The Man Who Japed
Second paperback edition, 1973
The Man Who Japed (1956) is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick set in a future society governed by rigid puritanical doctrine, in which a model citizen wakes to discover he has committed an act of sabotage against the system's most sacred monument. This is the second Ace paperback edition.
Softcover. Second Paperback Edition. Ace 51910 ($0.95). Cover art by Dean Ellis. New York: Ace, 1973. Levack 24d. Wintz & Hyde SF24.2. #10517.
Soft crease on front and light wear. Near fine.
Softcover. Second Paperback Edition. Ace 51910 ($0.95). Cover art by Dean Ellis. New York: Ace, 1973. Levack 24d. Wintz & Hyde SF24.2. #10517.
Soft crease on front and light wear. Near fine.
Additional Details
The Man Who Japed (1956) is set in Newer York in the year 2114, a century after a nuclear war left most of Earth a radioactive ruin. The surviving population lives in a rigid theocratic system called Morec, short for Moral Reclamation, founded by the long-dead Major Streiter. Morec governs every aspect of daily life through a network of block committees, neighborhood informers, and surveillance systems that monitor citizens' behavior. Deviation from Morec doctrine is punished swiftly. Conformity is expected and rewarded. The statue of Major Streiter stands at the center of the city as its permanent symbol.
Allen Purcell is the young president of a Research Agency, one of the commercial firms that produce Morec-approved entertainment and propaganda. He is, by all appearances, a model citizen, ambitious, disciplined, and properly devoted to the system. Early in the novel he wakes to discover, with no memory of having done it, that he has stolen the head from the statue of Major Streiter. He then returns it, and replaces it with something else. The act of sabotage, "japing" in the novel's language, is the kind of transgression that carries severe consequences. The problem is that he cannot explain it, even to himself.
The novel follows Allen's attempts to reconstruct what happened and what it means about who he actually is. He has no memory of the act, which is a problem in itself. That he could commit such an act of sabotage in his sleep raises uncomfortable questions about what his convictions are actually worth.
The Morec block committees keep meticulous records of residents' antisocial behavior, with neighbors effectively required to inform on one another. The therapy sessions that Allen attends are less about psychological health than about identifying potential dissidents before they act. The Research Agencies, including Allen's own, exist to produce entertainment that reinforces approved values rather than to create anything of genuine artistic worth. The whole apparatus is presented as a system of mild, pervasive social pressure that most people have simply absorbed without noticing. Allen Purcell becomes genuinely conflicted throughout the novel. He has thrived inside the Morec system. He has absorbed its values to a degree he cannot fully measure. Yet, the jape may be the first honest thing he has done.
Dick's third published novel, first issued as an Ace Double paired with The Space-Born by E.C. Tubb.
Allen Purcell is the young president of a Research Agency, one of the commercial firms that produce Morec-approved entertainment and propaganda. He is, by all appearances, a model citizen, ambitious, disciplined, and properly devoted to the system. Early in the novel he wakes to discover, with no memory of having done it, that he has stolen the head from the statue of Major Streiter. He then returns it, and replaces it with something else. The act of sabotage, "japing" in the novel's language, is the kind of transgression that carries severe consequences. The problem is that he cannot explain it, even to himself.
The novel follows Allen's attempts to reconstruct what happened and what it means about who he actually is. He has no memory of the act, which is a problem in itself. That he could commit such an act of sabotage in his sleep raises uncomfortable questions about what his convictions are actually worth.
The Morec block committees keep meticulous records of residents' antisocial behavior, with neighbors effectively required to inform on one another. The therapy sessions that Allen attends are less about psychological health than about identifying potential dissidents before they act. The Research Agencies, including Allen's own, exist to produce entertainment that reinforces approved values rather than to create anything of genuine artistic worth. The whole apparatus is presented as a system of mild, pervasive social pressure that most people have simply absorbed without noticing. Allen Purcell becomes genuinely conflicted throughout the novel. He has thrived inside the Morec system. He has absorbed its values to a degree he cannot fully measure. Yet, the jape may be the first honest thing he has done.
Dick's third published novel, first issued as an Ace Double paired with The Space-Born by E.C. Tubb.
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