In Milton Lumky Territory in Philip K Dick

Mar 10, 2024 David Agranoff rated it liked it

Shelves: lit-fiction, philip-k-dick

Recording the Dickheads podcast episode soon. I didn't like this as much as Puttering About in a Small Land, but another good slice of 50s life. Paints an interesting picture of life of a traveling salesman.

Audio of the Podcast on this novel:

https://soundcloud.com/dickheadspodca...

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfmre... ...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Jack Stovold rated it really liked it

My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #15 - In Milton Lumky Territory (written Oct. 1958, published posthumously Jun. 1985)

Well, this is an odd and unexpected little book from Philip Dick. Dick moves the action from his California comfort zone into the areas around Boise, Idaho, although a large portion of the book follows Bruce Stevens as he drives all over the American West trying to jumpstart his and his wife’s little typewriter store. This book differs from all of Dick’s straight novels I’ve read My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #15 - In Milton Lumky Territory (written Oct. 1958, published posthumously Jun. 1985)

Well, this is an odd and unexpected little book from Philip Dick. Dick moves the action from his California comfort zone into the areas around Boise, Idaho, although a large portion of the book follows Bruce Stevens as he drives all over the American West trying to jumpstart his and his wife’s little typewriter store. This book differs from all of Dick’s straight novels I’ve read so far in a number of ways, making it sort of a breezy and refreshing trifle. It’s simpler and more mundane, although I don’t mean that in a bad way. For one thing, it’s told exclusively from Bruce’s point of view. I’m pretty sure he’s in every passage. Dick’s previous straight novels, even when they focused on one character, would occasionally shift perspective to other characters. This is Bruce’s book through and through, so we only get his view of the other characters.
Bruce himself is a nice change of pace, a Dick character who doesn’t have some big problem hanging over him, or some kind of overwhelming character flaw. Sure, he’s not perfect, but he’s mostly just a kind of average guy. And neither does his wife Susan, although she is a bit of an odd bird. Although I suppose it’s pretty foolish of her to get married within a week, especially after being twice divorced. And the huge crisis in this book is a bad deal on typewriters. Also a first: no adultery. And the book ends on a fairly happy, if muted note. Everything didn’t fall apart and have to be rebuilt at the end. It just fell apart a little.
Probably a good third of the book is Bruce driving back and forth through Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada, and of course, the eponymous Milton Lumky territory. Milton Lumky himself is an oddball character, a brash and brassy, but kind of pathetic middle-aged curmudgeonly paper salesman. It seems like Dick must have had a lot of fun writing Lumky. He has some pretty funny lines. Much is made of Lumky’s yearnings for Susan, but he remains lonely. The decision to tell the story exclusively from Bruce’s point of view allows Dick to ruminate on the unknowable nature of other people’s thoughts and desires, and much is also made of subconscious desires.
If you read this, be ready to learn a lot about typewriters, running a small retail outlet, and the ins and outs of buying and selling. Bruce and Susan’s little wheelings and dealings to make something out of her failing business are the main crux of the book, but as always, I find something so mildly agreeable about Dick just writing endlessly about retail and small businesses, although I can definitely see this boring the heck out of some readers.
This book is very slight and breezy (at least for Phil Dick), and while it’s a pleasant read, it’s probably not the most memorable book of his, or even that memorable at all. But it is a warm and quiet little tale of finding your own little slice of happiness however you can.

Stray thoughts:
# “A tub of blubber, a bag of chicken feathers” - Milton Lumky describing how Bruce’s car runs compared to his Mercedes.

My edition: Gollancz, paperback, 2005

Up next: “Dr. Futurity”!

June 28, 2012 ...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Themistocles rated it liked it

Shelves: lit, p-k-dick

A real treat as it came out several years after PKD's passing. Yeah, it's nothing earth shattering, but oh the joy to read something new from Dick! ...more

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