The Man Who Japed

"At seven A.M., Allen Purcell, the forward-looking young president of the newest and most creative of the Research Agencies, lost a bedroom," and so begins the Man Who Japed. This novel, published in 1956, a product of the very early period of Philip K. Dick's career, is an immense step forward from his inferior, disjointed, and amateurish novel, The World Jones Made. The uncanny feeling, which one associates with PKD when reading his later and more famous works, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Martian Time-Slip (Among others), is apparent from the very first line. For example, Purcell's apartment randomly changes shape - his oven is a table that is a sink that is a food cupboard - his intelligent, caring, and somewhat bewildered wife constantly sedates herself with a vast array of drugs - and mankind emigrates to other planets and moons. The most surprising element is Allen Purcell himself, a remarkably well-rounded character (albeit as a previous reviewer noted, the secondary characters are flat as ironed cardboard). Also, the society of The Man Who Japed is remarkably vivid. The reader must remember that this book was written in the late 50s so concepts and societies that we might consider cliché were fresh off the oven (the totalitarian masterpiece 1984 had only been around for 7 years). The Man Who Japed takes place in 2114 after a nuclear war in a society founded upon Puritanical ideals (no extra marital sex or classic books). Allen Purcell simultaneously creates propaganda 'brochures' and debases symbols of the regime without understanding his own motivations. He eventually must decide if he is to change society. All in all, this is a very good effort. Perhaps in comparison to his later works this might deserve 4 stars but considering how early this was written and what came before 5 stars is definitely the correct rating. It is well written and contains the embryonic manifestations of PKD's later compelling and poignant themes.

"The Man Who Japed" is a fairly early Philip K. Dick novel, and as such is somewhat dated, and a little more straight-forward stylistically. In many ways it reads like early Bradbury; those looking for true science fiction will probably be put off by the simplistic technology. However, as with Bradbury, the powerful message transcends the context and drives the novel forward. Like many of Dick's novels, "The Man Who Japed" is set in a post-apocalyptic future, in this instance, some two hundred years after a nuclear war in the 1970's. Society is now governed by a strict moral code that emphasizes utility over comfort and social enforcement of societal mores. Enter Allen Purcell, an otherwise successful creator of "packets" (morality propaganda purchased by the state) who has inexplicably "japed" the statue of Major Streiter, founder of the Morec (moral reclamation) society. As his world begins a slow motion unraveling he comes to question everything about the society that has supported his family for generations. This perspective on morality as the driving force in politics is oddly prescient with today's debates about abortion, gay marriage and the like. Dick, has taken this evolution to its logical, but insane conclusion, in which every person is held to account by their neighbors in what is theoretically a people's court, but which is in fact an on-going witch hunt in which anonymity allows vicious personal vendettas to be aired with impunity. Admittedly, the actual story meanders and is not particularly engaging. While Purcell evolves into a rather intriguing character, by and large the supporting cast is rather two dimensional. To a degree this is understandable, as Dick is after all trying to create a world of cardboard cutouts. Nonetheless, this can make for a rather dry read at times. A short novel with a powerful message, "The Man Who Japed" offers a glimpse into Dick early in his career. While the wit and thoughtfulness is on ready display, his story-telling abilities are not yet at the level of "The Man in the High Castle" or "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" As such, this probably isn't the best novel for those new to the author to start, but it will definitely be appreciated by fans of his other work. Jake Mohlman

This book is very short, and it is quite straightforward for PKD. As this is one of his earlier works, I was expecting an extremely outdated view of the future, but surprisingly, PKD kept the details of the mechanisms vague enough that there were no glaring 'futurisms', such as those that jammed the first chapter of "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch". Simply stating that they took a ship between planets rather than inventing the Amazing Steam-Powered Punch-Card Engine helped the book a lot. Despite the fact that this book came before PKD really started to 'write outside the box', I was expecting the traditional PKD chestnuts- the nature of reality, psychotherapy, bleak futures, evil robots, etc.- to be mostly overlooked. Happily, he managed to investigate most of his favorite topics without tripping over himself or screwing up the plot, as he did in "The Simulacra". The plot flowed straight and true, and although one part seemed a little forced, it didn't detract from the book- it was simply a wee bit off. If you are new to PKD, you should give this book a try, but don't expect any cosmic insights, just a good book. You might also try "Time Out Of Joint". If you are familiar with PKD, you should read this as his inventive take on the good old distopian novel. It is also proof that though the man wrote a lot of mind-bending novels, he could also get a point about individuals in a distopian system across perfectly clearly.

In this delightful early (1956) effort, Philip K. Dick reaches all the way back to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and all the way forward to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.To jape is to cut up, to spoof outrageously a la Monty Python. Dick's hero, Allen Purcell, is about to assume the most powerful media position on the planet; at the same time, he is in fear of being imminently arrested for a jape involving the mutilation of a monument to Morec's beloved founder, the infamous Major Streiter. Morec is short for Moral Reclamation, a kind of Moral Majority Heaven on Earth in which any offenses -- most particularly of the sexual variety -- trigger vicious Maoist self-criticism meetings culminating in the loss of one's apartment lease. And without a lease, there's nowhere to go but the outer planets.Philip K. Dick weaves in a number of themes masterfully, from the devastation following a nuclear holocaust to the "Health Resort," a scheme for processing those who crack under the strain of Morec. There are juveniles everywhere (not what you think), not to mention the Cohorts, Active Assimilation, the Domino Method, "nooses," and the usual panoply of brilliant Dick inventions, such as all food dishes being enclosed in quotes, as in "His 'eggs' were cooling on the plate."There are arresting throwaway lines such as when the character of Sue Frost is introduced: "Her eyes, he noticed, were an almost colorless straw. A strong kind of substance, and highly polished." Although he has been compared to Borges and Kafka, Dick is very much an American original. THE MAN WHO JAPED's unusual combination of paranoia and a wicked sense of humor is unique, as if Orwell's Winston Smith in 1984 were played by John Cleese.

This is an early PKD, and probably isn't really worth 5 stars, but I rate it thus anyway, just because hints of work to come show up in this book. This is a story of a very repressive society (read cold war, McCarthy-era USA)and a man who breaks out of the pattern. As with all PKD books, read carefully or you will lose track of where you are.