Read Online Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick by Lawrence Sutin - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lawrence Sutin
Ads: Link
another Berkeley public school, for sixth grade. During his Hillside year Phil, with Dorothy's permission, went by the name of "Jim," but by the time he transferred to Oxford he had switched back to Phil again. The reasons for this name change remain unclear. Pat Flannery, a junior high school friend, recalls that Phil was fond of casually tagging acquaintances "Jim." Perhaps Phil took up that name for the regular-guy tone it gave to a new kid in town.
If acceptance was what "Jim" sought, he achieved it. Grades at Hillside were on a Satisfactory (S)/Unsatisfactory (U) basis; Jim earned all S's plus accolades on his report cards. His fourth-grade teacher noted that "Jim has made quite a place for himself in our group. He is quite popular with his playmates. He has a fine sense of `right' and they seem to realize it." In the fifth grade it was noted, "He has a great deal of poise and self-possession for a boy of his age." In the sixth grade, at the Oxford School, and going by Phil again, he served as a junior traffic patrolman.
But the pattern of frequent absences continued at the Hillside School-for example, Phil missed nearly a quarter of the 1939 spring term schooldays. Dorothy recalled that "he was so bored in public school-from the beginning-that he didn't work at all and seized every opportunity to stay at home with whatever illness was handy." Some of these absences may have been due to illnesses that were far from merely "handy." Phil's asthma attacks continued to be severe. He had never been an avid athlete, but now even relatively mild boyhood activitiesrunning, biking, hide-and-go-seek-became more of a strain than a pleasure. Young Phil was self-conscious and proud, and the humiliation of coming to a wheezing halt kept him away from the playgrounds where friendships might have been made. In addition, he began to experience brief but frightening attacks of paroxysmal tachycardia (sudden, rapid beating of the heart-a condition from which Edgar also suffered), along with bouts of eczema. The tachycardia would remain a lifelong condition. These physical ailments surely took their psychological toll. But it is also true that Phil never felt at home at Hillside or Oxford, not even in the sedentary classrooms. Later Phil would recall having been diagnosed in the sixth grade as having a "learning disability." Whether or not this diagnosis was made, it reflects the boy's sense of himself in academic confines.
Phil's "self-possession" manifested itself not only in his schoolwork but in his relations with Dorothy, who treated Phil like the little man of the house-subject to responsibilities but also worthy of considerable respect. And Phil, though inwardly he longed for affection, was drawn to this flattering view and conducted himself with as much dignity as a boy could muster. Once Dorothy considered buying property in nearby Concord. Anne Dick writes: "Philip had a fit. He said he wouldn't ever live out there! Dorothy lost a million dollar opportunity."
As Jim, at age nine, he tried his hand at selling magazine subscriptions; his solicitation letter scrupulously specified his own profit margin. Discontented with mere marketing, he established a periodical of his own. The Daily Dick cost one cent and was printed on a "dupli-craft" that reproduced Jim's handwriting and tiny masthead drawings. Two issues survive from December 1938. There is a brief, poignant account of a neighborhood dog:
Friday 23. Mickey, a fox terrier was taken to the city pound yesterday. He was caught without a license. He has no owner. The dog catcher caught him with a rope. It was a long battle. Finally the dog catcher caught him. Mickey cried and cried.
A crudely drawn comic strip-"Copper"-prefigures the mature Phil's fascination with fake-real puzzles and the ambiguous role of Authority in distinguishing between the two. A policeman is hot on the trail of "Looie the Counterfeiter" and questions a filling station attendant who may have been passed a
If acceptance was what "Jim" sought, he achieved it. Grades at Hillside were on a Satisfactory (S)/Unsatisfactory (U) basis; Jim earned all S's plus accolades on his report cards. His fourth-grade teacher noted that "Jim has made quite a place for himself in our group. He is quite popular with his playmates. He has a fine sense of `right' and they seem to realize it." In the fifth grade it was noted, "He has a great deal of poise and self-possession for a boy of his age." In the sixth grade, at the Oxford School, and going by Phil again, he served as a junior traffic patrolman.
But the pattern of frequent absences continued at the Hillside School-for example, Phil missed nearly a quarter of the 1939 spring term schooldays. Dorothy recalled that "he was so bored in public school-from the beginning-that he didn't work at all and seized every opportunity to stay at home with whatever illness was handy." Some of these absences may have been due to illnesses that were far from merely "handy." Phil's asthma attacks continued to be severe. He had never been an avid athlete, but now even relatively mild boyhood activitiesrunning, biking, hide-and-go-seek-became more of a strain than a pleasure. Young Phil was self-conscious and proud, and the humiliation of coming to a wheezing halt kept him away from the playgrounds where friendships might have been made. In addition, he began to experience brief but frightening attacks of paroxysmal tachycardia (sudden, rapid beating of the heart-a condition from which Edgar also suffered), along with bouts of eczema. The tachycardia would remain a lifelong condition. These physical ailments surely took their psychological toll. But it is also true that Phil never felt at home at Hillside or Oxford, not even in the sedentary classrooms. Later Phil would recall having been diagnosed in the sixth grade as having a "learning disability." Whether or not this diagnosis was made, it reflects the boy's sense of himself in academic confines.
Phil's "self-possession" manifested itself not only in his schoolwork but in his relations with Dorothy, who treated Phil like the little man of the house-subject to responsibilities but also worthy of considerable respect. And Phil, though inwardly he longed for affection, was drawn to this flattering view and conducted himself with as much dignity as a boy could muster. Once Dorothy considered buying property in nearby Concord. Anne Dick writes: "Philip had a fit. He said he wouldn't ever live out there! Dorothy lost a million dollar opportunity."
As Jim, at age nine, he tried his hand at selling magazine subscriptions; his solicitation letter scrupulously specified his own profit margin. Discontented with mere marketing, he established a periodical of his own. The Daily Dick cost one cent and was printed on a "dupli-craft" that reproduced Jim's handwriting and tiny masthead drawings. Two issues survive from December 1938. There is a brief, poignant account of a neighborhood dog:
Friday 23. Mickey, a fox terrier was taken to the city pound yesterday. He was caught without a license. He has no owner. The dog catcher caught him with a rope. It was a long battle. Finally the dog catcher caught him. Mickey cried and cried.
A crudely drawn comic strip-"Copper"-prefigures the mature Phil's fascination with fake-real puzzles and the ambiguous role of Authority in distinguishing between the two. A policeman is hot on the trail of "Looie the Counterfeiter" and questions a filling station attendant who may have been passed a
Similar Books
