The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (S.F. MASTERWORKS): Philip K. Dick

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Leo is threatened by the new drug. "Palmer Eldritch is horning into my business and if he does I'll probably be ruined..." Chew-Z is like Pepsi to his Coke. What value is the monopoly with respect to his secret recipe, if somebody can imitate (or improve on) its effect by discovering an alternative lichen-base? "Can-D is obsolete, because what does it do? It provides a few moments of escape, nothing but fantasy."

Summary and Commentary by Brian Davies: The Three Stigmata Of

One drug is called Can-D, which is produced and distributed by a subsidiary of P. P. Layouts (chaired by Leo Bulero), while the other is called Chew-Z (and is distributed by a rival of Leo Bulero, Palmer Eldritch). Since time is distorted under Chew-Z, Leo has no idea when he will return to reality. He wanders for a while, until he runs into a group of people from the future. They recognize him as the savior of the human race from the Proxers, the aliens who used Eldritch and were behind the global warming, and they show Leo a monument to his achievement. They also tell him that this is not a hallucination or an alternative reality, claiming that Chew-Z can make you a non-corporeal entity at a point in the future. You see them often?" asked Hunca. Her tone was casual, but Tom immediately caught the edge in her voice.Since 2009, John Hansen has been reviewing new and old movies, TV, books and comics. Shaune Redfield and Michael Olinger were previous regular contributors to RFMC. His ex-wife Emily, meanwhile, learns that her attempt to sell her pottery designs to Perky Pat Layouts has been rejected, a decision which Barney had no involvement in whatsoever. I also focused on the idea of reality being a shared event. One of the main points I kept in mind about Can-D is that it can be a shared experience with other people, and I think it’s alluded to that reality itself is a shared experience. If it’s not shared with someone else it can be considered a dream or an illusion. When Eldritch is first explaining Chew-Z to Leo, he makes reference to the fact that there are no layouts and that the user is more in control of their own experience rather than sharing it with others (except for Eldritch of course). By the same logic though, I believe that Eldritch (or any God figure) still has some human elements because if they don’t share some sort of reality or space with us then how can they exist? Eldritch isn’t completely free of human influence which is why I think he “fused” with Barney during his use of Chew-Z. When Barney awakes from his Chew-Z experience in his Hovel, he and Anne discuss the fact that Eldritch needed to gain something from Barney during the experience, which is why I think they “fused” and I think that is the shared reality idea.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Goodreads The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Goodreads

About halfway through the book, characters start to see Eldritch in the flesh. He is recognizable by his titular traits: a mechanical arm, a mouth full of metal teeth, and cybernetic eyes. One could go down a whole ’nother path about how the melding of human and robot is inherently creepy – something that also preoccupied George Lucas in his early “Star Wars” drafts, notably when inventing Darth Vader – although this point of view was more common in old SF than it is today.This novel, in my opinion, posits that the essential state of humanity is eternal isolation. We can never find solace in each other. Each person is utterly alone, with no escape. None are capable of understanding others, nor of being understood ourselves.