Gnosticism in the Writings of Philip Kindred Dick

Abstract

This essay will explore the ways Gnosticism manifests itself through one of Dick’s (best) short stories, “Jon’s World” and “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” written before the “meeting” with Palmer Eldritch, and four of his novels The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, The Man in the High Castle and The Cosmic Puppets that predate the visions and cosmic messages associated with Valis, going through them in chronological order to see how his Gnostic religion took shape as the years passed.