| The dissertation analyzes the fictional and autobiographical writings of Philip K. Dick, an American science fiction writer who claimed to have had agnostic revelation in Southern California in 1974. The dissertation traces the antecedents of Dick's hidden god, examining how the apocalyptic scenario of 1974 expresses---in a sophisticated and displaced form---many of the political, cultural and psychic dynamics which he regularly explored in his science fiction. In six topical chapters, the dissertation analyzes Dick's vision of commodity consumption elevated to a transcendental ritual, his reflections on whether counter-cultural communities might serve as a refuge from an all-powerful police state, and his meditations on the solipsistic nature of authorship and the necessary redemption of fiction in social, generic forms. The dissertation also provides extended readings of specific texts, most importantly, Dick's autobiographical novel Valis, examining the dynamics of "fantastic re-reading" whereby the author re-assembles his entire fictional corpus into an integrated "meta-novel" that can serve as a guide to the Dickian apocalypse. Throughout, the dissertation reframes Dick's theological visions in recognizably social terms, emphasizing his interest in mass-produced cultural forms as the vehicle for individual and communal regeneration. |
