiction Studies # 45, 15.2: 214–25.
- Rossi, Umberto, 2000. "All Around the High Castle: Narrative Voices and Fictional Visions in Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle", Telling the Stories of America — History, Literature and the Arts — Proceedings of the 14th AISNA Biennial conference (Pescara, 1997), Clericuzio, A.; Goldoni, Annalisa; Mariani, Andrea (eds.); Roma: Nuova Arnica, pp. 474–83.
- Simons, John L. 1985. "The Power of Small Things in Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle". The Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, 39:4, pp. 261–75.
- Warrick, Patricia, 1992. "The Encounter of Taoism and Fascism in The Man in the High Castle", On Philip K. Dick, Mullen et al. (eds.); Terre Haute and Greencastle: SF-TH Inc. 1992, pp. 27–52.
External links
- The Man in the High Castle cover art gallery
- The Man in the High Castle at the Internet Book List
- The Man in the High Castle at Worlds Without End