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Jun 28, 2012 · Despite not reaching the near perfection which characterizes his best works, The Penultimate Truth (1964) is worth the read. The work’s premise is pure PKD. As with his best, an uncanny sci-fi infused surrealism seeps from the pages….
For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector. But up on Earth's surface, a different kind of reality reigns. East and West are at peace.
- (10.2K)
- Paperback
- Surrounded by Yance-Men
- Shades of ‘1984’
- Two Audience Surrogates
- Can We Handle The Truth?
He draws from “The Mold of Yancy” (1955), in which speechwriters prop up the president, giving people what they want to hear, in a precisely formulated tone. Also, the murderous suspect-framing device from “The Unreconstructed M”(1957) returns, as does the time-scoop that features in several stories. Even if you’ve read these stories shortly before...
Setting aside the difference in tones, “1984” is the closest precursor to “The Penultimate Truth” because both are about rewriting history. Intriguingly, PKD imagines that West-Dem and Pac-Peop receive different versions of what happened in World Wars I and II, such that people of both halves of the world believe their side won. The author sets up ...
The two audience surrogates are Joe Adams, a Yance-man who is lonely from living with leadies and seeing only nature (rather than other people) around him; and Nicholas St. James, who climbs out of a California tank and learns the truth about the state of the world. When everyone aboveground uses lies to get a slice of power, things can get convolu...
But the answer PKD gives us is less straightforward and arguably more chilling: We won’t ever know what will happen when the tankers learn the truth, because they won’t ever learn the truth. The Yance-men are too good at their speech-writing and info-spinning jobs. And even those with a conscience, such as our de facto hero Adams, want to avoid a c...
The Penultimate Truth is a fun and mordant vision of the future that should hugely entertain all readers. As for that unusual title, it only begins to make sense in the book’s last couple of pages, and is most certainly worth the wait…
The Penultimate Truth is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story is set in a future where the bulk of humanity is kept in large underground shelters. The people are told that World War III is being fought above them, when in reality the war ended years ago.
- Philip K. Dick
- 1964
The Penultimate Truth is a novel that explores the theme of truth versus perception. The novel suggests that the truth is often hidden from the masses, and that what people perceive as truth is often a distorted version of reality.
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Apr 23, 2017 · The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick My rating: 2 of 5 stars. Philip K. Dick is above all a writer of ideas. To him we are indebted for some of the most innovative concepts to come out of 20th Century sci-fi. For me the debt is also personal.
