American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Part of a series of 1953-1955 short stories exploring marriage by Philip K. Dick. "Beyond the Door" combines a critique of clock time with a critique of the bourgie marriage.

Dick's first great story of posthumanism and mutants is "The Golden Man." Can humans coexist with Humanity+?

Part two of my overview of Jack London's John Barleycorn. The focus of this episode is the "White Logic" and London's depression. Four essays by Jack London are also briefly explored.

In "Jon's World," Philip K. Dick wrote a followup to "Second Variety." While the humans one the war, the survivors are put in a position of prefering an alterantive timeline where the war never started, even if it means the end of all they knew.

Jack London's brilliant autobiography on alcohol, John Barleycorn, Or Alcoholic Memoirs, is a book about many things, including male socialibility and working class culture. One of my favorite books by London.

Philip K. Dick explores the Biblical story of Noah, the suburban family, and post-traumatic stress in his short story "The Builder."

The final episode on Jack London's Martin Eden. What happens when our lonely writer finds success?

In this episode we examine the Philip K. Dick story "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford." What does this story tell us abour family? Consumerism? Technology? Work? A silly story on first glance acually has a lot to tell us.

Part three of a series on Jack London's Martin Eden. In this part, we explore Eden's frustrations, his new friendships, and the decline of his romantic life.

In "The Crystal Crypt", Philip K. Dick explores the arms race and the "spy v. spy" dynamic of the Cold War. But does Dick have more to say about the city and the state?