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{{Short description|1977 novel by Philip K. Dick}}
{{For|the 2006 film adaptation|A Scanner Darkly (film)}}
{{For|the 2006 film adaptation|A Scanner Darkly (film){{!}}''A Scanner Darkly'' (film)}}
{{infobox Book | <!-- See Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Novels or Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Books -->
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
| name = A Scanner Darkly
{{infobox book
| title_orig =
| name = A Scanner Darkly
| translator =
| title_orig =
| image = ]
| translator =
| image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| image = AScannerDarkly(1stEd).jpg
| author = ]
| caption = First edition (hardcover)
| author = ]
| cover_artist = | cover_artist =
| country = ] | country = United States
| language = ] | language = English
| series = | series =
| genre = ], ] | genre = ], ], ]
| publisher = ] | publisher = ]
| release_date = 1977 | release_date = 1977
| media_type = Print (] & ]) | media_type = Print (] & ])
| pages = 220 pp (1st edition) | pages = 220 (1st edition)
| isbn = ISBN 0-385-01613-1 (1st edition) | isbn = 0-385-01613-1
| isbn_note = (1st edition)
| dewey= 813/.5/4
| congress= PZ4.D547 Sc PS3554.I3
| oclc= 2491488 | oclc= 2491488
| preceded_by = | preceded_by =
| followed_by = | followed_by =
}} }}


'''''A Scanner Darkly''''' is a ] novel by American writer ], published in 1977. The semi-] story is set in a ]n ], in the ] of June 1994, and includes an extensive portrayal of ] and drug use (both ] and ]). The novel is one of Dick's best-known works and served as the basis for a ] of the same name, directed by ].
'''''A Scanner Darkly''''' is a BSFA Award winning<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
| title = 1978 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| accessdate=2009-09-27
}}</ref> 1977 ] ] by ]. The semi-] story is set in a ]n ] in the then-future of June 1994. It includes an extensive portrayal of ] and ].


==Synopsis== ==Plot summary==
The protagonist is Bob Arctor, member of a household of drug-users, who is also living a parallel life as Agent Fred, an undercover police agent assigned to spy on Arctor's household. Arctor/Fred shields his true identity from those in the ], and from the police themselves. (The requirement that narcotics agents remain anonymous, to avoid collusion and other forms of corruption, becomes a critical plot point late in the book.) While supposedly only posing as a drug user, Arctor becomes addicted to "Substance D" (also referred to as "Slow Death," "Death," or "D"), a powerful ] derived from a small blue flowering plant, ''Mors ontologica''. An ongoing conflict is Arctor's love for Donna, a drug dealer through whom he intends to identify high-level dealers of Substance D. Arctor's persistent use of the drug causes the two hemispheres of his brain to function independently, or "compete". Through a series of drug and psychological tests, Arctor's superiors at work discover that his addiction has made him incapable of performing his job as a narcotics agent. Donna takes Arctor to "New-Path," a ], just as Arctor begins to experience the symptoms of Substance D withdrawal. It is revealed that Donna has been a narcotics agent all along, working as part of a police operation to infiltrate New-Path and determine its funding source. Without his knowledge, Arctor has been selected to penetrate the secretive organization. The ] is Bob Arctor, member of a household of drug users, who is also living a double life as an undercover police agent assigned to spy on Arctor's household. Arctor shields his identity from those in the ] and from the police. (The requirement that narcotics agents remain anonymous, to avoid collusion and other forms of corruption, becomes a critical plot point late in the book.) While posing as a drug user, Arctor becomes addicted to "Substance D" (also referred to as "Slow Death", "Death" or "D"), a powerful ]. A conflict is Arctor's love for Donna, a drug dealer, through whom he intends to identify high-level dealers of Substance D.


When performing his work as an undercover agent, Arctor goes by the name "Fred" and wears a "scramble suit" that conceals his identity from other officers. Then he is able to sit in a police facility and observe his housemates through "holo-scanners", audio-visual surveillance devices that are placed throughout the house. Arctor's use of the drug causes the two hemispheres of his brain to function independently or "compete". When Arctor sees himself in the videos saved by the scanners, he does not realize that it is him. Through a series of drug and psychological tests, Arctor's superiors at work discover that his addiction has made him incapable of performing his job as a narcotics agent. They do not know his identity because he wears the scramble suit, but when his police supervisor suggests to him that he might be Bob Arctor, he is confused and thinks it cannot be possible.
As part of the rehab program, Arctor is renamed "Bruce" and forced to participate in cruel group-dynamic games intended to break the will of the patients. The story ends with Bruce working at a New-Path farming commune, where he is suffering from a serious ] after withdrawing from Substance D. Although considered by his handlers to be nothing more than a walking shell of a man, "Bruce" manages to spot rows of blue flowers growing hidden among rows of corn, and realizes the blue flowers are the source of Substance D. The book ends with Bruce hiding a flower in his shoe to give to his "friends" - undercover police agents posing as recovering addicts at the Los Angeles New-Path facility - on Thanksgiving.


Donna takes Arctor to "New-Path", a ], just as he begins to experience the symptoms of Substance D ]. It is revealed that Donna has been a narcotics agent all along, working as part of a police operation to infiltrate New-Path and determine its funding source. Without his knowledge, Arctor has been selected to penetrate the organization. As part of the rehab program, Arctor is renamed "Bruce" and forced to participate in cruel group-dynamic games, intended to break the will of the patients.
==Themes==
{{Original research|section|date=December 2007}}
Dick twists American society into a very ] setting, by expanding on several ] of growing interest during the 1960s, including:
* police ] - in the novel, highly technologically advanced, blurred frontiers between the underworld drug commerce and law enforcement agencies (cf. 2 brain hemispheres),
* Drug use - in the novel, involving widespread drug-use-induced mental collapse that is treated in numerous and widespread ] that amount to a nationwide, non-governmental but federal-government-entangled, institution,
* The ]s are a central, recurring symbol in German ], closely tied to the associated ]s,
* The intentional destruction of another human being to achieve a "greater good"


The story ends with Bruce working at a New-Path farming commune, where he is experiencing a serious ] deficit, after withdrawing from Substance D. Although considered by his handlers to be nothing more than a walking shell of a man, "Bruce" manages to spot rows of blue flowers growing hidden among rows of corn and realizes that the blue flowers are ''Mors ontologica'', the source of Substance D. The book ends with Bruce hiding a flower in his shoe to give to his "friends"—undercover police agents posing as recovering addicts at the Santa Ana New-Path facility—on Thanksgiving.
In addition, Dick's common themes appear here:
* the ] in ],
* an admirable, fascinating, but unattainable and marginally insane dark-haired woman (Donna),
* humanity in extreme situations.

The character types seen in ''A Scanner Darkly'' are nearly universal to his work and tend to follow similar roles: the downtrodden ] finds himself at odds with a large and complicated plot, not specifically against him, but in which he becomes inadvertently entangled, who is then alternately aided by, confused by, and maliciously harmed by the dark-haired woman, is helped indirectly by the fatherly old man (whose warnings often go unheeded or come too late), and faces the spokesman of the evil conspiracy, who is mysterious, powerful, well-informed, and more or less undeniable, leaving the downtrodden hero with little or bittersweet success. Generally, multiple explanations for the nature of the events, the outcome of the story, and the nature and identity of the evil spokesman are available, especially if drug use or other psychic complications blur the lines of reality. Generally speaking, the narrator participates in the perspective of the characters, so whether what they experience is a drug-induced delusion or a bona fide event is left vague for the reader. Ultimately, the reader is left to wonder what actually happened in the real world of the story and is left with few clues, in much the way a person rehabilitated from extended drug use might look back at the recent months of his life and wonder what was real, what was misinterpreted, and what was false.

The theme of construction of reality in ] is central to the novel. The most obvious example is the dilemma of the main character who simultaneously assumes two identities and often loses track of reality. Also, many of the characters excessively taunt each other, are rendered ] by drug use, and understand the world through ]. Because of the surreal, almost absurdist style of the novel, readers are left wondering if their own perceptions reflect reality or paranoia. Also, the device known of as the "scramble suit," a layering of ] used by narcotics agents as a means of distorting their appearance to avoid recognition and identification, serves as a metaphor for the mutual lack of trust amongst not only the users and dealers, but between most people as a whole, adding to Dick's recurring preoccupation with constructing an immensely paranoid atmosphere as well as the inherent deception of most situations in the book.

Dick also uses Fred/Arctor to explore the ] between police officer and criminal; how each is defined by and reliant upon the existence of the other. The New-Path clinic's duality reflects this ambivalent relationship.

Dick explains in the author's note how he, himself was one of the people who "played the game." Of course, he meant drug misuse and how it affects humans. He says that such misuse left him with permanent pancreatic disorders.

In the novel, use of Substance D over an extended period can cause the user's consciousness to separate into two distinct parts. The drug also appears to facilitate the inducement of shared delusions, made manifest as ]. The source of Substance D remains a mystery throughout most of the novel, though various theories are proposed. It is speculated that Substance D is imported from the ] as a ] scheme to destroy American resistance to Communism; that it was sent to Earth by aliens intent on either enlightening mankind or reducing humans to a zombie-like slave race; that it is involved in a government or corporate plot.

The title is a reference to a passage in the ] in ], which states:
<blockquote>
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known<ref>Verses 9-12, King James Version</ref>.
</blockquote>
The book's protagonist is required to view clips of his life on a "scanner", a ] recorder/projector. In Chapter 13 of the book, the protagonist muses that he has seen his life with a scanner, but came no closer to properly perceiving his life than St. Paul with his primitive mirror (or "glass"). True understanding, he suggests, will come only when "death" is defeated.<ref>Dick, Phillip K. ''A Scanner Darkly'', Gollancz, 2006 at 169-171.</ref> The initials of ''Scanner Darkly'' are also the initials of "Substance D".

In Chapter Eleven of the novel, the novel's central character, Bob Arctor/Fred/Bruce, thinks to himself:
<blockquote>
What does a scanner see? I mean, really see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does a passive infrared scanner … see into me &mdash; into us &mdash; clearly or darkly?
</blockquote>

Philip K. Dick also gives the name of the species of the flower, which helps to show the relevant meaning of the story and the nature of both the drug and the character's struggle. The name is ''] ]'',<ref>Dick, Phillip K. ''A Scanner Darkly'', Gollancz, 2006, p. 254</ref> which translates as "ontological death", that is, "death of being".


==Autobiographical nature== ==Autobiographical nature==
''A Scanner Darkly'' is a ], based on Dick's experiences in the 1970s drug culture. Dick said in an interview, "Everything in ''A Scanner Darkly'' I actually saw."<ref name="Heroes">{{cite web |url=http://philipkdick.com/media_sfeye96.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511085758/http://philipkdick.com/media_sfeye96.html |title=So I Don't Write About Heroes: An Interview with Philip K. Dick |magazine=SF EYE |volume=14 |pages=37–46 |date=Spring 1996 |archive-date=May 11, 2012 |author1=Uwe Anton |author2=Werner Fuchs |author3=Frank C. Bertrand |access-date=June 23, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{Articleissues|section=y|unreferenced=August 2007|OR=December 2007}}
''A Scanner Darkly'' is a ] (a fictionalized account of real events) based on Dick's experiences in the 1970s drug culture. Dick said in an interview, "Everything in ''A Scanner Darkly'' I actually saw."<ref name="Heroes"> Uwe Anton, Werner Fuchs, Frank C. Bertrand, ''SF EYE'' #14, Spring 1996, pp. 37-46</ref>


Between mid-1970 (when his fourth wife Nancy left him) and mid-1972 (when he entered the X-Kalay program; see below) Dick lived semi-communally with a rotating group of mostly teenage drug users at his home in ]. Dick explained, "y wife Nancy left me in 1970 ... I got mixed up with a lot of street people, just to have somebody to fill the house. She left me with a four bedroom, two-bathroom house and nobody living in it but me. So I just filled it with street people and I got mixed up with a lot of people who were into drugs."<ref name="Heroes"/> Between mid-1970 (when his fourth wife Nancy left him) and mid-1972, Dick lived semi-communally with a rotating group of mostly teenage drug users at his home in ], described in a letter as being located at 707 Hacienda Way, ].<ref name=Fortean>{{cite web|last1=Redfern|first1=Nick|title=The Strange Tale of Solarcon-6|url=http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/2860/the_strange_tale_of_solarcon6.html|website=Fortean Times|access-date=June 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812161738/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/2860/the_strange_tale_of_solarcon6.html|archive-date=August 12, 2014|date=February 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dick explained, "y wife Nancy left me in 1970. I got mixed up with a lot of street people, just to have somebody to fill the house. She left me with a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house and nobody living in it but me. So I just filled it with street people and I got mixed up with a lot of people who were into drugs."<ref name="Heroes"/>


During this period, the author ceased writing completely and became fully dependent upon ], which he had been using intermittently for many years. "I did take amphetamines for years in order to be able to — I was able to produce 68 final pages of copy a day," Dick said.<ref name="Heroes"/> During this period, the author ceased writing completely and became fully dependent upon ], which he had been using intermittently for many years. "I did take amphetamines for years in order to be able to—I was able to produce 68 final pages of copy a day," Dick said.<ref name="Heroes"/>


The character of Donna was inspired by an older teenager who became associated with Dick sometime in 1970; though they never became lovers, the woman was his principal female companion until early 1972, when Dick left for Canada to deliver a speech to a Vancouver science fiction convention. This speech, "The Android and the Human", served as the basis for many of the recurring themes and motifs in the ensuing novel. Another turning point in this timeframe for Dick is the ]. The character of Donna was inspired by an older teenager who became associated with Dick sometime in 1970; though they never became lovers, the woman was his principal female companion until early 1972, when Dick left for Canada to deliver a speech to a Vancouver science fiction convention. This speech, "]", served as the basis for many of the recurring themes and motifs in the ensuing novel. Another turning point in this timeframe for Dick is the alleged burglary of his home and theft of his papers.


After delivering "The Android and the Human", Dick became a participant in ] (a Canadian ]-type recovery program), effortlessly convincing program caseworkers that he was nursing a heroin addiction to do so. Dick's recovery program participation was portrayed in the posthumously released book '']'' (a collection of letters and journals from this period, most of a romantic nature). It was at X-Kalay, while doing publicity for the facility, that he devised the notion of rehab centers being used to secretly harvest drugs (thus inspiring the book's New-Path clinics).
Because of his firsthand experience, Dick captures the language, conversation, and culture of drug users in the 1960s with a rare clarity. This is further explained in the moving afterword, where Dick dedicates the book to those of his friends — he includes himself — who suffered debilitation or death as a result of their drug use. Mirroring the epilogue are the involuntary goodbyes that occur throughout the story — the constant turnover and burn-out of young people that lived with Dick during those years.


In the afterword, he states that the novel is about “some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did” (referring to the disproportional damage that drug use causes on the user) and that "drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to move out in front of a moving car." In the afterword, Dick dedicates the book to those of his friends—he includes himself—who had experienced debilitation or death as a result of their drug use. Mirroring the epilogue are the involuntary goodbyes that occur throughout the story—the constant turnover and burn-out of young people that lived with Dick during those years.<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip K. Dick|title=A Scanner Darkly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hg9njt3vmgQC&pg=PA287|access-date=24 August 2012|date=18 October 2011|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-57217-8|pages=288–289}}</ref> In the afterword, he states that the novel is about "some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did",<ref name="Dick1977">{{cite book|author=Philip K. Dick|title=A Scanner Darkly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hg9njt3vmgQC&pg=PA287|access-date=24 August 2012|date=18 October 2011|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-57217-8|page=287}}</ref> and that "drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to move out in front of a moving car".<ref name="Dick1977" />


==Background and publication==
After delivering "The Android and the Human", Dick became a participant in ] (a Canadian ]-type recovery program), effortlessly convincing program caseworkers that he was nursing a heroin addiction to do so. Dick's recovery program participation was portrayed in his 1988 book ''The Dark-Haired Girl'' (a collection of letters and journals from this period, most of a romantic nature). Presumably, this was a source for the vividness and accuracy with which the novelistic clinic is portrayed. It was at X-Kalay, while doing publicity for the facility, that he devised the notion of rehab centers being used to secretly harvest drugs (thus inspiring the book's New-Path clinics).
''A Scanner Darkly'' was one of the few Dick novels to gestate over a long period of time. By February 1973, in an effort to prove that the effects of his amphetamine usage were merely ], the newly clean-and-sober author had already prepared a full outline.<ref>{{cite web| last = Dick| first = Philip K.| title = Letter to Scott Meredith| work = Letters| publisher = Philip K. Dick Trust| date = 1973-02-28| url = http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner2.html| access-date = 2007-06-06| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070602020522/http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner2.html| archive-date = 2007-06-02| url-status = dead}}</ref> A first draft was in development by March.<ref>{{cite web| last = Dick| first = Philip K.| title = Letter to Scott Meredith| work = Letters| publisher = Philip K. Dick Trust| date = 1973-03-20| url = http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner3.html| access-date = 2007-06-06| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070602020727/http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner3.html| archive-date = 2007-06-02| url-status = dead}}</ref> This labor was soon supplanted by a new family and the completion of '']'' (left unfinished in 1970), which was finally released in 1974 and received the prestigious John W. ].<ref name="WWE-1975">{{cite web

| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1975
==Writing process and publication==
''A Scanner Darkly'' was one of the few Dick novels to gestate over a long period of time. By February 1973, in an effort to prove that the effect of his amphetamine usage was merely psychosomatic, the newly clean-and-sober author had already prepared a full outline.<ref>{{cite web| last = Dick| first = Philip K.| title = Letter to Scott Meredith| work = Letters| publisher = Philip K. Dick Trust| date = ]| url = http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner2.html| accessdate = 2007-06-06 }}</ref> A first draft was in development by March.<ref>{{cite web| last = Dick| first = Philip K.| | title = Letter to Scott Meredith | work =Letters | publisher = Philip K. Dick Trust| date = ]| url = http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-scanner3.html | accessdate = 2007-06-06}}</ref> This labor was soon supplanted by a new family and the completion of '']'' (left unfinished in 1970), which was finally released in 1974 and received the prestigious John W. ].<ref name="WWE-1975">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1975
| title = 1975 Award Winners & Nominees | title = 1975 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End | work = Worlds Without End
| accessdate=2009-09-27 | access-date=2009-09-27
}}</ref> Additional preoccupations were the alleged ] that would eventually serve as a basis for '']'' and the unpublished '']'' journal, a screenplay for an unproduced film adaptation of 1969's '']'', an occasional lecture, and the ] collaboration '']''. }}</ref> Additional preoccupations were the ] that eventually served as a basis for '']'' and the '']'' journal; a screenplay for an unproduced film adaptation of 1969's '']''; occasional lectures; and the expedited completion of the deferred ] collaboration '']'' in 1975.


Because of its semi-autobiographical nature, some of ''Scanner'' was torturous to write. Tessa Dick, Philip's wife at the time, once stated that she often found her husband weeping as the sun rose after a night-long writing session. Tessa has given interviews stating that "when he was with me, he wrote ''A Scanner Darkly'' under two weeks. But we spent three years rewriting it" and that she was "pretty involved in his writing process ."<ref>{{cite web| last = Knight| first = Annie | title = About Philip K. Dick: An interview with Tessa, Chris, and Ranea Dick| publisher = Deep Outside SFF| date = ]| url = http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| accessdate = 2007-06-06}}</ref> Tessa confirmed in a later interview that she "participated in the writing of ''A Scanner Darkly''" and said that she "consider self the silent co-author." Philip wrote a contract giving Tessa half of all the rights to the novel, which stated that Tessa "participated to a great extent in writing the outline and novel ''A Scanner Darkly'' with me, and I owe her one half of all income derived from it."<ref>{{cite web | title = An interview with Tessa Dick| url = http://dickien.fr/dossiers/tessadick/interview-tessa-dick.html}}</ref> Because of its semi-autobiographical nature, some of ''A Scanner Darkly'' was torturous to write. Tessa Dick, Philip's wife at the time, once stated that she often found her husband weeping as the sun rose after a night-long writing session. Tessa has given interviews stating that "when he was with me, he wrote ''A Scanner Darkly'' under two weeks. But we spent three years rewriting it" and that she was "pretty involved in his writing process ".<ref>{{cite web| last = Knight| first = Annie | title = About Philip K. Dick: An interview with Tessa, Chris, and Ranea Dick| publisher = Deep Outside SFF| date = 2002-11-01| url = http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| access-date = 2007-06-06}}</ref> Tessa stated in a later interview that she "participated in the writing of ''A Scanner Darkly''" and said that she "consider self the silent co-author". Philip wrote a contract giving Tessa half of all the rights to the novel, which stated that Tessa "participated to a great extent in writing the outline and novel ''A Scanner Darkly'' with me, and I owe her one half of all income derived from it".<ref>{{cite web | title = An interview with Tessa Dick| url = http://dickien.fr/dossiers/tessadick/interview-tessa-dick.html}}</ref>


There was also the challenge of transmuting the events into "science fiction," as Dick felt that he could not sell a mainstream novel.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Providing invaluable aid in this field was Judy-Lynn Del Rey, head of Ballantine Books' SF division which had optioned the book. Del Rey suggested the timeline change to 1994 and helped to emphasize the more futuristic elements of the novel, such as the "scramble suit" employed by Fred (which, incidentally, emerged from one of the mystical experiences). Yet much of the dialogue spoken by the characters used hippie slang, dating the events of the novel to their "true" time-frame of 1970-72.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} There was also the challenge of transmuting the events into "science fiction", as Dick felt that he could not sell a mainstream or literary novel after several previous failures.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dick|first=Philip K|title=The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings}}</ref> Providing invaluable aid in this field was ], head of Ballantine Books' SF division, which had optioned the book. Del Rey suggested the timeline change to 1994 and emphasized the more futuristic elements of the novel, such as the "scramble suit" employed by Fred (which, incidentally, emerged from one of the mystical experiences). Yet much of the dialogue spoken by the characters used hippie slang, dating the events of the novel to their "true" time-frame of 1970–72.


Upon its publication in 1977, ''A Scanner Darkly'' was hailed by ] Booklist as "his best yet!" ] lauded it as "the best book of the year," while ] praised the novel's "demonic intensity" and deemed it "a masterpiece of sorts." Sales were typical for the SF genre in America, but hardcover editions were issued in Europe, where all of Dick's works were warmly received. Upon its publication in 1977, ''A Scanner Darkly'' was hailed by ] Booklist as "his best yet!" ] lauded it as "the best book of the year", while ] praised the novel as "a masterpiece of sorts, full of demonic intensity", but concluded that "it happens also not to be a very successful novel... a failure, but a stunning failure".<ref>"Books", ''Cosmos'', September 1977, p. 39.</ref> ] panned the novel as "sometimes fascinating, sometimes hilarious, usually deadly boring".<ref>"Galaxy Bookshelf", '']'', August 1977, p. 141.</ref> Sales were typical for the SF genre in America, but hardcover editions were issued in Europe, where all of Dick's works were warmly received. It was nominated for neither the Nebula nor the Hugo Award but was awarded the British version (the ]) in 1978<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
It received no Nebula and Hugo Awards but was awarded the British version (the BSFA) in 1978,<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
| title = 1978 Award Winners & Nominees | title = 1978 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End | work = Worlds Without End
| accessdate=2009-09-27 | access-date=2009-09-27
}}</ref> and the French equivalent (Graouilly d'Or) upon its publication there in 1979.<ref></ref> It also was nominated for the Campbell Award in 1978.<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web }}</ref> and the French equivalent (Graouilly d'Or) upon its publication there in 1979.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thephildickian.com/awardwinners.html| title = thephildickian.com – Award Winning Authors<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = January 2, 2007| archive-date = October 18, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101018202744/http://www.thephildickian.com/awardwinners.html| url-status = dead}}</ref> It also was nominated for the Campbell Award in 1978 and placed sixth in the annual ].<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327043746/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit38.html#1337 |date=March 27, 2015 }}</ref>

| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
The title of the novel refers to the Biblical phrase "]", from the ] of 1 Corinthians 13. Passages from ]'s play '']'' are also referred to throughout the novel. The ] by ] has also been cited as a reference for the book,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Philip K. Dick: Canonical Writer of the Digital Age |last=Kucukalic |first=Lejla |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=9780203886847 |location=New York |pages=118}}</ref> the film depicting the similar descent into madness and schizophrenia of its lead character portrayed by ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Through a Glass Darkly|website=] |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055499/|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref>
| title = 1978 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| accessdate=2009-09-27
}}</ref>


==Adaptations== ==Adaptations==
===Film===
{{main|A Scanner Darkly (film)}}
The animated film '']'' was authorized by Dick's estate. It was released in July 2006 and stars ] as Fred/Bob Arctor and ] as Donna. ] and ] co-star as Arctor's drugged-out housemates. The film was directed by ]. The ] film '']'' was authorized by Dick's estate. It was released in July 2006 and stars ] as Fred/Bob Arctor and ] as Donna. ], ], and ] co-star as Arctor's drugged-out housemates and friends. The film was directed by ].


===Audiobook===
==Alternative covers==
An ] ] version, read by ], was released in 2006 by ] to coincide with the release of the film adaptation. It runs approximately 9.5 hours over eight ]s. This version is a ], using the film's poster as cover art.<ref> {{ISBN|978-0-7393-2392-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=481| title = Review of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick: SFFaudio| date = July 3, 2006}}</ref>
*http://www.philipkdick.com/covers/scanner.jpg
*http://www.philipkdick.com/covers/tb-scanner.jpg
*http://www.philipkdick.com/covers/scanner11.jpg
*http://www.philipkdick.com/covers/scanner7.jpg


==Notes== ==See also==
* ]
{{reflist}}


==References== == Citations ==
{{reflist|30em}}
* Bell, V. (2006) "Through a scanner darkly: Neuropsychology and psychosis in ''A Scanner Darkly''". ''The Psychologist'', 19 (8), 488-489.

* Bertrand, Frank C. 1981. "Kant's 'Noumenal Self' and Doppelganger in P. K. Dick's ''A Scanner Darkly''", ''Philosophical Speculations in Science Fiction and Fantasy'' # 2, pp. 69–80.
== General and cited sources ==
* Kosub, Nathan 2006. “Clearly, Clearly, Dark-Eyed Donna: Time and ''A Scanner Darkly''”, ''Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema'', October-December; 41: .
* Bell, V. (2006). . ''The Psychologist'', 19 (8), 488–489.
* Prezzavento, Paolo 2006. "Allegoricus semper interpres delirat: Un oscuro scrutare tra teologia e paranoia", ''Trasmigrazioni'', eds. Valerio Massimo De Angelis and Umberto Rossi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2006, pp. 225–36.
* Kosub, Nathan (2006). "Clearly, Clearly, Dark-Eyed Donna: Time and ''A Scanner Darkly''", ''Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema'', October–December; 41: .
* Sutin, Lawrence. (2005). ''Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick''. Carroll & Graf.
* Prezzavento, Paolo (20060. "Allegoricus semper interpres delirat: Un oscuro scrutare tra teologia e paranoia", ''Trasmigrazioni'', eds. Valerio Massimo De Angelis and Umberto Rossi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2006, pp.&nbsp;225–36.
* Sutin, Lawrence (2005). ''Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick''. Carroll & Graf.


==External links== ==External links==
* Analysis at PhilipKDickFans.com
* Reviewed at The Open Critic
* at Worlds Without End * at Worlds Without End
* "," Damien Walter, '']'', 17 December 2012



{{Philip K. Dick}} {{Philip K. Dick}}
{{BSFA Award Best Novel}}


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Latest revision as of 19:43, 1 December 2024

1977 novel by Philip K. Dick For the 2006 film adaptation, see A Scanner Darkly (film).

A Scanner Darkly
First edition (hardcover)
AuthorPhilip K. Dick
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction, paranoid fiction, philosophical literature
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date1977
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages220 (1st edition)
ISBN0-385-01613-1 (1st edition)
OCLC2491488
Dewey Decimal813/.5/4
LC ClassPZ4.D547 Sc PS3554.I3

A Scanner Darkly is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, published in 1977. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994, and includes an extensive portrayal of drug culture and drug use (both recreational and abusive). The novel is one of Dick's best-known works and served as the basis for a 2006 film of the same name, directed by Richard Linklater.

Plot summary

The protagonist is Bob Arctor, member of a household of drug users, who is also living a double life as an undercover police agent assigned to spy on Arctor's household. Arctor shields his identity from those in the drug subculture and from the police. (The requirement that narcotics agents remain anonymous, to avoid collusion and other forms of corruption, becomes a critical plot point late in the book.) While posing as a drug user, Arctor becomes addicted to "Substance D" (also referred to as "Slow Death", "Death" or "D"), a powerful psychoactive drug. A conflict is Arctor's love for Donna, a drug dealer, through whom he intends to identify high-level dealers of Substance D.

When performing his work as an undercover agent, Arctor goes by the name "Fred" and wears a "scramble suit" that conceals his identity from other officers. Then he is able to sit in a police facility and observe his housemates through "holo-scanners", audio-visual surveillance devices that are placed throughout the house. Arctor's use of the drug causes the two hemispheres of his brain to function independently or "compete". When Arctor sees himself in the videos saved by the scanners, he does not realize that it is him. Through a series of drug and psychological tests, Arctor's superiors at work discover that his addiction has made him incapable of performing his job as a narcotics agent. They do not know his identity because he wears the scramble suit, but when his police supervisor suggests to him that he might be Bob Arctor, he is confused and thinks it cannot be possible.

Donna takes Arctor to "New-Path", a rehabilitation clinic, just as he begins to experience the symptoms of Substance D withdrawal. It is revealed that Donna has been a narcotics agent all along, working as part of a police operation to infiltrate New-Path and determine its funding source. Without his knowledge, Arctor has been selected to penetrate the organization. As part of the rehab program, Arctor is renamed "Bruce" and forced to participate in cruel group-dynamic games, intended to break the will of the patients.

The story ends with Bruce working at a New-Path farming commune, where he is experiencing a serious neurocognitive deficit, after withdrawing from Substance D. Although considered by his handlers to be nothing more than a walking shell of a man, "Bruce" manages to spot rows of blue flowers growing hidden among rows of corn and realizes that the blue flowers are Mors ontologica, the source of Substance D. The book ends with Bruce hiding a flower in his shoe to give to his "friends"—undercover police agents posing as recovering addicts at the Santa Ana New-Path facility—on Thanksgiving.

Autobiographical nature

A Scanner Darkly is a fictionalized account of real events, based on Dick's experiences in the 1970s drug culture. Dick said in an interview, "Everything in A Scanner Darkly I actually saw."

Between mid-1970 (when his fourth wife Nancy left him) and mid-1972, Dick lived semi-communally with a rotating group of mostly teenage drug users at his home in Marin County, described in a letter as being located at 707 Hacienda Way, Santa Venetia. Dick explained, "y wife Nancy left me in 1970. I got mixed up with a lot of street people, just to have somebody to fill the house. She left me with a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house and nobody living in it but me. So I just filled it with street people and I got mixed up with a lot of people who were into drugs."

During this period, the author ceased writing completely and became fully dependent upon amphetamines, which he had been using intermittently for many years. "I did take amphetamines for years in order to be able to—I was able to produce 68 final pages of copy a day," Dick said.

The character of Donna was inspired by an older teenager who became associated with Dick sometime in 1970; though they never became lovers, the woman was his principal female companion until early 1972, when Dick left for Canada to deliver a speech to a Vancouver science fiction convention. This speech, "The Android and the Human", served as the basis for many of the recurring themes and motifs in the ensuing novel. Another turning point in this timeframe for Dick is the alleged burglary of his home and theft of his papers.

After delivering "The Android and the Human", Dick became a participant in X-Kalay (a Canadian Synanon-type recovery program), effortlessly convincing program caseworkers that he was nursing a heroin addiction to do so. Dick's recovery program participation was portrayed in the posthumously released book The Dark Haired Girl (a collection of letters and journals from this period, most of a romantic nature). It was at X-Kalay, while doing publicity for the facility, that he devised the notion of rehab centers being used to secretly harvest drugs (thus inspiring the book's New-Path clinics).

In the afterword, Dick dedicates the book to those of his friends—he includes himself—who had experienced debilitation or death as a result of their drug use. Mirroring the epilogue are the involuntary goodbyes that occur throughout the story—the constant turnover and burn-out of young people that lived with Dick during those years. In the afterword, he states that the novel is about "some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did", and that "drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to move out in front of a moving car".

Background and publication

A Scanner Darkly was one of the few Dick novels to gestate over a long period of time. By February 1973, in an effort to prove that the effects of his amphetamine usage were merely psychosomatic, the newly clean-and-sober author had already prepared a full outline. A first draft was in development by March. This labor was soon supplanted by a new family and the completion of Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (left unfinished in 1970), which was finally released in 1974 and received the prestigious John W. Campbell Award. Additional preoccupations were the mystical experiences of early 1974 that eventually served as a basis for VALIS and the Exegesis journal; a screenplay for an unproduced film adaptation of 1969's Ubik; occasional lectures; and the expedited completion of the deferred Roger Zelazny collaboration Deus Irae in 1975.

Because of its semi-autobiographical nature, some of A Scanner Darkly was torturous to write. Tessa Dick, Philip's wife at the time, once stated that she often found her husband weeping as the sun rose after a night-long writing session. Tessa has given interviews stating that "when he was with me, he wrote A Scanner Darkly under two weeks. But we spent three years rewriting it" and that she was "pretty involved in his writing process ". Tessa stated in a later interview that she "participated in the writing of A Scanner Darkly" and said that she "consider self the silent co-author". Philip wrote a contract giving Tessa half of all the rights to the novel, which stated that Tessa "participated to a great extent in writing the outline and novel A Scanner Darkly with me, and I owe her one half of all income derived from it".

There was also the challenge of transmuting the events into "science fiction", as Dick felt that he could not sell a mainstream or literary novel after several previous failures. Providing invaluable aid in this field was Judy-Lynn del Rey, head of Ballantine Books' SF division, which had optioned the book. Del Rey suggested the timeline change to 1994 and emphasized the more futuristic elements of the novel, such as the "scramble suit" employed by Fred (which, incidentally, emerged from one of the mystical experiences). Yet much of the dialogue spoken by the characters used hippie slang, dating the events of the novel to their "true" time-frame of 1970–72.

Upon its publication in 1977, A Scanner Darkly was hailed by ALA Booklist as "his best yet!" Brian Aldiss lauded it as "the best book of the year", while Robert Silverberg praised the novel as "a masterpiece of sorts, full of demonic intensity", but concluded that "it happens also not to be a very successful novel... a failure, but a stunning failure". Spider Robinson panned the novel as "sometimes fascinating, sometimes hilarious, usually deadly boring". Sales were typical for the SF genre in America, but hardcover editions were issued in Europe, where all of Dick's works were warmly received. It was nominated for neither the Nebula nor the Hugo Award but was awarded the British version (the BSFA) in 1978 and the French equivalent (Graouilly d'Or) upon its publication there in 1979. It also was nominated for the Campbell Award in 1978 and placed sixth in the annual Locus poll.

The title of the novel refers to the Biblical phrase "Through a glass, darkly", from the King James Version of 1 Corinthians 13. Passages from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust are also referred to throughout the novel. The same-titled film by Ingmar Bergman has also been cited as a reference for the book, the film depicting the similar descent into madness and schizophrenia of its lead character portrayed by Harriet Andersson.

Adaptations

Film

The rotoscoped film A Scanner Darkly was authorized by Dick's estate. It was released in July 2006 and stars Keanu Reeves as Fred/Bob Arctor and Winona Ryder as Donna. Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., and Woody Harrelson co-star as Arctor's drugged-out housemates and friends. The film was directed by Richard Linklater.

Audiobook

An unabridged audiobook version, read by Paul Giamatti, was released in 2006 by Random House Audio to coincide with the release of the film adaptation. It runs approximately 9.5 hours over eight compact discs. This version is a tie-in, using the film's poster as cover art.

See also

Citations

  1. ^ Uwe Anton; Werner Fuchs; Frank C. Bertrand (Spring 1996). "So I Don't Write About Heroes: An Interview with Philip K. Dick". SF EYE. pp. 37–46. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  2. Redfern, Nick (February 2010). "The Strange Tale of Solarcon-6". Fortean Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  3. Philip K. Dick (October 18, 2011). A Scanner Darkly. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 288–289. ISBN 978-0-547-57217-8. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  4. ^ Philip K. Dick (October 18, 2011). A Scanner Darkly. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-547-57217-8. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  5. Dick, Philip K. (February 28, 1973). "Letter to Scott Meredith". Letters. Philip K. Dick Trust. Archived from the original on June 2, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  6. Dick, Philip K. (March 20, 1973). "Letter to Scott Meredith". Letters. Philip K. Dick Trust. Archived from the original on June 2, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  7. "1975 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
  8. Knight, Annie (November 1, 2002). "About Philip K. Dick: An interview with Tessa, Chris, and Ranea Dick". Deep Outside SFF. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  9. "An interview with Tessa Dick".
  10. Dick, Philip K. The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings.
  11. "Books", Cosmos, September 1977, p. 39.
  12. "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1977, p. 141.
  13. "1978 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
  14. "thephildickian.com – Award Winning Authors". Archived from the original on October 18, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
  15. Locus Index to SF Awards Archived March 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  16. Kucukalic, Lejla (2009). Philip K. Dick: Canonical Writer of the Digital Age. New York: Routledge. p. 118. ISBN 9780203886847.
  17. "Through a Glass Darkly". IMDb. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  18. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick – Audiobook – Random House Audio ISBN 978-0-7393-2392-2
  19. "Review of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick: SFFaudio". July 3, 2006.

General and cited sources

  • Bell, V. (2006). "Through a scanner darkly: Neuropsychology and psychosis in A Scanner Darkly" . The Psychologist, 19 (8), 488–489.
  • Kosub, Nathan (2006). "Clearly, Clearly, Dark-Eyed Donna: Time and A Scanner Darkly", Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema, October–December; 41: .
  • Prezzavento, Paolo (20060. "Allegoricus semper interpres delirat: Un oscuro scrutare tra teologia e paranoia", Trasmigrazioni, eds. Valerio Massimo De Angelis and Umberto Rossi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2006, pp. 225–36.
  • Sutin, Lawrence (2005). Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick. Carroll & Graf.

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