Philip K. Dick’s "Exegesis" journal to be published

(courtesy of the Philip K. Dick Trust)

The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, a previously unpublished journal by the late science fiction writer, is due to be released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in fall 2011, announced the publisher on April 29. The journal "serves as the foundation for ideas and themes that would appear throughout the work of this visionary author," says Bruce Nichols, Publisher of Adult Trade at HMH.

In 1974, Dick began having visions while under the influence of the analgesic sodium pentothal, which he had taken after having had his wisdom teeth extracted. These intense and lasting visions, which the author described as information about reality being transmitted to him by a pink beam of light, came to be known as the "2-3-74" experiences (for February-March, 1974) and would influence his later writing.

Dick documented and analyzed his visions in a handwritten journal, called "Exegesis." (He also wrote partially about his experience in the autobiographical novel VALIS). Thousands of pages of that journal will be publicly available for the first time in the two-volume The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.

Jonathan Lethem and Pamela Jackson will edit the title. Lethem, winner of the US National Book Critics Circle award and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, is the author of eight novels and has published and spoken widely on Philip K. Dick. Pamela Jackson is the author of a doctoral dissertation examining 2-3-74 and Dick's "Exegesis" in the context of his life and fiction and has worked with the Philip K. Dick estate since 2008 to publish and preserve the "Exegesis."

Philip K. Dick, who died in 1982, wrote 45 published novels and more than 120 short stories. Many of those works have been adapted into major films, including "Minority Report" and "Blade Runner" (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). He was the winner of science fiction prizes including Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award.