Philip K. Dick - Degraded Histories
At the annual used book sale sponsored by the San Francisco library I got a very large pile of old biographies, memoirs, and out-of-date collections of local anecdotes. These books always fascinate me. Perhaps what I like is analogous to what Pedro the Ghetropolitan likes in his buildings. Their abandoned passages contain evidence of forgotten life. Weird, pathetic, or unintentionally idiotic scenes give me a feeling not of superiority, but of friendliness. There's a melodramatic and yet trivial significance that is bizarrely comforting.
Published on October 14, 2004