Apatt's Reviews > The Penultimate Truth

“The masses had egged their leaders on to war in both Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. But once the masses were out of the way, stuffed down below into antiseptic tanks, the ruling elite of both East and West were free to conclude a deal . . .”

Unfortunately, that does not sound too farfetched. Those neologisms, though. If you noticed the “Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop” in the first sentence and “East and West” in the second you will have probably figured them out. The Penultimate Truth is not one of PKD’s most accessible 60s books, which means it is still much more readable than some of his 80s books, VALIS especially. The main reason why I found this book to be less immediately accessible than most PKDs is the number of neologisms he dropped in the early part of the book, practically from page 1. Don’t let that put you off, though, PKD knew what he was doing, just read on and you will find that the ones who have not already inferred are later explained in the narrative.

Set in the (then) far future, after World War III, fought by “leadies” (robots designed to withstand nuclear radiation) representing the military of the east and the west. Using leadies instead of humans may have saved the cost in lives of human soldiers but the war rendered much of the Earth surface uninhabitable and radioactive. Most of the human population flee to live underground in enormous antiseptic tanks, called “ant tanks”. The war on the surface soon ends, however, but the elites above ground decide to keep this information from the “tankers” living underground to ensure that there are more elbow room and resources for them to enjoy. The elite “Yance-men” are soon established in “demesnes”, huge picturesque lands with villas and private parks; while the subterranean tankers continue to eke out a meagre existence and continue production of leadies, now used above ground as butlers and bodyguards. As the rich and powerful begin to scheme against each other, and conditions in the ant tanks become increasingly unbearable, some tankers begin to emerge…

I was floundering a bit at the beginning, but once the setting and characters begin to sink in (probably around page 50) I was thinking “Hmm! Socio-political dystopian satire from PKD, that is not something you see every day”. I thought it was going to be something along the line of 1984 or Brave New World, but that is not how Uncle Phil rolled. This book is closer in spirit to Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, partly socio-political satire, but also a bona fide science fiction novel. There is also an element of locked room murder mystery; a T2000-like melty robot did it, but under whose direction? The case is investigated by a highly competent psychic detective and the details are amusingly convoluted. Underneath it all Dick is making a commentary about the power of propaganda and the kind of people who write them, deception is clearly a central theme.

Like all PKD books I have ever read things are not what they seem in The Penultimate Truth. There is a presidential “Protector” called Talbot Yancy, dreamed up by the Yance-men (hence the name) above ground, who gives regular inspirational speeches to the poor tankers, but who is, in fact, a simulacra; not even a robot, a sort of mannequin hooked up to a computer which feeds speeches through it. Later on, it transpires that Yancy can be more than that, a delightful twist you would have to be mad to see coming.

The Penultimate Truth is, to my mind, not top tier PKD but a satisfying dose of that addictive PKD weirdness to keep me going until the next time. This is my first PKD book for this year, I expect to read at least one or two more from him later this year, I can’t really stay away from his stuff for long. To paraphrase the late great Robin Williams, "Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with PKD."
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Notes:

• There is an excellent Afterward by Thomas M. Disch, that clearly analyses the themes of this novel.
“The moral of the novel is clear: Government is a conspiracy against the people, and it is maintained by the illusion of a permanent crisis that exists, for the most part, as a media event.”

• There is a lot of fun future tech in The Penultimate Truth, the leadies, the simulacra, and my favorite, the “rhetorizer”, a hilarious aid to writing speeches.

• The robot assassination scene is a virtuoso piece of writing.

• Another crazy PKD conceit. Some people move in to live on radioactive hotspots to claim their stake on a future demesne before the radioactivity disperses and the land becomes valuable. The upshot of this investment is that the owners gradually die of radioactive poisoning and die before they realize their ambitions.

• If you need any help with the neologisms in this book check out this page from The World Dick Made.
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Quotes:
“They had been born onto the surface of a world and now that surface with its air and sunlight and hills, its oceans, its streams, its colors and textures, its very smells, had been swiped from them and they were left with tin-can submarine—figuratively—dwelling boxes in which they were squeezed, under a false light, to breathe repurified stale air, to listen to wired obligatory music and sit day long at workbenches making leadies.”

“The tankers were entitled to something they did not have; they were the victims of robbers. Theft had been committed against all the millions of them, and there had been no moral or legal remedy all these years.”

“The man is so close to the forces of death, living there as he does in that hot-spot, seared day after day by the radiation.”

“Radiation-burned, Adams realized. The youth, eager to acquire land for a demesne, had gone in too soon; all the rumors, passed back and forth in the idle hours of evening by the worldwide elite, appeared true: it had been far too soon, and physically young David Lantano was suffering.”