Introduction:
Brief Biography of Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick was born a twin, but his baby sister died only a few months after their birth. This absence had profound consequences on Dick’s family life: his parents divorced before he was in kindergarten, and he and his mother moved, first to Washington, D.C. and then to Berkeley, California. Soon after graduating from UC Berkeley, Dick became a full-time writer, producing science-fiction stories and novels with incredible speed. Personally, Dick struggled with romantic relationships (he was married and divorced five times) and with an addiction to amphetamines. Professionally, Dick’s work was popular but did not garner the critical praise he so aspired to (though The Man in the High Castle, winner of the prestigious Hugo Award, was an exception). Dick’s drug abuse led him to operate with a great deal of paranoia, and eventually, to an untimely death; he passed away in in 1982, at the age of 54. After his death, scholars and critics began to revisit Dick’s work, and today he is considered a master of speculative fiction—in fact, he was the first science fiction author included in the prestigious Library of America series.
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Historical Context of The Man in the High Castle
The Man in the High Castle namechecks many key historical moments, both real (like the bombing of Pearl Harbor) and imagined (like a German and Italian victory at Cairo). Of particular note is the exact instant at which Dick departs from the historical record: in the novel, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt is killed by Giuseppe Zangara in 1933, whereas in real life, Zangara’s assassination attempt was a failure. Moreover, while alternate history forms the backbone of the novel, Dick is himself emblematic of his own (real) historical moment. He lived just outside Berkeley (the hub of the counter-cultural art and activism that would define the 1960s) and he wrote publicly about rebelling against 1950s prosperity and conformity in his own more out-there, speculative work. And in his drug use, his fascination with UFOs, and his focus on altered states, Dick embodied many of the most pressing questions of his time.
Other Books Related to The Man in the High Castle
Dick found his inspiration for The Man in the High Castle in Bring the Jubilee, a 1953 speculative novel that imagined a world in which the Confederacy won the Civil War. To write with some precision about a Nazi takeover, Dick consulted several history books, including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer and biographies of both Hitler and Goebbels. Finally, Dick drew stylistically from Japanese and Tibetan poetry, and particularly from the haiku form; one such poem is even quoted in the novel itself.
Key Facts about The Man in the High Castle
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Full Title: The Man in the High Castle
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When Written: Late 1950s/early 1960s
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Where Written: Northern California
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When Published: 1962
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Literary Period: Mid-century
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Genre: Speculative fiction
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Setting: The Pacific States of America and the Rocky Mountain States, two of the North American regions that emerged from World War II
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Climax: Nobusuke Tagomi, a mid-level Japanese bureaucrat, discovers the Nazis’ plans to drop a nuclear bomb on Japan; meanwhile, Juliana Frink tries to prevent her Nazi lover from assassinating a visionary author.
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Antagonist: The Nazi Party
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Point of View: The point of view moves around, though most of the novel is seen through the eyes of either Mr. Tagomi, Juliana or Childan
Extra Credit for The Man in the High Castle
Oracles Everywhere. The ancient Chinese I Ching (Book of Changes) is a driving force for many of the characters in The Man in the High Castle—but it was also an immensely important source for Dick in his own writing process. Dick was open that he consulted the I Ching as he “developed the direction” of his plot, using it to answer crucial questions about time period and geography, as well as to determine smaller-scale interactions between his characters.
Recent Revival. Though television has not yet been invented in The Man in the High Castle, the novel was adapted into a 2015 TV show on Amazon Prime. Over the course of its four-year run, the show strayed increasingly far from the original text; much of the Amazon version is set in the eastern Nazi-controlled regions of the United States, for example, whereas the novel focuses primarily on the Japanese-run west coast.
World War II has ended, but instead of emerging victorious, the Americans have lost—and the U.S. has been colonized by Germany and Japan. Robert Childan, a white American citizen of the Japanese-controlled Pacific States of America (PSA), is the owner of a prominent shop that deals in old U.S. memorabilia. He spends his days trying to find just the right objects for his prominent clients: Nobusuke Tagomi, a Japanese trade representative, and Paul and Betty Kasoura, a young couple who are more tolerant of white people than many of their Japanese counterparts. Childan longs to escape the strict racial hierarchy that leaves white people with limited possibilities for housing, work, and socialization.
Tagomi is anxious to sit down with Mr. Baynes, a Swiss plastics expert who has traveled to the PSA for some unclear reason; Tagomi believes Baynes is a spy. To Tagomi’s frustration, Baynes refuses to meet until they are joined by a businessman named Mr. Yatabe. Unfortunately, Chancellor Bormann (the leader of the Nazis) has just died, throwing the world into chaos and delaying Mr. Yatabe’s arrival.
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Meanwhile, metalworker Frank Frink is fired from his job at the prominent Wyndham-Matson factory. Frank is Jewish, but he tries to keep this fact a secret. Frank’s colleague Ed McCarthy hopes to start a metal jewelry-making business with Frank. To get seed money for this business, Ed plans to blackmail Wyndham-Matson, since the Wyndham-Matson factory produces fake Civil War guns and sells them off as real antiques, and Ed wants to make this fact public. After consulting the I Ching (an ancient Chinese oracle), Frank agrees, hoping that he will now be able to win his ex-wife Juliana back. Juliana is at present teaching Judo in the Rocky Mountain States, a neutral buffer zone between the Japanese-controlled west coast and the Nazi-controlled east coast.
In disguise, Frank goes to Childan’s shop and informs him that one of his guns—the Colt .44—is a fake. Childan’s faith is deeply shaken, and word of the discovered forgery gets back to Wyndham-Matson; Wyndham-Matson realizes that Frank and Ed have revealed the secret of the fake antiques. Though he gives Frank and Ed the money they want, Wyndham-Matson also vengefully reports to the Nazis that Frank is Jewish.
Still anxious about the fake guns, Childan heads to dinner with the Kasouras—but to his dismay, the young couple disdains his anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism and no friendship blossoms. Meanwhile, Nazi officers Hugo Reiss and Kreuz vom Meere learn that a dissident German spy is currently in the PSA; though the man’s real name is Rudolf Wegener, he is traveling under an alias. Wegener is supposed to meet General Tedeki, a high-ranking Japanese official, but Tedeki is also traveling under an assumed name. J. Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist who has taken temporary control of the party, charges Reiss and vom Meere with stopping Wegener’s meeting at any cost.
Back in the Rocky Mountain States, Juliana has begun an affair with Joe Cinadella, an Italian truck driver with intense Fascist beliefs. Joe is reading a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which imagines a world in which the U.S. and Britain won World War II. Juliana—like many other characters—is fascinated by the speculative book, banned in Nazi territory. Joe explains that Grasshopper was written by Hawthorne Abendsen, known as “The Man in the High Castle” for all the security he keeps around his home. Abendsen also lives in the Rocky Mountain States, so Joe and Juliana agree to go on a trip: they will drive to Denver and then continue on to Abendsen’s house.
Frank and Ed’s business—Edfrank jewlery—is not nearly as successful as they’d hoped it to be. However, Childan takes a few of their pieces on consignment, and he gradually finds himself moved by the strangely original designs. Childan presents one of the pieces to Paul Kasoura, who suggests that Childan should mass-produce it. Childan is offended by this suggestion, which he feels cheapens the work—he instead commits himself to Edfrank and a contemporary American art movement. Frank, now a known Jew, is arrested; the Nazis want to deport him to the east coast and kill him.
Mr. Yatabe—who is actually General Tedeki—finally arrives in the PSA, and Tagomi schedules his long-awaited meeting with Baynes. In the office, Tagomi learns that Baynes is in fact Rudolf Wegener’s alias. Wegener informs Tedeki that the Nazis are plotting to drop a nuclear bomb on Japan (Operation Dandelion). Wegener believes that the Japanese should align themselves with R. Heydrich, one of the most violent Nazis and another contender to be the next Chancellor, because Heydrich is against Operation Dandelion. Just as Tedeki begins to voice hesitation, several Nazis burst through the door, attempting to kill Wegener. Tagomi, who has always kept a decorative Colt .44. in his desk, shoots and kills the invaders.
Overcome with guilt at having committed murder, Tagomi goes to Childan’s shop in an attempt to return the gun. Childan instead gives Tagomi a triangular piece of Edfrank jewelry. The metal triangle brings Tagomi into an alternative historical timeline (one that resembles what really happened after WWII); he suddenly finds himself in a U.S.-governed San Francisco, where white people treat him with racist disdain (not the other way around). Using the jewelry, Tagomi is able to re-enter his reality. Tagomi is profoundly changed by this experience, as is clear when he refuses to sign extradition papers for Frank. Frank is set free.
Wegener and Tedeki both make it safely home. Wegener reflects on the difficulty of moral action in such an ambiguous world, and he hopes that the Nazis will ultimately destroy each other in their various power struggles. “We can only control the end by making a choice at each step,” Wegener reflects. “We can only hope. And try.”
After a shopping spree in Denver, Juliana realizes that Joe is not an Italian but a Swiss Nazi; his goal is to assassinate Abendsen, and seducing her was merely part of that plan. In a daze, Juliana slits Joe’s throat with a razor. She drives to Abendsen’s house by herself and is shocked to find that it is not a “High Castle” but a regular suburban home. Abendsen explains to Juliana that he did not want to live his life in fear. After she presses, Abendsen also reveals that he used the I Ching to write The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Juliana insists that The Grasshopper Lies Heavy reveals some kind of fundamental Inner Truth about their world, upsetting Abendsen. Juliana leaves Abendsen’s house and looks with excitement towards the future.
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