Ubik
by Philip K. Dick
Essay by Ted Gioia
Philip K. Dick’s 1969 novel Ubik did not win any of the major
science fiction awards, but it was selected by Time magazine
as one of the 100 best novels in the English language
published between 1923 and 2005. At the
time of his death in 1982, even
Dick’s fervent fans could hardly
have conceived his enshrinement
on such a list, alongside Heming-
way, Faulkner, Bellow and
Nabokov. But Dick’s star con-
tinues to rise – in fact, it is hard
to think of another writer, in any
genre, whose reputation has en-
joyed such an unexpected turn-
around during the last quarter
century.
But Dick’s vindication is also a
vindication for the science
fiction genre in which he toiled so
long, with so few rewards. The posthumous celebration of this
author is based on a belated recognition that creativity in the
conceptual underpinnings of fiction can be as important as
experimentation with language. The greatest speculative
fiction excites and dazzles us precisely on this conceptual
level. This is no small matter. The ability to de-construct and
re-construct the surrounding reality is a powerful tool in fiction,
perhaps every bit as potent as a hundred Nabokovian puns or
Poundian allusions. If the novel aspires to unraveling the
psychological, the sociological, the institutional dimensions of
our lives in the context of inspired story-telling, then the tools
of speculative fiction should not be disdained.
No one delighted more in these conceptual acrobatics more
than Dick. The ethos of his fiction might be summed up in a
single admonition: things are never quite what they seem.
But Dick had a hundred different ways of exploring this
theme. Ubik stands out, in particular, as one of his most fully
realized efforts to disrupt our everyday assumptions about
reality, and it ranks as perhaps his most ingeniously plotted
work.
Sometimes his books lay open their tricks in the opening
chapters, and the readers simply go along for the ride,
reasonably sure what lies ahead. But Ubik keeps you
guessing at almost every step along the way, and your
hypotheses about what is actually transpiring will probably
change several times as the story progresses. From this
regard, the work progresses much like a conventional
mystery, with clues to be deciphered and puzzles to be
solved. Only here the questions are peculiar ones – not who
committed the murder, but whether a murder actually took
place, not finding the body but understanding what a body
might be and become, not avenging a death but reassessing
the boundaries between life and death.
Such comments may make Dick sound like a philosopher
rather than a novelist. But that is hardly the case in Ubik.
The reader can stop and mull over the theoretical and ethical
implications of the crazy twists in the plot, but Dick relentlessly
pushes ahead with story. He is bursting out with his tale, and
hardly willing to let anything deter him. The only pauses are
for the koan-like clues provided in the epigraphs to his various
chapters.
And what should you make of these?
Taken as directed, Ubik provides uninterrupted sleep without
morning grogginess. . . . Do not exceed recommended
dosage.
or
Pop tasty Ubik into your toaster, made only from fresh fruit
and healthful all-vegetable shortening. Ubik makes breakfast
a feast, puts zing into your thing.
Safe when handled as directed.
or
New extra-gentle Ubik bra and longline Ubik special bra
mean, Lift your arms and be all at once curvier! Supplies firm,
relaxing support to bosom all day long when fitted as
directed.
What this has to do with the story is not easy to understand at
first. The tale builds around Joe Chip who works for a
“prudence organization” – essentially a private security and
investigation firm made up of employees with various psychic
powers. Chip and his colleagues are engaged in a fierce
battle with a rival firm. But as the story progresses the conflict
between the psychics is superseded by an even more
pressing concern – the world seems to be altering and
deteriorating in an unprecedented manner. Food gets stale
at an alarming rate, as do cigarettes. Strange messages
show up on television broadcasts, on product labels, and in
other unexpected settings. Some fundamental change in the
basic texture of reality is apparently underway. Could it be
that this odd consumer product Ubik has something to do with
all this?
This is conceptual fiction at a very high pitch, indeed. Fifty
pages before the end, the reader still wonders whether the
author can connect all the dots. Is this sprawling story about
ready to collapse under its own zaniness. But Dick pulls it off
in stride, pulling together all of the strands of this hallucinatory
story in a very satisfying conclusion.

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Conceptual Fiction: A Reading List (with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland
Adams, Douglas The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin Time's Arrow
Apuleius The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M. The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G. The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G. Crash
Ballard, J.G. The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G. The Drowned World
Barth, John Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred The Demolished Man
Blish, James A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R. Moderan
Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C. A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z. The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z. House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R. Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R. Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R. The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R. Nova
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K. Ubik
Dick, Philip K. VALIS
Disch, Thomas M. Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M. The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor) Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fuentes, Carlos Aura
Gaiman, Neil American Gods
Gaiman, Neil Neverwhere
Gibson, William Burning Chrome
Gibson, William Neuromancer
Grass, Günter The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe The Forever War
Hall, Steven The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John Light
Heinlein, Robert The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert: Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank Dune
Hoffman, Alice Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Keret, Etgar Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel Flowers for Algernon
Kundera, Milan The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A. Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly Magic for Beginners
Malzberg, Barry N. Herovit's World
Mann, Thomas Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García 100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard Hell House
Matheson, Richard What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac The Road
Miéville, China Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael The Final Programme
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Murakami, Haruki 1Q84
Murakami, Haruki Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry Ringworld
Noon, Jeff Vurt
Obreht, Téa The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben The Famished Road
Percy, Walker Love in the Ruins
Pohl, Frederik Gateway
Pratchett, Terry The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley Red Mars
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna The Female Man
Saramago, José Blindness
Sheckley, Robert Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert The World Inside
Simak, Clifford City
Simak, Clifford The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal Snow Crash
Spinrad, Norman Bug Jack Barron
Stross, Charles Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M. The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit
Updike, John The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E. The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E. Slan
Van Vogt, A.E. The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E. The World of Null A
Vance, Jack Emphyrio
Verne, Jules Around the Moon
Verne, Jules From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G. The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G. The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G. The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia Orlando
Zabor, Rafi The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger This Immortal
Special Features Notes on Conceptual Fiction When Science Fiction Grew Up Ray Bradbury: A Tribute The Year of Magical Reading Remembering Fritz Leiber A Tribute to Richard Matheson Samuel Delany's 70th birthday The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut Curse You, Neil Armstrong! Robert Heinlein at 100 A.E, van Vogt Tribute The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
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