Philip K. Dick vs. Akademikerpacket – ROND 1
“AQUARIAN: In terms of broad acceptance, science fiction has undergone quite a change in the last few years. Always considered a popular, inferior brand of writing, it has now been accepted, not only by the masses but by the academic community. Science fiction courses are now part of almost every English department, people are doing theses and doctoral dissertations on science fiction. What do you think of all this?
DICK: I hate it. I just hope we can survive it.
You know, we’ve survived complete obscurity. We survived complete condescension, the “are you people really doing anything serious?” attitude. I hope we can survive acceptance. It’s really the most dangerous thing.
You know, sometimes I think it’s all a plot, to praise you and accept you and treat you like a serious literary form. Because in that way they can guarantee your demise.
The only thing that’s worse than being treated as “not serious” is being treated as “serious.” I’d much rather be ignored. And this “scholarly” science fiction criticism is the worst.
You know, if they can’t destroy you by ignoring you, they can destroy you by annexing you.
They, the literary critics, write these incredibly turgid articles which see all this “meaning” in your writing. The end result, I guess, is to drive all your readers away screaming.”