Using stunning imagery taken directly from the film this is a revolutionary graphic novel taken from a revolutionary film. Linklater's decision to film A SCANNER DARKLY as a live action movie and then to overlay animation over the images has created a hallucinatory, almost dreamlike quality to the action and imagery that is fantastically apt for Dick's novel of drug addiction and paranoia. A SCANNER DARKLY will be one of the most heavily promoted films of the summer and is already one of the season's most talked about, and ...
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Using stunning imagery taken directly from the film this is a revolutionary graphic novel taken from a revolutionary film. Linklater's decision to film A SCANNER DARKLY as a live action movie and then to overlay animation over the images has created a hallucinatory, almost dreamlike quality to the action and imagery that is fantastically apt for Dick's novel of drug addiction and paranoia. A SCANNER DARKLY will be one of the most heavily promoted films of the summer and is already one of the season's most talked about, and eagerly anticipated, releases. With its all star cast, a story from one of the century's most influential pop culture figures and its ground-breaking method of production this is a cinema event. The graphic novel gives a unique take on the film's story.
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Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $141.00, good condition, Sold by Found Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $150.00, very good condition, Sold by BookHouse On-Line rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Minneapolis, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday and Company / SFBC.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. Size: 8x5x0; Early Book Club Edition. Doubleday / SFBC, 1977; gutter code 'H 05' on last page of text indicates January 1977 printing; 220pp. Dust jacket by The Quays. Binding is tight, sturdy, and square; very minor wear to edges of brown boards, white titling remains bold; text very good throughout. Very minor wear, toning to edges of unclipped dust jacket; jacket arrives wrapped in protective mylar. Ships same or next business day from Dinkytown in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $150.00, very good condition, Sold by DogStar Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lancaster, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday & Company.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good+ in Very Good dust jacket. 0385016131. 8vo 8"-9" tall; 220 pages; 1977 Doubleday & Company HC/DJ. Early printing with 1977 year on title page, no statement of edition and H13 date code in the gutter of page 216. Snugly bound and clean in original pictorial dust jacket with publisher's $6.95 issue price intact to unclipped front flap. Light remainder spray bottom edge. Dust jacket just a trifle sunned at spine and light shelf rubbed at edges. VG+/VG.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $175.00, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
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Seller's Description:
Good jacket. First Edition. First ed, stated. Ex-library with the usual labeling. Jacket in mylar, faded at spine, label on spine, otherwise VG. Pages/boards clean, binding sturdy. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled.
Add this copy of A scanner darkly to cart. $225.00, good condition, Sold by Kalapuya Books, ships from Cottage Grove, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday and Company.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $420.00, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. First edition, first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. Wear commensurate with age and use. Former owner's name in ink on front endpaper, otherwise clean and unmarked copy. Light bumping visible to corners of boards and ends of spine strip. Gutter code reads "G51" on page 216. Dust jacket wrapped in protective mylar sleeve. Secure packaging for safe delivery.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $450.00, very good condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
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Seller's Description:
NF/VG+ 220 p. 1st edition hardcover from Doubleday, 1977. NEAR FINE (remainder speckling) in VERY GOOD PLUS (edgewear, one chip) DJ. 1 of PKD's 5 best novels. Basis for Richard Linklater film of same title. NOT A BOOK CLUB ED. !
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $525.00, very good condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $595.00, like new condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
Add this copy of A Scanner Darkly to cart. $679.22, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Doubleday.
I am a fan of Philip K Dick and a fan of Linklater's animated films. I loved the film and I love the book, which is an amalgam of the story, the movie, a graphic novel and the storyboard for the film. The only thing I'm not as fond of is the oblong format, which doesn't fit with the sci-fi on my shelf. I suppose I should put it with the mis-matched sizes of the art section, which is probably where it should be. A wonderful book all around.
JeffwithaJ
Oct 21, 2008
Science fiction as literature
A Scanner Darkly is a thought-provoking piece of literature. You might already know that, of course. But if you?re like me and have, until now, (a) never read anything by Philip K. Dick and, despite this utter lack of exposure, (b) kind of pooh-poohed the mere notion of reading his books, you might want to reconsider.
A Scanner Darkly is classified as science fiction. When it was published in 1977, perhaps it more closely fit with this genre. However, after encountering this book nearly 30 years later, I find that literary fiction is a more apt classification. Scanner subtly embraces some devices typically associated with science fiction: imagining a totalitarian-leaning future, complete with a few outlandish inventions used by the authorities to rule or subjugate the masses. But this futuristic science isn?t what drives the fiction, which is heavily character-focused and exposition-reliant. Additionally, the contemporary literary canon increasingly exhibits a taste for the fantastic. Recent critical and popular darlings like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Never Let Me Go?fictions that are also fantasies?are prime examples of science fiction?s migration into what many consider to be more respectable territory.
Dick is one of many science fiction authors who struggled for acceptance, largely because of his chosen genre. It looks to me like he was writing before his time, at least concerning A Scanner Darkly. This book is a story of drug use, abuse, and overdose. It drops you into an average Los Angeles neighborhood. But the house you inhabit in this subdivision is the filthy, ramshackle home of a band of dopers, and one of the addicts, Bob Arctor, happens to be an undercover drug enforcement officer who has assumed a new identity and infiltrated the drug scene in order to expose and bring down syndicate leaders.
From a distance, the initial set-up is somewhat cookie-cutter. The intrigue and artistry occur when Dick addicts the would-be narc to Substance D, an organic, overwhelming drug that, over time, surreptitiously leaves Arctor with a kind of man-made multiple personality. Because, in his line of work, drug use is both job requirement and hazard, Arctor feels he doesn?t have much choice than to go with it. Through the course of the novel, therefore, Arctor devolves from someone who is lucidly aware of the dualities of his agent-addict life to two someones who happen to inhabit the same cranium. And it?s fascinating to be an intimate witness to his devolution.
Arctor?s mind is slowly ravaged by Substance D, until the reader is left wondering how the last 20 percent of the novel might play out. (I was very happy that it didn?t become anything like Naked Lunch, which is the worst trip I?ve ever had.) It?s not the plot I expected from Dick. But I never lost interest in Arctor or the story that enfolded him, especially moments involving a very trippy roommate named Jim Barris?the sort of guy who impassively enjoys watching another roomie choke to death.
Scanner?s execution isn?t perfect, and some of it certainly comes off as dated (for example, the repeated and very-1977 references to ?foxy? ladies). But the novel was insightful and as well-written as other good literature I?ve encountered recently, like Ian McEwan?s highly absorbing Saturday. I hate to admit it, but I previously wouldn?t have considered these two books to be in the same class. So now I see how Dick?s skillful writing has influenced my own brain: It?s a mind-expanding drug without all the lingering (and toxic) aftereffects.
jchibi
Apr 3, 2007
Drugs and religion!
If you've seen the film already then you know it's an excellent book. If you liked Vanilla Sky, Mullholand Dr., and cop and drug film, or even Naked Lunch, then this is the book for you. The druggey dialogue is excellent and the story flows.