Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Published in 1965, Philip K. Dick's acclaimed science fiction novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch once again visualizes a world of the near future when Earth has undergone cataclysmic changes (this time it has severely overheated) and humankind has not only ventured out into the solar system, but has even traveled as far as the Alpha/Proxima Centauri star system and back. But this time, the setting is in our future as well: way ahead to 2012!

I've noticed a tendency with some science fiction writers to speculate just a little bit too much about the nature of reality. The result is often a work of fiction whose plot has become so convoluted and unhinged that it is very difficult for the reader to find a solid point of reference from which to try to understand what is going on. This is a glaring symptom of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, particularly with respect to the concepts of time and identity.

In this novel, Dick creates a scenario in which the overheated Earth (surface temperatures in New York around 180 degrees) has caused two different reactions for survival. One is to desperately strike out to colonize other planets in the Solar System, with people being involuntary drafted and shipped out to the new colonies for the rest of their lives. Two, many of the affluent in society have chosen, through injections, to artificially and speedily "evolve" into people who can withstand living under the extreme heat (e.g. developing a very thick, tough hide). Dick was obviously not a scientist, but he didn't let his gaps in understanding prevent him from writing about it, be the topic space travel, climate, or evolution.

The protagonist, Barney Mayerson, is a precognitive employee of a large, powerful company that illegally supplies the colonies with a proscribed hallucinogenic drug that helps the users to escape their dull existence and enter a fantasy world which is based on props that the same company legally sells. But a man named Palmer Eldritch has just returned from Proxima Centauri and seems to be somehow associated with a newer hallucinogenic drug that has been approved for general sale by the governing United Nations. As it turns out, Mayerson has just received his draft notice to go to Mars and he naturally doesn't want to go. Other important characters are introduced (Mayerson's boss Leo Bulero, his assistant Roni Fugate, and his ex-wife Emily). Then, as the various characters in the novel interact, we discover what the new hallucinogen is really all about. And with it, a conjecture on the part of the author about the possible nature of God and identity (remember, I said the story becomes unhinged).

Isaac Asimov once expressed his disapproval of Philip K. Dick regarding the latter's use of drugs, not to mention the idea that they helped him in his writing. Here is an example of Dick inserting drug use within one of his stories, although it doesn't exactly extol the practice. But the author did make a connection, though, between hallucinogen use and spirituality here that reminds me of the exploding use of LSD, often for similar reasons, in the late sixties.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch does become a mighty bit unglued toward its end, but it is still an impressive piece of fiction. After reading it to its conclusion, I'm still not completely sure what actually happened. But maybe that uncertainty was deliberately planned by the author. Seeing how Dick died in 1982, though, I don't think I'm going to have the opportunity to ask him. Read it for yourself and see what you come up with!