“The Man in the High Castle”
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
What if Roosevelt had been assassinated, and the United States had never recovered from the great depression, so that its military power had became insignificant, when compared to that of Japan or Germany? What if this fragile coalition which became known as the “allies” had lost the war, without the financial and military aid of the U.S.? A dark scenario, indeed, would take place. But Philip K. Dick decided to take this concept one step further. The level of detail of Dick’s description is amazingly high: a northern america divided between the German an Japanese invaders, a dystopian world where the civilization and simplicity (but sense of superiority) of the Japanese contrasts with the racist and madly-driven policies of a technologically advanced Nazi Germany. In the middle, “The Grasshoper lies heavy”, the narrative inside the narrative, a nested virtual world where the allies have won the war, although in circumstances that differ from those of our reality. Hawthorne Abendsen, the author of the “Grasshoper”, stays behind a mysterious shade of myth: it is said that he lives in a castle, on the top of a hill, defended by barbed wire and weapons. The end of the story is rather surprising, a nuance which suddenly connects the different realities contained in the book.
It is definitely recommended. One of the best sci-fi novels ever made - from the man who wrote “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” (which was adapted for the movie “Blade Runner”), “Minority Report” (which provides the foundations for the movie with the same name), “Total Recall” (once again, adapted for the big screen) and “VALIS” (which I will read next).