Plight And Liberation In The Late Works Of Philip K.Dick

VALIS and A Scanner Darkly are two of the most representative works of American writer Philip K.Dick in his late years,which contain Dick’s thoughts and understanding of personal liberation.Focusing on these two works,this thesis aims to examine Philip K.Dick’s opposing yet holistic view of the universe and the mind presented through these two works through textual interpretation,and to examine the spiritual plight of human beings caused by the opposition and split of both the universe and the mind.Through these two works,the thesis also analyzes how human achieves liberation,in other words,how human returns from division to wholeness,in Dick’s late worksThis thesis divides into five parts:The introductory section introduces the research significance of the selected topic,the current research in the domestic and international academic community,and the research ideas and research methods of this thesisThe first chapter focuses on the cosmology presented by Dick in VALIS,in which many characters directly question the goodness of God because of the inevitable existence of "evil" in the universe,thus embarking on the path of searching for God but ultimately failing.This failure ultimately suggests that the key to liberation lies in the hands of man himself-thus turning to the search for liberation of the human mindThe second chapter focuses on the view of the mind presented by Dick in A Scanner Darkly,which portrays the split-minded character Fred/Actor and depicts the ultimate failure and tragic end of man’s attempts to achieve liberation through LSD.This failure implies that liberation does not require drugs,but rather another way.The third chapter focuses on the path to liberation presented by Dick in VALIS and A Scanner Darkly,both of which present the main characters in a split state of mind,and liberation ultimately requires the attainment of a split unity,the path to which can both cancel and reconciliate opposites——It is on these two levels that Dick offers his unique approach to liberation.The conclusion concludes that the liberation in Dick’s work is deeply rooted in the spiritual plight of modern human and incorporates many Eastern thoughts,while he himself eventually practiced his own view of liberation after a series of journeys in search of God in his later years.The analysis of the concept of liberation in the two works can both inspire us to deal with the spiritual problems of contemporary people and allow us to better know and understand Philip K.Dick.