WEEK ONE: Intro
Introduction to PKD’s life, work, and major themes. Participants will also have the opportunity to communicate their backgrounds and interests.
WEEK TWO - THREE: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
A close look at this dark 1964 masterpiece. We’ll look at themes of pop media, virtual reality, telepathy, drugs, gnostic archons, and consumer culture.
WEEK FOUR: Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Ridley Scott’s final version is set for release on DVD this summer. We’ll break it down, and consider how it does and does not reflect PKD’s visions of the android.
WEEK FIVE - SIX: VALIS
Because it combines fiction and autobiography, this book will give us a window onto PKD’s famous 1974 visionary experience as well as his ideas about it. We’ll also explore how this masterpiece itself teaches us how (and how not) to read PKD’s own writings.
WEEK SEVEN: A Scanner Darkly (film)
No doubt the most faithful PKD film to date, Richard Linklater’s animated film simultaneously explores drug culture and our surveillance state. Will the future itself make us schizo?
WEEK EIGHT: The Future
Will PKD’s star continue to rise? Why has he become so popular in Hollywood? What lies ahead for fans? More importantly, how do the works we have read prepare us for the future? What is his message – and how does he scramble it?
