The Penultimate Truth: A Novel - Softcover

Dick, Philip K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1400030110 ISBN 13: 9781400030118

Publisher: Vintage, 2004

Synopsis

What if you discovered that everything you knew about the world was a lie? That’s the question at the heart of Philip K. Dick’s futuristic novel about political oppression, the show business of politics and the sinister potential of the military industrial complex. This wry, paranoid thriller imagines a future in which the earth has been ravaged, and cities are burnt-out wastelands too dangerous for human life. Americans have been shipped underground, where they toil in crowded industrial ant hills and receive a steady diet of inspiring speeches from a President who never seems to age. Nick St. James, like the rest of the masses, believed in the words of his leaders. But that all changes when he travels to the surface—where what he finds is more shocking than anything he could possibly imagine.

Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utlizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.

About this title

From the Publisher:

'AN ENTERTAINIG AND DISTURBING READ' - Sunday Times

'AS FULL OF MUSCLE, TEETH AND FLASHING SURPRISES AS AN ALLIGATOR POOL' - Brian Aldiss

'A FINE PARABLE, GRIPPINGLY WRITTEN' - Tribune

From the Back Cover:

At a time when most 20th-century science fiction writers seem hopelessly dated, Dick gives us a vision of the future that captures the feel of our time. Wired
In the future, most of humanity lives in massive underground bunkers, producing weapons for the nuclear war they've fled. Constantly bombarded by patriotic propaganda, the citizens of these industrial anthills believe they are waiting for the day when the war will be over and they can return aboveground. But when Nick St. James, president of one anthill, makes an unauthorized trip to the surface, what he finds is more shocking than anything he could imagine.
Over a career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) wrote 121 short stories and 45 novels, establishing himself as one of the most visionary authors of the twentieth century. His work is included in The Library of America and has been translated into more than 25 languages. Eleven works have been adapted to film, including Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1400030110
• ISBN 13: 9781400030118
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 208