The Man in the High Castle: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|1962 novel by Philip K. Dick}}

{{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->

{{For|the TV series|The Man in the High Castle (TV series){{!}}''The Man in the High Castle'' (TV series)}}

{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2017}}

{{Infobox book <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->

| name = The Man in the High Castle

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = [[Image:PKD-The- Man-In-The- in the High- Castle (1962).png|thumb|200px|center|]]jpg

| caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)

| author = [[Philip K. Dick]]

| cover_artist =

| country = [[United States]]

| language = [[English language|English]]

| genre = [[Alternate history|alternative history]], [[science fiction]], [[philosophical fiction]]

| series =

| genre publisher = [[alternateG. historyP. (fiction)Putnam's Sons|Alternate historyPutnam]]

| release_date = October 1962

| publisher = [[Putnam]]

| media_type = Print (hardcover & paperback)

| release_date = [[1 January]], [[1962]]

| media_typepages = [[Print]]240

| pagesdewey = 813.54

| isbn = <!-- ISBN 0244151806didn't exist in 1962 -->

| preceded_byoclc = 145507009}}

'''''The Man in the High Castle''''' is an [[alternative history]] novel by [[Philip K. Dick]], first published in 1962, which imagines a world in which the [[Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II|Axis powers]] won [[World War II]]. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the life of several characters living under [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] or [[Nazi Germany]] as they rule a partitioned United States. The eponymous character is the mysterious author of a novel-within-the-novel entitled ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', a subversive alternative history of the war in which the Allied powers are victorious.

| followed_by =

}}

'''''The Man in the High Castle''''' is a 1962 [[alternate history (fiction)|alternate history]] [[novel]] by [[science fiction]] writer [[Philip K. Dick]]. The novel is set in the former [[United States]], in 1962, 15 years after the [[Axis Powers]] defeated the [[Allies]] in [[World War II]] and the U.S. surrendered to [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Empire of Japan]].

Dick's thematic inspirations include the alternative history of the [[American Civil War]], ''[[Bring the Jubilee]]'' (1953), by [[Ward Moore]], and the ''[[I Ching]]'', a Chinese book of divination that features in the story and the actions of the characters. ''The Man in the High Castle'' won the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] in 1963, and was adapted to television for [[Amazon Prime Video]] as ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]'' in 2015.

While not the first piece of alternate history fiction, the novel defined that type of story as a genre of [[literature]]. It won the prestigious [[Hugo Award]] and helped make Dick well-known in science fiction circles. It is one of Dick's most tightly-structured and character-focused novels and one which deals the least with standard science fiction themes, such as technological innovation and interplanetary travel.

==PlotSynopsis==

===Back storyBackground===

[[File:The Man in the High Castle novel map of former USA.png|thumb|right|300px|An attempt to draw plausible borders of the United States as partitioned into four states by Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962):{{legend|#FF0000|Pacific States of America}} {{legend|#55d400|Rocky Mountain States}} {{legend|#784421|United States of America}} {{legend|#FFCCAA|The South}}]]

{{spoiler}}

In the alternative history imagined in ''The Man in the High Castle'', [[Giuseppe Zangara]] assassinates [[President-elect of the United States|President-elect]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1933, resulting in the continuation of the [[Great Depression]] and the policy of [[United States non-interventionism]] at the start of World War II in 1939. American inaction allows [[Nazi Germany]] to conquer and annex continental Europe and the Soviet Union into the [[Greater Germanic Reich|Reich]]. The exterminations of the [[Holocaust|Jews]], the [[Romani Holocaust|Romani]], the [[Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany |Jehovah's Witnesses]], the [[Slavs]], and all other peoples whom the Nazis considered [[Untermensch|subhuman]] ensued. The Axis powers then jointly conquered Africa, and still compete for the control of South America in 1962.<ref>The events of the book take place in 1962: in chapter 6, in reference to the killing of Joe Cinadella’s brothers in 1944, Juliana says « But it’s been — eighteen years ».</ref> Imperial Japan won the [[war in the Pacific]] and invaded the [[West Coast of the United States]], while Nazi Germany invaded the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]]; the surrender of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] ended World War II in 1947.

The [[point of divergence]] between the world of ''The Man in the High Castle'' and actual history is the [[assassination]] of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1933. He was succeeded by [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[John Nance Garner]], who was subsequently replaced by [[John W. Bricker]]. Neither man was able to revive the nation from the [[Great Depression]], and both clung to an [[United States isolationism|isolationist]] policy concerning the oncoming [[World War II|war]].

By 1962, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany are the world's superpowers, fighting a [[geopolitics|geopolitical]] cold war over the world, and in particular over the former United States and South America. Japan extended the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|Co-Prosperity Pacific Alliance]] with the establishment of the Pacific States of America (PSA), with the politically neutral Rocky Mountain States acting as a buffer against the Nazi territory to the east. Nazi North America is composed of two countries: [[Southern United States|The South]], and the northeastern part of the former contiguous United States of America, which is referred to as "the U.S." in the book, both of which are ruled by [[collaborationism|collaborationist]] pro-Nazi puppet regimes. Canada remains an independent country.

Without U.S. assistance, [[Britain]] and then the rest of [[Europe]] fell to the Axis powers. Russia collapsed in 1941 and it was occupied by the Nazis, most of the [[Slavic people]] being exterminated. The Slavic survivors of the war were confined to "[[reservation]]-like closed regions". The Japanese completely destroyed the United States' [[Pacific ocean|Pacific]] fleet in a much more expansive [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. The U.S., ailing from years of economic distress, fell to the Axis with many important cities suffering great damage.

The aged [[Adolf Hitler]] is incapacitated by [[tertiary syphilis]], [[Martin Bormann]] is the acting [[Chancellor of Germany]], and many high-ranking Nazi leaders—[[Joseph Goebbels]], [[Reinhard Heydrich]], [[Hermann Göring]], and [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]]—still survive and vie to succeed Hitler as the ''Führer'' of the Greater Germanic Reich. Technologically, the Nazis have [[Atlantropa|drained the Mediterranean Sea]] for ''[[Lebensraum]]'' and farmland, developed and used the [[Thermonuclear weapon|hydrogen bomb]], developed rockets for traveling throughout the world and into [[outer space]], and have undertaken [[Space colonization|colonization missions]] to the Moon and to the planets Venus and Mars.

By 1947, Allied forces had surrendered to Axis control. The [[Eastern Seaboard]] was placed under German control while California and other western states ceded to Japanese rule. The [[Mountain States]] and much of the [[Midwest]] remained autonomous, being considered unimportant by either of the victors. At the end of the war, the British leaders and generals were trialed for war crimes (i.e. the [[carpet bombing]] of German cities) in a parallel of the [[Nuremberg Trials]].

===Plot===

After [[Adolf Hitler]] was incapacitated by [[syphilis]], the head of the [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazi]] [[Party Chancellery]], [[Martin Bormann]], assumed the leadership of Germany. The Nazis created a colonial empire and continued their mass murder of [[race]]s they considered inferior, murdering [[Jew]]s in areas they controlled and mounting a massive genocide in [[Africa]]. However, unlike the Nazis, the Japanese had no policy of cleansing the occupied areas of unwanted races.

In 1962, it has been fifteen years since Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany won World War II. In [[San Francisco]], in the Pacific States of America, Japanese [[Institutional racism|judicial racism]] has enslaved [[black people]] and reduced the Chinese residents to [[second-class citizens]]. Businessman Robert Childan owns an [[antique shop]] there that specializes in [[Americana (culture)|Americana]] for a Japanese clientele who fetishize cultural artifacts of the former United States. One day, Childan receives a request from Nobusuke Tagomi, a high-ranking trade official, who seeks a gift to impress a Swedish industrialist named Baynes. Childan cannot fulfill Tagomi's original request (a civil war recruiting poster) but is able to present alternatives because he is well-stocked with counterfeit antiques made by the [[metal-working|metal works]] Wyndam-Matson Corporation.

Recently fired from his job at a Wyndam-Matson factory, Frank Frink (formerly Fink) is a [[Crypto-Judaism|secret Jew]] and war veteran who agrees to join a former co-worker to start a business making and selling jewelry. In the Rocky Mountain States, Frank's ex-wife, Juliana Frink, works as a [[judo]] instructor in [[Canon City, Colorado]] and, in her private life, has begun a sexual relationship with Joe Cinnadella, an Italian truck driver and ex-soldier.

Nazi Germany continued their [[rocket]]ry programs, so by 1962, they had a working system of commercial rockets used for inter-continental travel and also pursued [[space exploration]], by sending rockets to the Moon and Mars and pre. The novel also mentions [[television]] as being a new technology used in Germany.

Frink blackmails the Wyndam-Matson Corporation for money to finance his jewelry business, threatening to expose that they are supplying counterfeit antiques to Childan. Tagomi and Baynes meet, but Baynes repeatedly delays conducting any real business because he awaits a third party from Japan. The Nazi news media announce that Chancellor of Nazi Germany [[Martin Bormann]] has died after a short illness. Childan takes some of Frink's "authentic metalwork" jewelry on [[consignment]] to curry favor with a Japanese client, who, to Childan's surprise, says it possesses much ''[[Wu (awareness)|Wu]]'', spiritual awareness. Juliana and Joe travel by road to [[Denver, Colorado]], but en route Joe impulsively decides that they take a side trip to [[Cheyenne, Wyoming]], to meet Hawthorne Abendsen, the mysterious author of ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', a novel of [[speculative fiction]] that presents an alternate history of World War II wherein the Allies defeat the Axis. The Nazis banned the book in the U.S., but the Japanese allow its publication and sale in the Pacific States of America. Supposedly, Abendsen lives in a heavily guarded estate named the High Castle. The Nazi news media inform the public that [[Joseph Goebbels]] is the new Chancellor of Nazi Germany.

Meanwhile Japan continued a more peaceful, but certainly not [[democracy|democratic]] rule, in much of [[Asia]] and territories in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Like the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] after the actual World War II, the Japanese and the Germans are distrustful of one another.

After much delay, Baynes and Tagomi meet their Japanese contact, while the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD), the security service of the SS, is close to arresting Baynes, who is a Nazi defector, Rudolf Wegener. Baynes warns his contact, a Japanese general, of the existence of Operation Dandelion, Goebbels's plan for a Nazi sneak attack upon the [[Japanese archipelago|Japanese Home Islands]], with the goal of destroying the Empire of Japan. Frink is exposed as a [[crypto-Jew]] and arrested by the San Francisco police. Elsewhere, two SD agents confront Baynes and Tagomi, who uses his antique American pistol to kill both agents. In Colorado, Joe changes his appearance and mannerisms before the side trip to the High Castle in Wyoming; Juliana infers that Joe intends to assassinate Abendsen. Joe reveals himself to be a Swiss Nazi when he confirms his intention; Juliana kills Joe and goes to warn Abendsen.

During the novel, Martin Bormann dies and other Nazis such as [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Reinhard Heydrich]] challenge to become Reich Chancellor (German: ''[[Reichskanzler]]''). Various factions of the Nazi party are described as either seeking war with Japan or being more interested in colonising the solar system.

Wegener flies back to Germany and learns that [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (a member of the faction against Operation Dandelion) has launched a coup d'état against Goebbels, to install himself as Chancellor of Nazi Germany. Tagomi is shocked at having killed the SD agents and goes to the antiques shop to sell the pistol back to Childan; instead, sensing the spiritual energy from one of Frink's jewelry creations, Tagomi buys the jewelry. Tagomi then undergoes an intense spiritual experience during which he momentarily perceives an alternative version of San Francisco, evinced by the [[California State Route 480|Embarcadero freeway]], which he has never seen and by the fact that white people do not defer to Japanese people.

===Storylines===

''The Man in the High Castle'' has no one central [[plot]] but rotates between several somewhat interconnected storylines:

Tagomi later meets with the German consul in San Francisco and compels the Germans to free Frink, whom Tagomi has never met, by refusing to sign the order of extradition to Nazi Germany. Juliana has a spiritual experience when she arrives in Cheyenne. She discovers that Abendsen lives with his family in a normal house, having abandoned the High Castle because of a changed outlook on life; thus the possibility of being assassinated no longer worries him. After evading Juliana's questions about his literary inspiration, Abendsen says he used the ''[[I Ching]]'', a Chinese book of [[divination]], to guide the writing of his novel. Before leaving, Juliana infers then that Truth wrote the novel to reveal the Inner Truth that Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany did lose World War II in 1945.

* An [[Abwehr]] [[espionage|spy]] travels to [[San Francisco]] under cover as a [[Sweden|Swedish]] trading merchant. He confers with Mr. Tagomi, head of the Japanese trade commission in the area, but must stall in pursuit of his true mission and avoid capture until the mysterious Mr. Yatabe arrives from Japan (Operation Dandelion).

* Mr. Tagomi has a crisis of faith about the righteousness of the core principles of modern day Japanese and German society and his own [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] beliefs.

* Robert Childan, proprietor of a San Francisco store selling American [[antiques]] and cultural artifacts that have become popular to the Japanese, tries to retain honor and dignity while catering to an occupying force. Although often obsequious in their presence and ambivalent in his own feelings towards the war and his occupiers (whom he both loathes and respects alternately), Childan eventually finds a sense of cultural pride. He also investigates widespread forgery within the antique market amidst the increased Japanese interest in 'genuine' [[Americana]].

* Two San Franciscan industrial workers, Frank Frink and Ed McCarthy begin a [[jewelry]] business, creating some of the first authentic pieces of American art in several years. Their works have a strange effect on the Americans and Japanese who view them. Also Frink attempts to hide his Jewish ancestry from local police.

* Frink's ex-wife Juliana, living in [[Colorado]], begins a relationship with Joe, a truck driver who claims to be an [[Italy|Italian]] veteran of the war who wishes to meet the titular ''Man in the High Castle'', Hawthorne Abendsen, author of ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy''. She travels with him, but discovers that Joe is actually a German assassin. Unable to escape, Juliana slits his throat with a razor blade. She continues the journey alone and finally meets Abendsen.

==''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy''==

Several characters in ''The Man in the High Castle'' read athe popular, novel called ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', aby [[storyHawthorne withinAbendsen, athe story|noveltitle withinof awhich novel]].the readers presume derives from the Bible verse fragment: "The author,grasshopper Hawthorneshall Abendsen,be describesa burden" ({{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Ecclesiastes|chapter=12|verse=5}}). As an alternatealternative history in whichof the AxisSecond powersWorld lostWar, wherein the war.Allies Althoughdefeat closerthe toAxis actual historyPowers, the novelNazi portraysregime a third scenario.bans ''The novelGrasshopper isLies bannedHeavy'' in areasthe underSouth, Germanwhereas occupation,the butPacific itsStates of America allow the publication isand legalsale inof the areascounterfactual undernovel.<ref Japanesename=Castle occupation./>{{rp|91}}

''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' postulates that President Roosevelt survives the 1933 assassination attempt but chooses not to seek [[1940 United States presidential election|re-election in 1940]]. The next president, [[Rexford Tugwell]], moves the American Pacific Fleet from [[Pearl Harbor]], saving it from attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy, which ensures that the country is better equipped to fight the war.<ref name=Castle />{{rp|70}} Having retained most of their military-industrial capabilities, the United Kingdom contributes more to the Allied war effort, which facilitates the defeat of [[Erwin Rommel]] in the [[North African Campaign]]. The British fight the Axis armies through the Caucasus to join the Soviet Union and defeat the Nazis in the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]; the [[Kingdom of Italy]] reneges its membership in the Axis and betrays the Nazis; the British Army joins the [[Red Army]] in the [[Battle of Berlin]], the decisive defeat of Nazi Germany. At war's end in 1945, Hitler and the Nazi leaders are tried as [[War crime|war criminals]] and are put to death,<ref name=Castle />{{rp|131}} with Hitler's last words being ''Deutsche, hier steh' ich'' ("Germans, here I stand"), in imitation of [[Martin Luther]].

In Abendsen's novel, Roosevelt survives the assassination attempt but does not run for reelection in 1940. The next president, [[Rexford Guy Tugwell|Rexford Tugwell]] (who, in 'our' reality, never ran for the presidency), mitigates the bombing of Pearl Harbor by sailing the U.S.'s Pacific fleet, so the U.S. enters the war with more naval power.

After the war, Tugwell promulgates the [[New Deal]] for the countries of the world, which finances a decade of rebuilding in China and the education of illiterate peoples in the undeveloped countries of Africa and Asia, who receive television sets by which they are taught to read and write, are instructed in digging wells and in purifying water. The New Deal financial assistance facilitates American businesses building factories in the undeveloped countries of Asia and Africa. American society is peaceful and harmonious and is at peace with the other countries of the world; the war ends the Soviet Union. Ten years after the war, still headed by Winston Churchill, the [[British Empire]] becomes militaristic, [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American]] and establishes prison camps in India for Chinese subjects considered disloyal. Suspecting that the United States is sponsoring the anti-colonial subversion of British colonial rule in Asia, Churchill provokes a [[cold war (general term)|cold war]] for global hegemony; the geopolitical rivalry leads to an Anglo-American war won by the United Kingdom.<ref name=Castle />{{rp|169–172}}

In the novel the British contribution to victory is greater than in the historical scenario and the Russian and American lower. The turning points of the war are a British victory over Nazi troops under General [[Erwin Rommel]] in [[Africa]], a British advance through the [[Caucasus]] and, in coordination with the remnants of the Russian army, a British victory at [[Stalingrad]]. As in the historical scenario, [[Italy]] turns against the Axis Powers. British tanks storm Berlin at the end of the war.

==Inspirations==

After the war, Britain, still led by Churchill, doesn't lose its empire and the U.S. exports mostly to [[China]], under the democratic rule of [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. The British Empire remains racist while the U.S. solves its race issues by the 1950s, causing tension between the two superpowers.

Dick said that he imagined the story of ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962) from his reading of the novel ''[[Bring the Jubilee]]'' (1953), by [[Ward Moore]], which is an alternative history of the U.S. civil war won by the Confederacy. In the acknowledgements page of ''The Man in the High Castle'', Dick mentions the thematic influences of the popular history ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich|The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany]]'' (1960), by [[William L. Shirer]]; the biography ''[[Hitler: A Study in Tyranny]]'' (1952), by [[Alan Bullock]]; ''The [[Goebbels Diaries]]'' (1948); ''Foxes of the Desert'' (1960), by Paul Carrell; and the 1950 translation of the ''[[I Ching]]'', by [[Richard Wilhelm (sinologist)|Richard Wilhelm]].<ref name='vertex' /><ref name=Castle >{{cite book|last1=Dick|first1=Philip K.|title=The Man in the High Castle|date=2011|publisher=Mariner Books|___location=Boston|isbn=978-0-547-60120-5|pages=ix–x |edition=1st Mariner Books| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aBwki0xmZEC|access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref> As a novelist, Dick used the ''I Ching'' to craft the themes, plot and story of ''The Man in the High Castle'', whose characters also use the ''I Ching'' to inform and guide their decisions.<ref name='vertex'>{{cite journal |last=Cover |first=Arthur Byron | author-link=Arthur Byron Cover|date=February 1974 |title=Interview with Philip K. Dick |url=http://www.philipkdickfans.com/literary-criticism/frank-views-archive/vertex-interview-with-philip-k-dick/ |journal=Vertex |volume=1 |issue=6 |access-date=23 July 2014}}</ref>

Dick cites the thematic influences of Japanese and Tibetan poetry upon the narrative of ''The Man in the High Castle''; (i) The ''[[haiku]]'' in page 48 of the novel is from the first volume of the ''Anthology of Japanese Literature'' (1955), edited by [[Donald Keene]]; (ii) the ''[[waka (poetry)|waka]]'' poem in page 135 is from ''Zen and Japanese Culture'' (1955), by [[D. T. Suzuki]] and (iii) the Tibetan book of the dead, the ''[[Bardo Thodol]]'' (1960), edited by [[Walter Evans-Wentz]] and mentions the sociologic influences of the [[Expressionism|expressionist]] novella ''[[Miss Lonelyhearts]]'' (1933), by [[Nathanael West]], in which an unhappy newspaper reporter pseudonymously writes the "Miss Lonelyhearts" advice column, through which he dispenses advice to emotionally forlorn readers during the [[Great Depression]]. Despite his job as Miss Lonelyhearts, the reporter seeks consolation in religion, sexual promiscuity, rural vacations and much work; no activity provides him with a sense of personal authenticity derived from his intellectual and emotional engagement with the world.<ref name=Castle />{{rp|118}}

Eventually, the U.S. challenges the traditional British role as the world's most influential nation. However, the British ultimately overcome the U.S. to become the world's supreme power.

==Reception==

The book's author, Hawthorne Abendsen, is rumored to live in a highly guarded fortress; his [[nickname]] is "the Man in the High Castle," from which the novel itself is named.

[[Avram Davidson]] praised the novel as a "superior work of fiction", citing Dick's use of the ''I Ching'' as "fascinating". Davidson concluded that "It's all here—extrapolation, suspense, action, art, philosophy, plot, [and] character".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davidson |first=Avram |author-link=Avram Davidson |title=Books |journal=[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]] |date=June 1963 |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=61|doi=10.1007/BF00650615 |bibcode=1963MSHT....5...61. }}</ref> ''The Man in the High Castle'' secured for Dick the 1963 [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]].<ref name="nyt820303">{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Philip K. Dick, Won Awards For Science-Fiction Works |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/03/obituaries/philip-k-dick-won-awards-for-science-fiction-works.html |date=March 3, 1982 |access-date=March 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name="WWE-1963">{{cite web |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1963 |title=1963 Award Winners & Nominees |work=Worlds Without End |access-date=September 27, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3487892/ij_reporters_notebook_for_7_nov_1963/ |title=A Brisk Bathrobe Canter At Cry Of 'Fire!' Stirs Blood |last=Wyatt |first=Fred |date=November 7, 1963 |access-date=October 25, 2015 |via=[[Ancestry.com#Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]] |newspaper=Daily Independent Journal |___location=San Rafael, California |department=I-J Reporter's Notebook |quote=Belatedly I learned that Philip K. Dick of Point Reyes Station won the Hugo, the 21st World Science Fiction Convention Annual Achievement Award for the best novel of 1962.}}</ref> In a review of a paperback reprint of the novel, [[Robert Silverberg]] wrote in ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' magazine, "Dick's prose crackles with excitement, his characters are vividly real, his plot is stunning".<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/Amazing_Stories_v38n06_1964-06_aMouse#page/n123/mode/2up |last=Silverberg |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Silverberg |title=The Spectroscope |journal=[[Amazing Stories]] |volume=38 |issue=6 |date=June 1964 |page=124 |access-date=January 30, 2021}}</ref>

In ''The Religion of Science Fiction'', Frederick A. Kreuziger explores the theory of history implied by Dick's creation of the two alternative realities

==Use of the ''I Ching''==

Dick claims that he wrote ''The Man in the High Castle'', using the [[Chinese classic text|ancient Chinese philosophical text]] the ''[[I Ching]]'' (or ''Book of Changes'') to decide on plot development. He even blamed the ''I Ching'' for plot details that he was unhappy with in one interview.

<blockquote>Neither of the two worlds, however, the revised version of the outcome of WWII nor the fictional account of our present world, is anywhere near similar to the world we are familiar with. But they could be! This is what the book is about. The book argues that this world, described twice, although differently each time, is exactly the world we know and are familiar with. Indeed, it is the only world we know: the world of chance, luck, fate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kreuziger |first1=Frederick A. |title=In The Religion of Science Fiction |publisher=Popular Press |url=https://archive.org/details/religionofscienc0000kreu |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionofscienc0000kreu/page/82 82] |quote=man in the high castle cynical. |access-date=July 27, 2016 |isbn=9780879723675 |year=1986}}</ref></blockquote>

The ''I Ching'' is featured throughout ''The Man in the High Castle''. It spread through the Pacific States after the Japanese began their occupation. Several characters, both Japanese and American, consult it for important decisions. Abendsen, like Dick, used the ''I Ching'' to write ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy''.

In her introduction to the Folio Society edition of the novel, [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] writes that ''The Man in the High Castle'' "may be the first, big lasting contribution science fiction made to American literature."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |title=The Man in the High Castle |publisher=Folio Society |year=2015 |___location=London}}</ref>

==Themes==

The most prominent theme in ''The Man in the High Castle'' is the question of the penetration of true reality into a false reality. This can be seen in several aspects of the novel.

* Robert Childan discovers that many of his antiques are fakes and becomes paranoid that his entire stock consists of counterfeits.

* Several characters are spies, traveling under false names and pretenses.

* Although not describing the historical scenario, ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', the [[fictional book|book-within-a-book]], portrays actual history more accurately than ''The Man in the High Castle'' itself.

* The jewelry made by Frink and McCarthy more closely resembles actual 60s American folk art, rather than Japanese or German works. The connection between these pieces and a deeper reality mainfests itself through the effect the pieces have on several characters.

* ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' is essentially the alternate-history counterpart of ''The Man in the High Castle'' in that, to the characters inhabiting the fictional world, the world of ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' is the fiction. This implies the penetration of two false realities suggesting that even the idea of two realities, true and false, is incorrect and that there are multiple realities.

* The ''Man in the High Castle'' of the book's title actually lives in a normal house.

* At the novel's end, it is implied that a few characters, through consultation with the ''I Ching'', discover that their world is fictional.

* One character, Mr. Tagomi, seems to briefly become cognizant of the real world. By meditating on a small pin which contains Wu, a form of inner truth, he finds himself in the "real" world in which we, the readers, live and know.

==Adaptations==

With this theme, Dick suggests the questions, who or what is the agent causing this inter-penetration of realities? And why does that agent desire that this reality be known as an artifice? This theme is addressed further in several subsequent Dick novels, including ''[[Ubik]]'', ''[[Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said]]'', and ''[[Valis]]''.

===Audiobook===

An unabridged ''The Man in the High Castle'' audiobook, read by [[George Guidall]] and running approximately 9.5 hours over seven [[Compact Cassette|audio cassettes]], was released in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jesse |last=Willis |url=http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=1065 |title=Review of The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick |publisher=SFFaudio |date=May 29, 2003 |access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref> Another unabridged audiobook version was released in 2008 by [[Blackstone Audio]], read by Tom Wyner (credited as Tom Weiner) and running approximately 8.5 hours over seven [[Compact disc|CDs]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=4699 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809052335/http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=4699 | archive-date=August 9, 2010| access-date=January 10, 2016| publisher=BlackstoneAudio.com |title=The Man in the High Castle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/37579/ |author=L.B. |title=Audiobook review: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, read by Tom Weiner| publisher=audiofilemagazine.com| access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> A third unabridged audiobook recording was released in 2014 by [[Amazon (company)#Brilliance Audio|Brilliance Audio]], read by Jeff Cummings with a running time of 9 hours 58 minutes.<ref>{{cite book| url=http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Man-in-the-High-Castle-Audiobook/B00WJ23VAS|title=The Man in the High Castle|publisher=Audible, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4558-4037-3 }}</ref>

===Television===

''The Man in the High Castle'' also deals with themes of justice and injustice (through Frink's fleeing from Nazi persecution), gender and power (through Juliana's relationship with Joe), shame and identity (through Childan's new confidence in American culture from the limiting, backwards-looking obsession with nostalgia and antiquities), and the effects of [[fascism]] and [[racism]] on culture (throughout the novel, especially sections in dealing with the lack of value of life in the wake of Nazi dominance of the world, and the race superiority and racism that several characters - Japanese, American and German - occasionally indulge in).

{{Main|The Man in the High Castle (TV series)}}

After a number of attempts to adapt the book to the screen, in October 2014, [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]]'s film production unit began filming the pilot episode of ''The Man in the High Castle'' in [[Roslyn, Washington]], for release through the [[Amazon Prime]] Web video streaming service.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/roslyn-hopes-new-tv-show-brings-more-minutes-of-fame/article_0d6c8b9e-29bd-587c-aa8f-19be6227a32a.html |newspaper=[[Yakima Herald-Republic|Yakima Herald]]|access-date=March 28, 2017|date=October 5, 2014 |title=Roslyn hopes new TV show brings 15 more minutes of fame |last=Muir |first=Pat}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2014/07/the-man-in-the-high-castle-just-add-magic-amazon-studios-pilots-809111/ | work=Deadline | title=Amazon Studios Adds Drama 'The Man In The High Castle', Comedy 'Just Add Magic' To Pilot Slate| first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |date=July 24, 2014| access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> The pilot episode was released by [[Amazon Studios]] on January 15, 2015,<ref>{{cite web| title=The Man in the High Castle: Season 1, Episode 1| website=Amazon | url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RSI5EHQ/ref=dv_dp_ep1| access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740299/?ref_=nv_sr_1 |title=The Man in the High Castle |publisher=[[IMDb|Internet Movie Database]] |access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref> and was Amazon's "most watched pilot ever" according to Amazon Studios' vice president, Roy Price.<ref name=LewisTHR15>{{cite web|last=Lewis |first=Hilary |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amazon-orders-5-new-series-774725 |title=Amazon Orders 5 New Series Including 'Man in the High Castle' |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=February 18, 2015 |access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref> On February 18, 2015, Amazon green-lit the series.<ref name=RobertsonVerge15>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/18/8060565/man-in-the-high-castle-amazon-greenlight |title=Amazon green-lights The Man in the High Castle TV series |website=The Verge |first=Adi |last=Robertson |date=February 18, 2015 |access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref> The show became available for streaming on November 20, 2015.<ref>{{cite news|first=Brian |last=Moylan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/18/jessica-jones-netflix-amazon-hulu-streaming-television |title=Does The Man in the High Castle prove that the best TV is now streamed? |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=December 10, 2015|date=November 18, 2015 }}</ref>

The idea of Nazi Germany winning World War II, is also explored in [[Fatherland (novel)]], and in an episode of [[Star Trek: The Original Series]] ([[The City on the Edge of Forever]]).

==Incomplete sequel==

==Trivia==

In a 1976 interview, Dick said he planned to write a sequel novel to ''The Man in the High Castle'': "And so there's no real ending on it. I like to regard it as an open ending. It will segue into a sequel sometime."<ref name="KPRK Interview 1976">{{cite web| url=http://www.philipkdickfans.com/literary-criticism/interviews/hour-25-a-talk-with-philip-k-dick/ |title=Hour 25: A Talk With Philip K. Dick « Philip K. Dick Fan Site |publisher=Philipkdickfans.com |date=June 26, 1976 |access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref> Dick said that he had "started several times to write a sequel" but progressed little, because he was too disturbed by his original research for ''The Man in the High Castle'' and could not mentally bear "to go back and read about Nazis again".<ref name="Pink Beam: A Philip K. Dick Companion">{{cite book| last1=RC| first1=Lord| title=Pink Beam: A Philip K. Dick Companion|date=2006|publisher=Ganymedean Slime Mold Pubs|___location=Ward, Colorado |isbn=9781430324379| page=106| edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdBEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106| access-date=December 10, 2015}}{{Self-published source|date=August 2015}}</ref> He suggested that the sequel would be a collaboration with another author:<blockquote>Somebody would have to come in and help me do a sequel to it. Someone who had the stomach for the stamina to think along those lines, to get into the head; if you're going to start writing about Reinhard Heydrich, for instance, you have to get into his face. Can you imagine getting into Reinhard Heydrich's face?<ref name="Pink Beam: A Philip K. Dick Companion" /></blockquote>

* A type of mood-altering [[marijuana]] [[cigarette]] in the alternate universe of San Francisco is called "Heavenly Music." This term was used as the name of a track on an album by [[Brian Eno]] and [[Robert Fripp]] called "[[No Pussyfooting]]." The track is called "The Heavenly Music Corporation."

Two chapters of the proposed sequel were published in ''The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick'', a collection of his essays and other writings.<ref name=Sutin>{{cite book| last1=Dick|first1=Philip K.|editor1-last=Sutin|editor1-first=Lawrence|editor1-link=Lawrence Sutin|title=The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings|date=1995|publisher=Vintage|___location=New York|isbn=0-679-74787-7|chapter=Part 3. Works Related to 'The Man in the High Castle' and its Proposed Sequel}}</ref> Eventually, Dick admitted that the proposed sequel became an unrelated novel, ''[[The Ganymede Takeover]]'', co-written with [[Ray Nelson (author)|Ray Nelson]] (known for writing the short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" filmed as ''[[They Live]]'').

==Sequel==

Dick revealed in a 1976 interview [http://www.philipkdickfans.com/frank/hour25.htm] that he planned to write a sequel to ''The Man in the High Castle'': "And so there's no real ending on it. I like to regard it as an open ending. It will segue into a sequel sometime." He stated that he "started several times to write a sequel" but never got far because he was too disturbed by his original research for ''The Man in the High Castle'' and couldn't stand "to go back and read about Nazis again."

Dick's novel ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]'' is rumored to have started as a sequel to ''The Man in the High Castle''.<ref name=Sequel>{{cite web|last1=Pfarrer|first1=Tony|title=A Possible Man in the High Castle Sequel?| url=http://www.alphane.com/moon/PalmTree/sequel.htm|website=Willis E. Howard, III Home Page|access-date=July 22, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819202038/http://www.alphane.com/moon/PalmTree/sequel.htm|archive-date=August 19, 2008}}</ref> Dick described the plot of this early version of ''Radio Free Albemuth''—then titled ''VALISystem A''—writing:<blockquote>... a divine and loving ETI [extraterrestrial intelligence]&nbsp;... help[s] Hawthorne Abendsen, the protagonist-author in [''The Man in the High Castle''], continue on in his difficult life after the Nazi secret police finally got to him&nbsp;... VALISystem A, located in deep space, sees to it that nothing can prevent Abendsen from finishing his novel.<ref name=Sequel /></blockquote>

He also suggested that the proposed sequel would be a collaboration with another author: "Somebody would have to come in and help me do a sequel to it. Someone who had the stomach for the stamina to think along those lines, to get into the head; if you're going to start writing about [[Reinhard Heydrich]], for instance, you have to get into his face. Can you imagine getting into Reinhard Heydrich's face?"

The novel eventually became a new story unrelated to ''The Man in the High Castle''.<ref name=Sequel /> Dick ultimately abandoned the ''Albemuth'' book, unpublished during his lifetime, though portions were salvaged and used for 1981's ''VALIS''.<ref name=Sequel /> ''Radio Free Albemuth'' was published in 1985, three years after Dick's death.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=7975&recCount=25&recPointer=3&bibId=2386403 |title=LC Online Catalog&nbsp;— Item Information (Full Record) |year=1985 |publisher=Catalog.loc.gov |isbn=9780877957621 |access-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref>

==External links==

==See also==

* [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/highcastle.htm Review and analysis]

{{portal|United States|Novels}}

* [http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/mhc.htm Review and analysis]

*[[Fatherland (novel)|''Fatherland'' (novel)]]

*[[Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II]]

*[[Turning Point: Fall of Liberty]]

*[[Wolfenstein: The New Order]]

==References==

[[Category:1962 novels|Man in the High Castle, The]]

{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Alternate history novels|Man in the High Castle, The]]

[[Category:Dystopian novels|Man in the High Castle, The]]

==Further reading==

[[Category:Science fiction novels|Man in the High Castle, The]]

{{Refbegin}}

[[Category:Philip K. Dick novels|Man in the High Castle, The]]

*Brown, William Lansing. 2006. "alternative Histories: Power, Politics, and Paranoia in Philip Roth's ''The Plot against America'' and Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle''", ''The Image of Power in Literature, Media, and Society: Selected Papers'', 2006 Conference, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Wright, Will; Kaplan, Steven (eds.); Pueblo, CO: Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, [[Colorado State University-Pueblo]]; pp.&nbsp;107–11.

[[Category:Hugo Award winning works|Man in the High Castle, The]]

[[Category:Nazi*Campbell, Laura E. 1992. "Dickian GermanyTime in fiction|''The Man in the High Castle''", The''[[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]]'', 33: 3, pp.&nbsp;190–201.

*Carter, Cassie, 1995. "The Metacolonization of Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle'': Mimicry, Parasitism and Americanism in the PSA", ''[[Science Fiction Studies]]'' #67, 22:3, pp.&nbsp;333–342.

*DiTommaso, Lorenzo, 1999. [https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/77/ditommaso77.htm "Redemption in Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle''"], ''Science Fiction Studies'' # 77, 26:, pp.&nbsp;91–119, [[DePauw University]].

*[[Goffredo Fofi|Fofi, Goffredo]] 1997. "Postfazione", Philip K. Dick, ''La Svastica sul Sole'', Roma, Fanucci, pp.&nbsp;391–5.

*Hayles, N. Katherine 1983. "Metaphysics and Metafiction in ''The Man in the High Castle''", ''Philip K. Dick''. Greenberg, M.H.; Olander, J.D. (eds.); New York: Taplinger, 1983, pp.&nbsp;53–71.

*Malmgren, Carl D. 1980. "Philip Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle'' and the Nature of Science Fictional Worlds", ''Bridges to Science Fiction''. Slusser, George E.; Guffey, George R.; Rose, Mark (eds.); Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, pp.&nbsp;120–30.

*Mountfort, Paul 2016. "The ''I Ching'' and Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle''", ''Science-Fiction Studies'' # 129, 43:, pp.&nbsp;287–309.

*Pagetti, Carlo, 2001a. "La svastica americana" [Introduction], Philip K. Dick, ''L'uomo nell'alto castello'', Roma: Fanucci, pp.&nbsp;7–26.

*Proietti, Salvatore, 1989. "''The Man in The High Castle'': politica e metaromanzo", ''Il sogno dei simulacri''. Pagetti, Carlo; Viviani, Gianfranco (eds.); Milano: Nord, 1989 pp.&nbsp;34–41.

*Rieder, John 1988. "The Metafictive World of ''The Man in the High Castle'': Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Political Ideology", ''Science-Fiction Studies'' # 45, 15.2: 214–25.

*Rossi, Umberto, 2000. [https://www.academia.edu/389078/All_Around_the_High_Castle_Narrative_Voices_and_Fictional_Visions_in_Philip_K._Dicks_The_Man_in_the_High_Castle "All Around the High Castle: Narrative Voices and Fictional Visions in Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle''"], ''Telling the Stories of America&nbsp;— History, Literature and the Arts&nbsp;— Proceedings of the 14th AISNA Biennial conference (Pescara, 1997)'', Clericuzio, A.; Goldoni, Annalisa; Mariani, Andrea (eds.); Roma: Nuova Arnica, pp.&nbsp;474–83.

*Simons, John L. 1985. "The Power of Small Things in Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle''". ''The Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature'', 39:4, pp.&nbsp;261–75.

*Warrick, Patricia, 1992. "The Encounter of Taoism and Fascism in ''The Man in the High Castle''", ''On Philip K. Dick'', Mullen et al. (eds.); Terre Haute and Greencastle: SF-TH Inc. 1992, pp.&nbsp;27–52.

{{Refend}}

==External links==

*{{isfdb title|id=1574}}

*[http://www.pkdickbooks.com/SFnovels/Man_high_castle.php ''The Man in the High Castle'' cover art gallery]

*{{IBList |type=book|id=3582|name=The Man in the High Castle}}

*[http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=9 ''The Man in the High Castle''] at Worlds Without End

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[[Category:1962 American novels]]

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[[Category:1962 science fiction novels]]

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[[Category:American science fiction novels]]

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