American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

This podcast is the first of three episodes exploring the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates. In addition to reading them I watched the reenactments aired by C-SPAN in the 1990s. I recommend them.

We have come all this way in order to read Philip K. Dick's most disappointing book. It is an opaque novel that betrays much of what Dick established in his earlier career on what it means to be human and how to respond to power. But share your thoughts.

Philip K. Dick's "VALIS Trilogy" begins with a little novel called VALIS. A fan favorite, but not one I care for very much. Let me know what you think.

"The Alien Mind" was Philip K. Dick's last published story, appearing in The Yuba City High Times in February 1981. Next up, we will look at the VALIS novels.

"Rautavaara's Case" by Philip K. Dick is one of his last stories. It uses an interstellar dispute over a man's remains to explore the limits of understanding between cultures and what a truly religious system could look like. This story also asks some nice bio-medical ethics questions.

This episode examines Lincoln's writings from the aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act to his nomination by the Illinois Republican Party to the Senate in 1858. The highlight of this period is his famous "House Divided" Speech.

In "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" (published in PLAYBOY) Philip K. Dick wrote a nice story about change, how we do not trust memories, and how memories may fill in for what we have lost. One of his last stories.

Philip K. Dick wrote with brilliance about mental illness and institutionalization throughout his career. Check out this story (the first work of his from the 1980s, I look at), "Strange Memories of Death". It is a mainstream story about living next to the Lysol Lady.

What did Philip K. Dick think of Watergate and state secrets and the military-industrial complex? I think we know, but if you have any doubt read "The Exit Door Leads In" which was published in ROLLING STONES COLLEGE PAPERS. It is a very nice story Dick published in 1979

In this episode, I take a close look at the writings and speeches of Abraham Lincoln during the years after the Mexican War, as the sectional conflict began in the United States. Lincoln completes his only term in the House of Representatives and returns to Illinois and lawyering, but remained an observer of Whig politics during the last years of that party.