Name: Philip Kindred DickNationality: American
Born/Died: 1928-1982
Famous for: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), A Scanner Darkly (1973), The Man in the High Castle (1962), Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (19770)
What makes him a revolutionary: The tragedy of Philip K Dick was not his drug abuse (which was extensive), his mental state (which was precarious to say the least) or his relationship failures (of which there were multiple), but the unrelenting lack of appreciation he endured during his lifetime. The man was full of a dark, twisted originality that began with his morbid fixation with the death of his twin sister at the age of six weeks and continued through a lifetime of paranoia, unreality and philosophy. Despite his talents he was denied mainstream success and, although embraced by hardcore science fiction fans, he was clearly pained by this rejection (as was his bank account). Still Dick penned some of the most absorbing pieces of dystopian fiction ever written and, although his successes are mostly posthumous, the array of film adaptions of his works proves that he at least managed to reach the level of popularity he deserved eventually….even if the quality of some of those adaptations may be questionable.
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