Valis

comment on point of view

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In Valis, Philip K. Dick portrays himself as a successful science fiction writer who deals with a severe mental breakdown. The narration shifts between the first person and the third, as Dick speaks sometimes as and about himself as Phil, a cool, pragmatic character, and sometimes as and about Horselover Fat, a character disintegrating into insanity. Early on, he fumbles back and forth between perspectives, sometimes juxtaposing them and explaining anew the confusion to his rightly perplexed readers. Eventually the narration gets sorted out: Phil talks about Fat.