The Man In the High Castle

[SovietDoom]

Now, some of you may have heard of this alternate historical novel. FDR dies in 1933, the Nazis and the Japanese eventually conquer the USA.

However, it is a philosophical novel worked to greatness.

This is Philip K. Dick's assessment of Nazi mentality -

“Their view; it is cosmic. Not of a man here, a child there but an abstraction: race, land. Volk. Land. Ehre. Not of honorable men but of Ehre itself, honor; the abstract is real, the actual is invisible to them. Die Güte, but not good men, this good man. It is their sense of space and time. They see through the here, the now, into the vast, black deep beyond, the unchanging. And that is fatal to life. Because eventually there will be no life…It is all temporary…They want to aid nature…They identify with God's power, and believe they are godlike. That is their basic madness. They are overcome by some archetype; their egos have expanded psychotically so that they cannot tell where they begin and the godhead leaves off. It is not hubris, not pride; it is inflation of the ego to its ultimate—confusion between him who worships and that which is worshiped. Man has not eaten God; God has eaten man.”

So, what do you guys think?

[Removed_user_012521]

Seems pretty good after you get passed the first sentances.

[Sétanta]

I LOVE books like this. And this one was one of the best.

[SovietDoom]

Good, but what do you think of the ideas of the book itself, as in the whole "History isn't real" thing?

[Sétanta]

Good, but what do you think of the ideas of the book itself, as in the whole "History isn't real" thing?

I think he was trying to say something like History is what you make it, as in the lessons learned from history can be used both positivily and negatively, depending on HOW you DO use them.

yeah. I make sense

[Blaven]

PKD was a really interesting guy with a lot of crazy themes in his works, but by far the most overriding theme is that of "what is reality". In terms of whether or not reality is or is not real: reality is relative (or maybe truth is relative) but does that mot make it anymore real?

My brain hurts.

[Sidus Preclarum]

I loved this novel.

[chimera1715]

The Man in the High Castle put foward some interesting philosophical points but as an alternative history novel it was terrible. Some people consider it a classic of alternative history but I would not agree. It was not believable in the least. An interesting book, but one that failed in my opinion.