Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

What's missing from the film adaptation?

The film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) is so embedded in contemporary culture that the novel now includes a sub-title 'The Inspiration behind Bladerunner and Bladerunner 2049'. With the 1982 film adaptation now back in the spotlight, thanks in part to Secret Cinema's current production, is there any reason to read the source novel?

Like many of the titles in Philip K. Dick's canon Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a slim novel that defies its 208 page count to create a vast and complex world packed full of questions around morality and what is is to be human. The film adaptation picks up on the key story line in which ex police detective Rick Deckard earns a living retiring rogue androids. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic megacity on the West coast of America in the near future (1992 or 2021 dependant on which issue you are reading) following a global nuclear war. It is impossible to read the novel without thinking about the genre defining art direction in the Ridley Scott film but this only makes the novel richer.

What's missing from the film are the references to pre-colonial art, music and fiction (the pulp fiction and abstract art coming from mid 20th Century Earth prior to colonialisation of nearby planets). Pris, a basic 'pleasure model replicant' and one of the androids being hunted by Deckard,  speaks of the rare science fiction novels she coverts and attempts to critique the work of Edvard Munch. Whether androids dream of Electric sheep remains a mystery but it seems they read for pleasure and have the empathy to live vicariously though others.

Writing the novel in the Sixties Philip K. Dick was fully in command of the meta-narrative he was creating. Reading today, with AI becoming an intrinsic part of daily life,  makes you realise just how prescient his writing was. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is an accomplished novel is its own right and an even better companion to the film adaptations (and the immersive cinema experience currently playing in East London)      

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick published by W&N, 208 pages

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Consent by Leo Benedictus

A pacy and chilling thriller about our voyeuristic obsessions

Consent is the second novel, following Afterparty (2011), from writer and journalist Leo Benedictus. The hardback version is published with minimal cover art with the perennially inquisitive question 'read me' on the back which creates real standout in bookstores.

The novel takes some time to get into but there is a brilliant moment when you realise that this is the work of a stalker leaving notes about his methods, botched attempts and above all his motivations. As the result of a substantial inheritance from a rich Aunt he is able to fund a lifestyle of monitoring and surveillance. Inevitably this results in black humour but more often the narrative strays into the deeply creepy.

Like American Psycho (1991), Consent draws the reader in to the mind of a psychopath but unlike Bret Easton Ellis best work Benedictus also introduces a third person narrative concerning Frances, the un-named stalker's latest obsession. On the one hand we observe the stalker planning his surveillance whilst at the same time experiencing the life of the subject, Frances from an alternative perspective.

Consent is a pacy and chilling thriller about our voyeuristic obsession with other people. The narrative structure pays off in the end and is summed up perfectly by Leo Benedictus in his online commentary about boring novels; 'Why should the experience of reading a novel correspond as closely as possible to the experience of living life? You don't build a sandcastle to make it look like the beach'

Consent by Leo Benedictus published by Faber, 240 pages

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The Comforters by Muriel Spark

Defines modernity in post war fiction

The recent celebrations around the 100 year anniversary of Muriel Spark's birth have done much to shine a light on the Spark canon. As one of the most original voices to emerge from mid-century Britain Spark's work can often be overlooked beyond the career defining The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961).

The Comforters (1957) was Spark's first novel published to glowing reviews from contemporary giants Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene no less. Waugh's quote 'brilliantly original and fascinating' is still included in reprints today. So what is it about The Comforters that convinced Spark to take up full time writing? 

At its best The Comforters defines modernity in post-war fiction with its concern for the nature and authenticity of the 'author'. Spark's protagonist Caroline Rose is a writer who begins to hear voices, and then the tapping of a typewriter, leading her to believe that she is actually living inside a novel. Spark was interested in hallucination, having herself experienced the side affects of diet drug Dexedrine, but its the existential novel within a novel idea that really works in The Comforters and is picked up expertly in the new introduction by fellow Scot Ali Smith.

Elsewhere in the novel are themes that haven't aged quite as well. Spark's own interest in Catholicism comes through strongly in the story which will leave some readers disinterested.

All in all The Comforters is an interesting read from a writer not afraid to rip up the rule book. Perfect to read as an introduction to Muriel Spark's work before diving in to The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The Comforters by Muriel Spark published by Virago, 208 pages

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