/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.9175173]

What went wrong, /lit/?

[Anonymous No.9175181]

By trying to do some terrible espionage-plot

[Anonymous No.9175193]

can someone genuinelly explain what the fuck the "plot" was?

[Anonymous No.9175363]

>>9175193
the plot isn't the point of the book dummy

[Anonymous No.9175371]

>>9175193
>he reads PKD for the plot
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175375]

>>9175371
>he reads PKD
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175380]

Many things went wrong. Germany didn't pursue the bomb, for one. There were many tactical mistakes on Germany's part. But I think the greatest mistake is the one the western allies made- not joining Hitler in the war against the Soviets. The world would be such a great place now if that had been the case.

[Anonymous No.9175382]

>>9175375
>he reads
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175386]

>>9175173
Nothing. It's a neat spin on Dick's usual themes.

[Anonymous No.9175389]

>>9175173
He tried too hard for this one. Most of his other books seem to have been spontaneously written and kind of freeflowing, but in this one, he claims that he researched a shitton about the Nazis just to write it, even though it seems like a pretty short, simple, self-contained book. He was apparently reading a bunch of rare genuine manuscripts of Nazi's diaries that he could only find in some University's library that was letting him go there, and he claimed that it fucked him up and the reason he couldn't write a sequel was because the reading of it all was emotionally too much for him. So, part of the reason a lot of PKD fans/readers dislike it is that it's much more steeped in minutiae, much more artificial than his other works.

He also claimed that he wrote it with the help of the I Ching, similar to how the characters use the I Ching in the book. I think he used it to plot certain events, and also actually flipped it and transcribed it whenever his characters used it in the book. However, he also said the I Ching couldn't help him write the ending (which does suck), and ultimately claimed the I Ching was controlled by the spirit of Satan, giving some good answers but supposedly giving the worst answers at the worst time to trick you.

He was a strange guy.

[Anonymous No.9175391]

>>9175382
>he
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175396]

>>9175389
Have you read Valis? Fucked with my mind a little bit.

[Anonymous No.9175399]

>>9175391
>
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175401]

>>9175380
Germany pursued the bomb. They just couldn't get anywhere because they ran off every leading edge physicist for studying something they were literally autistic enough to call "Jewish physics". Oh and then they tried to murder every jew which most of the leading German physicists also happened to be.

By the time they realized how fucking stupid they were, the only guy left was Heisenberg (who was pissed off for having his career basically ruined for the past twelve years for studying the so-called "Jewish Physics") and he actively sabotaged the effort.

[Anonymous No.9175408]

>>9175389
i have not read anything about how he used the i ching, but i could see this being the case:

when a character in the book used it, so did phil and the outcome dictated where the story went from there.

that'd be neat. add a lil aleatoric element. fun.

[Anonymous No.9175418]

>>9175399
lmao

[Anonymous No.9175425]

>>9175396
Yes, I did. Why?

Incidentally, I happen to like The Man in the High Castle, but then again I like everything Dick ever wrote, so I'm a bit uncritical in that respect.

[Anonymous No.9175435]

mother fucking Russia that's what went wrong. had they not invaded them there wouldn't be so many panzy ass sissy boi faggots on this planet

[Anonymous No.9175436]

>>9175418

[Anonymous No.9175445]

>>9175401
Well, they may have pursued the bomb in theory, but in practice they didn't devote nearly enough attention and resources to the idea. If they had seriously considered it and worked towards it (and not driven away the Jewish scientists as you say) they could have completed it in a matter of months.
Then they could drop bombs on Moscow and London and end the war.

[Anonymous No.9175509]

[Anonymous No.9175516]

[Anonymous No.9175525]

[Anonymous No.9175530]

[Anonymous No.9175534]

[Anonymous No.9175537]

[Anonymous No.9175544]

[Anonymous No.9175558]

>>9175509
>>9175516
>>9175525
>>9175530
>>9175534
>>9175537
>>9175544
Came here hoping for these.