Philip K. Dick and the Spectre of the Subject

This thesis considers the American author Philip K. Dick (1928 - 1982) from a philosophical framework informed by the work of the contemporary philosopher Alain Badiou. Drawing from three different phases of Dick’s career, I aim to demonstrate that his The Man in the High Castle (1962), Time Out of Joint (1959) and the later short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” can examine and comment upon the ethical call in Badiou’s subtractive schema of the event. However, this is not to suggest that the thesis is a ventriloquist application of philosophy to text. Rather, the work will also consider Badiou’s Lacanian heritage and move to discuss the grand categories the two thinkers share in common: the Real, truth, subject and the ethical call through an analysis of Dick’s fiction.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Central Lancashire

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Hidges, Jennifer J

Language dc:language

en