Philip K. Dick lived most of his life in California. He was born in 1928 in Chicago. In his career PKD wrote 36 novels and five short story collections between 1952 and 1982 when he died in Santa Ana, California.
As evidenced by his work, Dick’s mind was complicated. While his novels and stories often offered visions of the future, many aspects of his life can been throughout his work. A Scanner Darkly was dedicated to many of his friends who died or suffered damage from drug abuse (including himself). The first person narration of Radio Free Albemuth is written from the perspective of a young science fiction writer named Philip who lives in Berkeley. Many insights into Dick’s view of his world are available here. These include his distrust for government and authority, his life as a professional writer and even cosmic visions he is said to have experienced. The novels of the Valis trilogy continue to blur the lines between fiction and Dick’s twisted reality.
Several years before his death, Philip started having mystical experiences that affected his everyday life. As a result, he started to wonder if what he had imagined for his stories was real and if life was just an illusion or the creation of each person’s subjectivity.
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