It has been suggested that Crap artist be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Cover to 1978 Entwhistle edition of the book

Confessions of a Crap Artist is a 1975 novel by Philip K. Dick, originally written in 1959. The novel chronicles a bitter and complex marital conflict in 1950s suburban California from the perspective of the wife's brother, an obsessive compulsive amateur scientist. The novel contains only small amounts of the complex mystical and science fiction concepts that define much of Dick’s work. Rolling Stone Magazine called it a “funny, horrible accurate look at life in California in the 1950s.” Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Confessions of a Crap Artist. ... Image File history File links Confessionscover. ... Image File history File links Confessionscover. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII in Roman) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 — March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... It has been suggested that Suburbia be merged into this article or section. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ... Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), or anankastic personality disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a general psychological inflexibility, rigid conformity to rules and procedures, perfectionism, and excessive orderliness. ... Mysticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article is about the music magazine. ...

Plot

The novel’s protagonist - the “Crap Artist” of the title - is Jack Isidore, a socially awkward tire factory worker who has been obsessed with amateur scientific inquiry since his teenaged years. He catalogues old science magazines, collects worthless objects, and believes disproved theories, such as the notion that the Earth is hollow and that sunlight has weight. A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ... The phrase hollow earth refers to the esoteric idea that the planet Earth has a hollow interior, almost always associated with the idea that it has a habitable inner surface. ...

Unfit to live independently, Jack eventually moves in with his sister’s family in a luxurious farm house in suburban California. Jack’s sister, Fay Hame, is a difficult and subtly controlling woman who makes miserable everyone close to her, especially her misogynist husband Charlie. Misogyny ( mÄ­-sŏj É™-nÄ“ ) is hatred of or strong prejudice against women. ...

On the farm, Jack happily does housework and cares for livestock. He also joins a small apocalyptic religious group, but most of his time is dedicated to a meticulous “scientific journal” of life at farm, including his sister’s marital difficulties and her extramarital affair with a young grad student while Charlie is in a hospital recovering from a heart attack. After Jack matter-of-factly reports this to Charlie, he plots to kill Faye. Apocalypticism is a worldview based on the idea that important matters are hidden from view and they will soon be revealed in a major confrontation of earth-shaking magnitude that will change the course of history. ... A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ...

Analysis

Jack feels compelled towards ideas and studies that those around him consider worthless. Although Dick never states directly that Jack is mentally ill, his behavior closely mirrors obsessive compulsive disorder and several characters suggest he seek psychiatric help. For other things named OCD, see OCD (disambiguation). ...

But despite his possible disorder, Jack is the most productive character in the novel. He runs both the farm and the household when Charlie is in the hospital without sacrificing his scientific inquiries. At one point in the book, he is offered the opportunity to enter into the same comfortable, suburban lifestyle as his sister. Although circumstances prevent him from doing so, Jack’s meticulous nature allows him to go to impressive lengths to secure a job and confront difficult and complex financial and legal situations.

Fay and Charlie, on the other hand, are wholly destructive characters. Throughout the novel, it is revealed or at least implied, that both have concocted complex plans to emotionally destroy the other due to long-standing bitterness. They refuse a divorce both because of its taboo and because both fear losing their luxurious home to the other (Neither shows extensive concern for their two children). Divorce or dissolution of marriage is YOUR MUM the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support...

At the novel’s end, Jack concludes that his obsessions are healthier than those of his sister and brother-in-law. However, the novel does not argue explicitly that Jack’s illness is acceptable or not really an illness. In the end, he does seek psychiatric help.

Comparison to Dick’s Other Work

Most of Philip K. Dick’s fiction falls under the category of science fiction and is even strange by the standards of that genre. Characters often discover that they or people around them are dead, robots or supernatural beings, or have been living in some other state of unreality. For other uses, see Robot (disambiguation). ...

Comparatively, Confessions of a Crap Artist is literally mundane: ordinary and of this world. Aside from the new age religious group that plays a small part in the novel, there is not much discussion of science fiction concepts (The theme of the new age religious group is also found in Dick's novel, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). Most of the novel concerns the quotidian conflicts between Fay and Charlie and Jack's efforts to keep-up his "scientific studies" despite the misgivings of others. New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is a 1982 science fiction book by Philip K. Dick. ...

The novel also reflects themes of fantasy and hidden conspiracies, which are common to Dick's work. With his misplaced notions of science and belief in absurd theories, Jack is living in a state of unreality although a mild one when compared to other Dick protagonists. The conflict between Charlie and Fay also reveals a state of unreality in that, although they live under the façade of typical suburban life, each has conspired extensively against the other.

Confessions of a Crap Artist, like much of Dick’s work, features a protagonist that appears to have a pervasive developmental disorder. There are many similarities between the character of Jack Isidore and that of Bill Lundborg in The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Jack was a tire factory worker and Bill was an auto mechanic, and both characters demonstrate symptoms of obsessive compulsive behavior as well as Asperger's syndrome. Jack also shares the surname of John R. Isidore from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," a Chicken Head whose brain is deteriorated and nearly useless. Asperger described his patients as little professors. Aspergers syndrome (AS, or the more common shorthand Aspergers), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of high functioning autism. ...

Film adaptation

In 1992, French director Jérôme Boivin released Confessions d'un Barjo (Confessions of a Nutcase), based on the novel. The film follows the novel fairly closely, although Jack (played by Hippolyte Girardot) is given the nickname “Barjo” (loosely translated as nutcase) and is referred to by that name throughout the film. Also, the story is shifted to contemporary France. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...