A review by otherwyrld
Total Recall, by Philip K. Dick
2.0
I read this collection of short stories mostly because I wanted to read "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", which is the story that the film Total Recall (both versions) was based on. Well I read it and thought it was an entertaining story, but I noted that the author didn't really seem to like women in the story. They were depicted almost wholly in negative terms - shrews, nags, etc.
So I continued to read the stories because I hate to not finish something but the damage had been done. In each story I read, the idea that the author didn't really like women resurfaced time and time again. I then read "The Pre-Persons" and not only did the author not like women, he loathed them with a hatred and misogyny I have rarely seen in the pages of a fiction book. That was me almost done with the book, but I struggled through the rest of the stories, and there were one or two towards the end which managed not to be filled with spite and bile, but it was tough going at times.
I read the notes at the end of the book - in it the author said about the Pre-Persons "In this I incurred the absolute hate of Joanna Russ who wrote me the nastiest letter I've ever received; at one point she said she usually offered to beat up people (she didn't use the word "people") who expressed opinions such as this". All I can say is, good for you Joanna, though I suspect it had more to do with the abortion elements of the story than with the woman-hating parts. It seems that the author was surprised by the level of vitriol directed at him because of this story.
Now, I have a issue with my feelings about this, in that the author is such a well-respected one, but if his attitude towards women runs throughout his writings I am going to have a tough time reading anything else by him. It's not the first time I've run across an author who I try to read but I seem to bounce off rather than push through the less enlightened parts of the work to find the meat beneath. It's like an invisible force field that I cannot penetrate, though I can see what it is that makes the author so attractive to many. It may be that I can get past this, but I can't see myself seeking out more of his works if I have the same reaction to him.
So I continued to read the stories because I hate to not finish something but the damage had been done. In each story I read, the idea that the author didn't really like women resurfaced time and time again. I then read "The Pre-Persons" and not only did the author not like women, he loathed them with a hatred and misogyny I have rarely seen in the pages of a fiction book. That was me almost done with the book, but I struggled through the rest of the stories, and there were one or two towards the end which managed not to be filled with spite and bile, but it was tough going at times.
I read the notes at the end of the book - in it the author said about the Pre-Persons "In this I incurred the absolute hate of Joanna Russ who wrote me the nastiest letter I've ever received; at one point she said she usually offered to beat up people (she didn't use the word "people") who expressed opinions such as this". All I can say is, good for you Joanna, though I suspect it had more to do with the abortion elements of the story than with the woman-hating parts. It seems that the author was surprised by the level of vitriol directed at him because of this story.
Now, I have a issue with my feelings about this, in that the author is such a well-respected one, but if his attitude towards women runs throughout his writings I am going to have a tough time reading anything else by him. It's not the first time I've run across an author who I try to read but I seem to bounce off rather than push through the less enlightened parts of the work to find the meat beneath. It's like an invisible force field that I cannot penetrate, though I can see what it is that makes the author so attractive to many. It may be that I can get past this, but I can't see myself seeking out more of his works if I have the same reaction to him.