The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch
Written by Philip K. Dick
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“The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch” is a environmental dystopian, scifi novel written by the American scifi, and giant in the scifi genre of literature, author Philip K. Dick. It has won many prestigious awards and has also received criticism from some of the top authors of the scifi genre for the way the story bends our views on what accepted reality is because parts of the story seem very dreamlike. The novel deals with many topics that were not so obvious for the 1965 audience. Topics like environmental collapse, forced colonization, over reliance on technology for jobs that, we feel even today, can only be done by flesh and blood people like the computerized psychiatrist the protagonist uses. “The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch” is a strange, relevant and interesting masterpiece.

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“The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch” takes place in the not-too-distant future where the civilization on Earth is on the brink of collapse. The temperatures around the world are un livably hot at certain times of the day and people are forced to avoid the noonday sun and walk around with cooling machines or die from the heat. Governments are forcing people out to the stars to colonize other worlds but most people don´t want to go. The world government seems to be the UN and they are the ones who dole out the draft that forces people to move to the stars.

I love the world building that we see in so many Philip K. Dick novels and stories. He is a master at creating fascinating worlds that seem so real and turn out to be a good estimate of our future. Think of the environmental problems of today and add a pinch of the extreme, or has not enough time passed yet. I loved the way Barney used a computerized psychiatrist to try and dodge his draft to the colonies. The author did not officially state this in the story but this must be a future of sophisticated algorithms, like what we are heading for now, today. When it comes to world building I feel that Philip K. Dick has few equals. He subsequently snatches that clear images of the world and reality from us as the novel progresses which is a little infuriating but keep in mind that in the scifi genre we really have to suspend our disbelief, maybe more so than most other genres. I also loved the way corporations behaved in such a similar way as today. Not much has changed in that regard.

One interesting part of the story was how the drug Can-D was illegal but the colonists relied so much on it. The characters, colonists in this case, used the illegal drug together partly to make life more bearable. The world of the future, in the colonies especially, was not a better place than what we have today. The technology was better, more advanced, but life was not better for the individual. The newer drug Chew-Z was a bigger disaster for the colonists.

This is not the first Philip K. Dick book and story I have read and I enjoyed just like the others. This was a book with a good story and great elements and the author´s originality that he is so well known for. Do some find his imagination too much of a stretch sometimes? Sure, but that does not make it any less of a fun read. Was the ending kinda quick? And were we waiting for more? Sure, but it was still a good read.

I have one theory though. Many authors have great story ideas with great developments but have a hard time giving their great story an ending, or even losing motivation along the way and so the story stagnates or drops off. Philip K. Dick may have had trouble finishing his story or wanted to explore the elasticity of imagination.

Exploring the elasticity of imagination is something few authors will do beyond a certain point. I think authors need to be given leeway to do so and should even be encouraged, especially in the scifi genre. So, this novel and its ending does not infuriate me or frustrate me. I don´t mind stories that seem to end too quickly, stories I don´t understand or with elements of a story that I do not like. If you consider that this story was written many decades ago it is not a stretch to call Philip K. Dick a `visionary´.

So check it out this novel and enjoy it.

John Ink2Quill

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