What exactly is a "scanner" in A Scanner Darkly?
>>8006149
It's a play on words. You're supposed to "just get it." Or not think about it. One of those. In any case, the author is smarter than you and you're not to question the author's artistic choices!
1 CORINTHIANS 13:12
For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known.
>>8006198
This. It's a play off of "through a glass/mirror darkly" but instead the glass is a sci-fi imaging device.
>>8006198
I didn't know that they had scanners in the Bible, and that every verse mentioning the adverb "darkly" was assumed to be about scanners.
>>8006204
>what is "allusion"
the scanner in the book is the thing the police/law enforcement used to monitor people. like high tech security cameras.
>>8006229
>the scanner in the book is the thing the police/law enforcement used to monitor people. like high tech security cameras.
Just like the device they were alluding to in the Bible...oh wait.
>>8006198
>>8006203
possibly also related to the scanners from 'scanners live in vain' by cordwainer smith. they're basically what you today would call cyborgs. they left their humanity behind to be able to navigate space, like bob arctor leaves his humanity behind by working as a cop/professional drug addict.
>>8006234
a glass in the bible is a mirror. it's about how you perceive yourself and others, and the relationship between the identity and the self and all that jazz, which is large part of what this book is about
idk why you're being so pissy. you asked what a scanner was and i explained it to you now you're being buttblasted cause you didn't pick up on it/can't see the connection?
>>8006229
its spelled illusion stupid
>>8006257
maybe literature isn't for you buddy.
>>8006267
Or maybe the author failed to give his work an appropriate, meaningful title.
>>8006268
What's your favorite book, m8? Genuinely wondering. PKD isn't exactly deep shit so if his ham-handed symbols go over your head I'm wondering what literature you read.
>>8006268
In other news, infinite jest isn't all that funny
>>8006274
This isn't about me, m80. Just admit that your favorite author sucks at naming.
>>8006305
And sometimes I let a cute waitress choose my meal for me. That doesn't mean it isn't my fault if I end up with food in front of me that I can't eat.
>>8006305
source
>>8006304
PKD isn't my favorite author. And if you're addressing /lit/ as a whole he's not that revered by the board either. It's genre fic.
>>8006319
But you're still unwilling to admit that he can't properly name his works.
>>8006324
What would you call it?
>>8006326
The Adventures of Bob Arctor
>>8006324
>I can't into thematic titles
>>>/reddit/
>everybody biting this bait
A Scanner Darkly is one of my favorite books so far by PKD. I didn't really care for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and though Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said was better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Those right now are the only 3 PKD books I read but I want to read Man in the High Castle and VALIS next.
But getting back on topic of A Scanner Darkly. This book was the first PKD book I read and also the first book by him that I felt started off great and ended great. His other two books I read that I mention I felt started off slow and wasn't that great till the middle and end.
Anyone have any other fiction they enjoy based on drug addictions? I got Junky in my backlog right now that I'm planning to read.
>>8006397
Aleister Crowleys "Diary of a Drug Fiend".
>>8006149
A 3d camera.
>>8006553
Thanks. Have you read many books dealing with drug addiction?
Is /lit/ incapable of recognizing bait or what?
>>8006890
It is viewed through a scanner darkly
Is the movie worth it for someone who hasn't read the novel?
>>8006268
He explains what a scanner is and the play on word with the bible in the book itself, did you een read it?
>>8008353
Movie isn't bad, the cell shading is a bit ugly but in an appropriately unsettling way,
Not sure I'd recommend to watch the movie first. It's a very faithful adaptation, just with a lot of scenes cut out, so that reading or watching the one right after the other would be a bit boring
