Valis (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Horselover Fat: This is Philip K Dick's alter ego. Phil says he wrote in the third person to gain much needed objectivity about his "situation." That refers to the state of his mind and mental health.
• Phil himself: Phil is the first person narrator of Valis.
• Kevin: Cynical friend.
• Sherri Solvig: Add a description of this character.
• David
• Linda Lampton
• St. Sophia
• Dr. Leon Stone
• Eric Lampton
• Brent Mini
• Maurice
• Beth
• Christopher
• Gloria Knudson
• Nicholas Brady
• Stephanie
• Valls
• Bob Langley
• Father Larry
• Doug
• Robin Jamison
• Mother Goose
• Edna
• Debbie
• Ferris F. Fremount
• John
• Asklepios
• Thomas Disch
• Elijah
• Shiva
• Jung
• Edward Hussey
• Amfortas
• Heraclitus
• Wise Mind
• Moses
• Samael
• Parmenides
• Mircea Eliade
• C.S. Lewis
• Parsifal
• St. Paul
• Linda Ronstadt
• Pythagoras
• Zoroaster
• Jim Pike
• Dr. Bach
• Meister Eckehart
• Mao
• Simon Magus
• Eleanor
• Plato
• Paracelsus
• Richard Wagner
• Julian
• Richard Nixon
• Jack Barbina
• Zebra
• Arthur Schopenhauer
• Philip K. Dick

Quotes edit see section history

• “"We did not fall because of a moral error; we fell because of an intellectual error: that of taking the phenomenal world as real. Therefore, we are morally innocent. It is the Empire in its various disguised polyforms which tells us we have sinned. 'The Empire never ended.'"”

• “What we have here is a Zen paradox. That which makes no sense makes the most sense. I am being caught in a sin of the highest magnitude: using Aristotelian two-value logic: 'A thing is either A or not-A' (The Law of the Excluded Middle). Everybody knows that Aristotelian two-value logic is fucked.”

  Narrator

• “An irruption from the collective unconscious, Jung taught, can wipe out the fragile individual ego. In the depths of the collective the archetypes slumber; if aroused, they can heal or they can destroy. This is the danger of the archetypes; the opposite qualities are not yet separated. Bipolarization into paired opposites does not occur until consciousness occurs.”

  Narrator

• “The distinction between sanity and insanity is narrower than the razor's edge, sharper than a hound's tooth, more agile than a mule deer.It is more elusive than the merest phantom. Perhaps it does not even exist; perhaps it is a phantom.”

• “It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.”

• “Certainly it constitutes bad news if the people who agree with you are buggier than batshit.”

• “It is amazing that when someone else spouts the nonsense you yourself believe you can readily perceive it as nonsense.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• California
• Rome
• North Ward
• Canada
• China
• Great Punta
• Santa Ana
• Sonoma
• Zebra
• United States
• France
• Synchronicity Music
• Kursk
• Synanon
• New York
• Soviet Union
• Head Apollo
• Vancouver
• Modesto
• Britannica

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by The Divine Invasion.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Philip K. Dick (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3554.I3
• Dewey: 813.54

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( D ) › Dick, Philip K.
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Science Fiction
• Books › Literature & Fiction

More Books Like This edit see section history