I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the Mind of Philip K. Dick - Emmanuel Carrere

Definitely NOT a biography

If you want to read a biography of Philip K. Dick please don't buy this book. The real autobiography is Lawrence Sutin's Divine Invasions. Carrére's book is mostly fiction. It's an avantpop novel where the author mixed facts about Phil's life with invention. It's very well written, and sometime reveals things about Dick's fiction that were ignored by critics and experts; it's very intelligent and a wonderful read; but it is NOT a biography. Some episodes, however moving or funny they may be, are completely invented (for example The Game of the Rat: there is no proof that Dick ever played it, while it's found in a brilliant essay by Thomas M. Disch on Dick, and it's probably Disch--not Dick--who had played that game). Having said that, one must praise Carrère for writing such a wonderful piece of postmodernist fiction, which shows great literary talent and an immense love for Phil Dick and his worlds.

Scan This Book Darkly

I am a great admirer of Dick's philisophical approach to science fiction and was excited (if not a little aprehensive) at the prospect of delving into the man's mind. This book did not dissapoint. Unlike most biographies which merely list events as they happen, Carrere displays a skill at storytelling which is something more, something richer. Without displaying Dick in an artificially rosy light he tells the internal journey of the man, a journey which seeks not the truth but the MEANING of truth, just like Dick himself struggled with his whole life. An absorbing read and beautifully crafted, even if you're not a fan of the subject's work.

Buy it, read it, lend it to your friends...

This is a well written and fascinating tale, which is truly stranger than any of Philip K Dick's fiction.

For any fan of Philip K dick, or even for those who aren't familiar with his work, this will increase your fascination with him considerably.

This biography sheds light on Dick's life and the reoccurring themes of his books, as well as providing insight into the background of many of his novels.

For me, the most interesting section is the extraordinary parallels between Dick's life and the occurrences in his famous book `The man in the High Castle', which not only adds huge significance to the novel, but also raises some very interesting questions about the state of our reality and the philosophy of time.

I'm not the strongest reader, but I ploughed through this book in a couple of days, which is a testament to its eloquence and amazing subject.

Will alter your perception of Philip K Dick

Writing a biography is one thing, getting inside Philip K Dick's mind quite another. In this novelisation of the science fiction writer's life the biographical facts are incidental, and reconstructing the amphetamine fuelled thoughts that drove him to write, divorce (four times?), attempt suicide (twice), and invent and inhabit his own fantastic and fear-filled worlds is M. Carrere's objective.

He succeeds brilliantly. It's astounding that in his paranoid delusional state Dick achieved so much, although paradoxically that's what drove him. It's a testament to M. Carrere's skill that his portrait is so lucid. His book could so easily have fallen apart, as Dick did.

If you've seen some of the films (Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly) or read some of the books (The Man in a High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubiq) reading this book will enhance your appreciation of them. You'll suddenly realise what Dick was getting at, where before you'd enjoyed the ride.

It left me wanting a 'proper' biography (which exists, it's by Lawrence Sutin). That's not a criticism, Dick's universe had little room for reality. He discards the bit players in his life when they cease to be relevant. Now I'd like to know about Dick, as they saw him. The 'real' Dick, perhaps.

Gripping, but . . . is it really a biography?

The book reads well, and is terribly gripping. I have just one problem with it. How true is any of what it says? The reason for this concern is that there is no critical apparatus, and no information providing sources for various assertions.

For example, some material that is presented as biographical is clearly derived from Dick's fiction. There is a long section which consists of incidents from 'A Scanner Darkly', but told as if they happened to Dick (and not told as if they are actually part of the novel). Now, maybe they really did happen to Dick, and he decided to incorporate them into his novel. Or maybe the author of this book decided for reasons of his own to claim that they happened to Dick. Without discussion of sources, there's no way of telling.

Similarly, there's a lot of material which would appear to me supposition, as it is presented first person from Dick's perspective, telling us what Dick thought and felt at that moment. Now, Dick was very chatty about himself, leaving reams of semi-autobiography behind, but unless the material is properly referenced, I simply cannot tell whether this is fact or supposition.

So, we're left with a putative 'biography' which is written in a novelistic style and contains none of the apparatus that is expected in a good biography, or even any discussion of what is verifiable and what is supposition. Therefore, I cannot help but wonder if the book is possibly simply a novelised version of Dick's life, in which case it is still very interesting, but it isn't a biography.