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Beyond Lies The Wub (2000)

by Philip K. Dick(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 3

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English

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review 1: "Beyond Lies the Wub" is an interesting early short story, that is richer than may seem at first glance. Mythology, religion, and philosophy form a backdrop to the story. In particular, there are references to Odysseus and to Epicureanism.I think the Odysseus reference could be filled out in several ways. Odysseus does not rely on brute force like Achilles, but on intelligence, cunning, ruse. This is another case where we can identify the Wub with Odysseus, as against the Achilles-like Captain. Futher, Odysseus had the idea of the Trojan Horse, and now the Captain’s body is a Trojan Horse concealing the Wub and carrying it back to Earth.The eating of the Wub feels like a Eucharist scene, given that he talked about the parable of your Saviour, so “this is my body”; e... morespecially as it was accompanied by wine.The little introduction: ” The slovenly wub might well have said: Many men talk like philosophers and live like fool.” seems to be a reference to the Epicurean philosophers, who held pleasure as the highest good. They were compared to swine by their critiques, mere gluttons. According to John Stuart Mill: “When thus attacked, the Epicureans have always answered, that it is not they, but their accusers, who represent human nature in a degrading light; since the accusation supposes human beings to be capable of no pleasures except those of which swine are capable”This seems to be the case in the story, where Captain Franco is the true swine (all he can think of is eating the wub, he has no care for its intelligence and culture, and so lives like a fool), despite his human body. The Wub is the philosopher despite his swine body (although he does take pleasure in eating too).As for the name “wub”, I think it may be a “nonce word”, coined to be used for the occasion, for the nonce. It resembles Lewis Carroll’s “wabe” in Jabberwocky, which Humpty Dumpty glosses as the grass around a sundial because it “goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it”. As there is “beyond” in the title, this suggests that the wub, which originated “way behind us” in time, lies “way beyond” us in evolution and mental capacity.Note: the idea that there is an Epicurean reference, however playful, is confirmed by the sequel "Not by its Cover", which I have not yet read. According to the Wikipedia entry: "Wub fur, so the story suggests, continues to live after the "death" of the Wub, and as such is highly prized owing to its postmortem production of a luxurious pelt that has numerous, albeit trivial, human applications. One such application is its use as a book cover by a Mars based publisher who issues a new Latin volume of Lucretius' poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)".
review 2: I just came across this randomly while looking for other short stories online, there was even an audio version of it. Which was quite fun. Beyond Lies the Wub is probably my new favorite short story by Philip K. Dick. It's dastardly and humorous and of course quite silly. The quite silly is my favorite bit, Dick was an amazing writer. Read or listen to this. It's quite funny. less

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