What distinctions are there between alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie genres?

The alternative history subgenre is used in a wide variety of medias. This subgenre can be connected to a few different genres. Fantasy is one example. In the fantasy television show ‘Once Upon A Time’, an episode deals with an alternate history created when a villain travels in time to ensure a King and Queen never meet. However, the genre it affiliates with most often is science fiction. This is probably because of science fiction’s mysterious, unknown beats. One common trope of science fiction is multiple dimensions, parallel universes. For example, the multimedia Star Trek franchise has the ‘Mirror Universe’, a dimension where the same characters and places exist, but they are more savage, and dark due to altered events in history. Science fiction also is centred around a ‘what if’ idea. This is an idea that coincides closely with alternative history. For example, a common question used in alternative history involves a world where the Nazis won WW2. That idea has been adapted into multiple works, most famously the novel ‘The Man In The High Castle’.  Alternative history can be split into three sub-genres.

The first sub-genre is pure alternative history. This is one of the most popular sub-genres of science fiction. Alternative history gives us a version of the world that has some similarities to our present, but due to one particular event in history that has been altered, the present that is shown is different. For example, if the JFK assassination attempt was unsuccessful, or as mentioned earlier, if the Nazis won WW2. This change can be positive or negative. In this genre the event leads to a singular line of effect. Basically, all of the changes that have occurred is due to one single event. Alternate history looks at how these events would unfold in reality, showing us an alternate timeline. A great example of this explanation can be seen in ‘Avengers: Endgame’. In this scene, the Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, shows us a single timeline, and explains how a single change in the timeline creates a completely different timeline.

The second sub-genre is postmodern alternative history. This genre has similarities to traditional alternative history, however it focuses on a single point in time where a doomsday type of event must be stopped in order to save the world. A great example of this is in the ‘Days Of Future Past’ saga in the X-Men comic series. Robots have enslaved most of the world’s population, and have killed the others. One of the team, Kitty Pryde, is sent back in time to alter the singular event that triggered this apocalypse. Postmodern alternative history uses this apocalypse in order to further a plotline, unlike alternate history, where this event has already happened. Postmodern is about preventing the event, rather than the aftermath.

Uchronie is the third sub-genre. This genre’s origins lie in France. This genre has similarities to both alternative history and postmodern alternative history. It is the idea of alternative universes, worlds, and timelines, “pure uchronia,” consisting of one alternative world; “plural uchronia,” in which this and an alternate world exist in parallel; and “infinite uchronia,” in which there are many, even infinite parallel worlds” (Mountfort, 2017). The genre shows how simple changes could totally alter the world we live in. This idea of multiple realities tells readers that we can make positive changes, and a better reality, if we work hard to make these changes. This could be done through things as simple as protesting.

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. SF-TH Inc.   

What distinctions are there between alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie genres?

Originally pegged as being a piece of the alternative history genre, the true identity of Phillip K. Dick’s 1962 novel The man in the high castle has been disputed, and several alternatives have been offered.

Alternative history has its place as a subgenre that has applications in both literary and historical fiction, but its true home seems to be as a subgenre of Science Fiction. Science fiction is a genre that speculates on futuristic and scientific concepts, like space travel, time travel, and parallel universes. Alternative history belongs in this genre because they are both speculative in nature. Alternative history has been expanded upon further, with texts being classified into several distinctive types of genres.

The first genre is alternative history. Alternative history presents the viewer with a version of the real world that is substantially or slightly different because of one significant event in world history that happened differently from reality. In pure alternative history the cause, or the event that plays out differently, leads to a singular line of effect. The implications then are that all of the effects that play out within the alternative history text, are all directly connected to the same cause. 

Postmodern alternative history has a more complex suggestion. That even after the significantly altered event has transpired, the different occurrences after the event are still only one of many possible occurrences (Mountfort 2020.) Because of this distinction, the revelation of alternative timelines within the world of the text, postmodern alternative history becomes much more deserving as a sub genre of science fiction.

Uchronie is the French equivalent of alternative history but is far more similar to postmodern alternative history. A large influencing presence from the I Ching or book of changes, in texts such as The man in the High Castle offers different solutions and outcomes to determine character action and outcome within the book (Mountfort, 2016). The usage of something like the I Ching implies that there is a sense of chance within the outcome, and that alternative possibilities exist in different realities, without a change in material circumstances, only in a metaphorical dice roll with different results. 

The distinctions between the genres of alternate history, postmodern alternate history, and Uchronie are based in the layers of complexity offered in regards to ideas such as cause and effect, alternative universes, and chance. The complex nature of The man in the high castle is what makes classifying it a surprisingly complex task.  

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. SF-TH Inc.   

Mountfort, P. (2020). Week 10: The Man in the High Castle, uchronie and the I Ching. PowerPoint Part 1 and 2

Q2. What distinctions are there between alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie genres?

Philip K. Dick’s (1962) The Man in the High Castle has proven to have a longstanding reputation as critically acclaimed piece of writing. Dick uses the prophetic Chinese Oracle I Ching or Book of Changes as part of his central plot device with which his characters interact to make choices throughout the story.

Critics have praised this work as exceptional example of the uchronie or alternate-history genre, however Mountfort, P (2016) argues differently, “The I Ching, I argue, is the device that, literally and figuratively, unifies the stylistic and philosophical dimensions of the novel, leaving us with a sophisticated postmodern fiction that explores the boundaries of text and world, their overlappings and multiplicities.”

Many academics have cited Dick’s (1962) work as being a formative example of alternative history, otherwise known as the French term “uchronie” whereby he takes on the notion of the Nazis winning WWII.

 “William Joseph Collins, elaborates three subcategories of uchronie: “pure uchronia,” consisting of one alternative world; “plural uchronia,” in which this and an alternate world existing in parallel; and “infinite uchronia,” in which there are many, even infinite parallel worlds” cited in Mountfort, P. (2016)

 “This notion of “critical disjunctions along the linear time line” is the stuff of the uchronie genre, but it is also a contingent function of the view of time implicit in the philosophy of oracular consultation, as per Everett and Halpern’s observation that “reliance on the I Ching introduces an element of chance, it suggests that alternative possibilities always exist, perhaps in different realities where other hexagrams were cast” cited in Mountfort, P. (2016)

In conclusion uchronie genres and alternative histories are similar. However when there are multiple outcomes of alternate stories Mountfort, P (2016) argues these moves into the realm of post-modern alternate history.

References
Mountfort, P. (2018) Science fictional doubles: Technologization of the doppelgänger and sinister science in serial science fiction TV, Journal of Science & Popular Culture. Volume 1 No.1 . Intellect Ltd

Mouuntfort, P. (2016) The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, The I Ching and the Man in The High Castle; Science Fiction Studies, Volume 43. pp.287-309.  

How does Dick use the I Ching and how did his views on the oracle and its role in the novel shift over time?

The man in the high castle is an alternate history novel by Philip Dick that takes place 15 years after world war 2 where Nazi Germany and imperial Japan won with totalitarian rule. With Dicks use of the I Ching inspiring aspects of the narrative. based on Dicks archives and an acquaintance of his that the plot had only taken creative direction from the I Ching when the characters in the story consulted the book themselves in their journey (Mountfort, 2016). He states that he uses the I Ching in reality when ever they used it and flipped a coin to decide the lines that were chosen and how the book should proceed.(Mountfort, 2016) We can see here that he is using this to provide structure and plot and is too heavily focused on the answers the book provides. He states that he regarded the I Ching to have written High castle. by the end he had started reading the book more and more leading him to learn more about Taoism and stating “Well, the I Ching gives advice beyond the particular, advice that transcends the immediate situation. The answers have a universal quality. For instance: “The mighty are humbled and the humbled are raised.” If you use the I Ching long enough and continually enough, it will begin to change and shape you as a person.”(Mountfort, 2016)Which shows that over the course of writing his own novel he started to related the books teachings to his own life using it as a oracle for himself be became overly reliant on the book to provide for him which you can see when he talks of the I Ching failing him and not proving him with structure and plot. Having a falling out with the book only for him to come back to it to provide the answers later. We can see from here that over the course of his Journey he picked up the book with its rich history as a plot device but as he continued to read it as he was pulling plot devices and the story was progressing he became overly reliant on it to provide the answers that he was seeking and even let it spill over to his real life. I feel he would have been able to provide a better reading experience if he not so reliant on the book as the oracle but that is also what gives Man in the High Castle its charm.

Reference:

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. Science Fiction Studies, 43(2), 287. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.43.2.0287

The man in the High Castle (1962) by Phillip Dick is an alternate history genre novel that is showcasing a world in which Germany and Japan have won World War 2, and Nazi force is dominating the world. The novel features the book of changes which is a chinese dicanation that allows the protagonists to determine their next steps. Mountford (2016) disputes Williams (1990) view that the I ching does not figure in the novel aside from a few oracle consultorios by presenting the argument that the novel’s construction is based on the I Ching as the central plot device rather than the significant philosophy behind it.(Mountfort, 2020).

Philip Dick uses the I Ching in his novel in order to determine the thought process used when protagonists face decision making. This allowed a metaphysical connection, between the protagonists and readers through the existence of the oracle harbors. The harbors build a foundation of philosophy that transcend into endless alternate realities. This is evident in the High Castle as the type of storytelling  works its way towards postmodern fiction due to crossing the limits of linear chronological storytelling. Furthermore, Dick uses postmodernism to deconstruct the frameworks through which the audiences understand the now, reality. He creates an intertextuality between the different elements of the novel and the reality with primary reference to I Ching and the ideologies associated with it. Dick states ‘“I used [the I Ching] in The Man in the High Castle because a number of characters used it. In each case when they asked a question, I threw the coins and wrote the hexagram lines they go” (Mountfort, 2020) Dick revolutionalises the I Ching in the context of storytelling. While others like Sylvia Plath have used the oracle, Dick centralised I Ching unlike any other. (Mountfort, 2020)

Dicks heavy reliance on the I Ching limited him from producing a better structure and plot. The philosophies of I Ching made him fall short in the ending, leaving the audiences overwhelmed and incomplete. Personally, I believe his work would not be as popular as it is now if he had not based most of it off I Ching. Dick affirms this statement as he states in an interview “The I Ching failed me at the end of that book, and didn’t help me resolve the ending. That’s why the ending is so unresolved…the I Ching copped out completely, and left me stranded’ (1976).

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s the man in the high castle. Science Fiction Studies, 43(2), 287-309. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.43.2.0287

Question 4: How does Dick use the I Ching and how did his views on the oracle and its role in the novel shift over time?

The Man in the High Castle is commonly regarded as Phillip K. Dicks most popular novel. The novel revolves around the main characters recurring use of the Chinese Oracle, namely the I Ching. The author was known to have heavily relied on the oracle to aid him in writing The Man in the High Castle.

The I Ching is among the oldest classic ancient Chinese texts. Traditionally when someone went to consult the I Ching a bundle of yarrow sticks were tossed but now they use three coins that are tossed six times to construct six lines of hexagrams. The I Ching is then used to figure out what each hexagram represents regarding the question that was asked. There are 64 possible configurations of the hexagrams and that is why Dick used this method. He used it because there would be an element of chance and many possibilities (Mountfort, 2016).    

Dick referred to the I Ching whilst writing The Man in the High Castle whenever one of his characters used it. When a character would ask the oracle a question Dick would throw the coins and describe what hexagram lines they had got. This had an obvious effect on the direction the story could go and Dick was always adamant that whatever readings his characters received he used (Mountfort, 2016). 

However, due to Dicks reliance on the I Ching throughout his writing he did not have any plot, structure or notes for himself to fall back on and hit a snag when the I Ching did not help him come to a satisfactory ending and so he left it unresolved. For many years Dick actually blamed the I Ching for not helping him come to a satisfactory ending. Dick and the I Ching had a falling out of sorts, as he refused to use it anymore referring to it as an evil book that had a malicious spirit (Mountfort, 2016). Despite that the rift between Dick and the I Ching reportedly did not last long and he went back to consulting the I Ching and deliberating on the different possibilities of how to better end his novel.  

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s the man in the high castle. Science Fiction Studies, 43(2), 287-309. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.43.2.0287 

What distinctions are there between alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie genres?

The genre of science fiction has always asked the question, “what if”, and in other genres, it would be difficult to approach topics like, “What if the nazis won WW2”, without talking about hypothetical scenarios, but in the Science fiction genre we are able to fully delve into worlds like, “The Man in The High Castle”, where fascism is now the norm, and how German and Japanese culture has penetrated America and their beloved “Values”.  This question of “what if?”, can be explored using many forms, three of which are; Alternate history, Postmodern Alternate history and uchronie genres.

Alternate history is a considerable sub-genre of science fiction. It explores the history of our world but through this idea of, “what if”, where some key points in history are changed, and because of this the world is completely different due to these differences. Alternate history looks at how events would unfold in real life, effectively giving the audience a look into a different timeline. Alternate history shows how changes in our timeline could lead to us living in either better or worse conditions, The Man in The High Castle, takes this very approach and shows us how the axis countries would rule the world, dividing America in half and reaping the reward, turning everyone into Nazis. However, with every fascist rule, there will be people who oppose it, leading to the creation of the resistance, and even in this world, there is a portal to our world, showing its inhabitants what would have happened if the Allies won, making the story seem more believable.

Postmodern Alternate history is very similar to alternate history but focuses on a single point in time, a “synchronic” event, where a doomsday type event must be stopped in order to save the world. Postmodern Alternative history uses the imminent threat of annihilation in order to further the plot, unlike Alternate history, where this event has already happened, and the story is about how life is like after this drastic change.

 Uchronia is a french word which is a genre that describes and encompasses both Postmodern Alternative history and alternative history. It is the idea of alternative universes, worlds, and timelines, “pure uchronia,” consisting of one alternative world; “plural uchronia,” in which this and an alternate world exist in parallel; and “infinite uchronia,” in which there are many, even infinite parallel worlds” (Mountfort, 2017). The genre shows how key changes in major decisions could sculpt an entirely different world, for better or for worse, and the idea of multiple realities existing beside our own can feel comforting to readers as it shows events could be different and can get better if we enact change today. It shows that the fighting and protesting currently happening like BLM, can and will lead to real-world change that can be felt throughout history. We must enact these changes, and keep on trying to make our world and our reality the “best timeline”.

References 

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dicks The Man in the High Castle. Science Fiction Studies, 43(2). doi:10.5621/sciefictstud.43.2.0287

How does Dick use the I Ching and how did his views on the oracle and its role in the novel shift over time?

The I Ching is an old famous Chinese text that is often referred to as the ‘oracle’. The book refers to the idea that it can ultimately predict the future through the tossing of six coins and 64 hexagrams. Within the book, there are hexagrams that each have a different symbol/element used to help guide the reader with its wisdom (Mountfort, 2016). The I Ching is said to be related to the Zhou dynasty and has a long-lasting place in the history of Chinese history. 

Philip K. Dick is the late author of the award winning masterpiece ‘The Man in the High Castle’. It is explained by Mountfort (2016), that throughout Dick’s famous novel, he did indeed use the I Ching as an oracle in order to actually write it. Dick used the I Ching to help develop the direction that he wanted to take when writing ‘The Man in the High Castle’. Throughout the journal written by Mountfort (2016), it is explained that the oracle is used because the I Ching represents the idea of chance and it suggests that because there are many different hexagrams, it could also mean that there are also different alternative outcomes. Almost like a game with dice, the I Ching relies on different possibilities. 

Mountfort (2016), says that Dick often refers to the oracle (the I Ching) as the actual author of his book because he consulted it and it gave him advice on the direction that he should go when writing and even finishing the book. The Man in the High Castle is a book written about three main characters that consult the I Ching, and Dick explains that he used the oracle because his characters did. It was also explained that if the oracle had not directed the narrative in such a specific way, then Dick would not have had his characters act in the particular way that they do throughout the book. 

Over time it was mentioned that Dick actually had a negative time with the oracle and that at one point he fell out with the I Ching. However, Mountfort (2016), says that over time, Dick eventually consulted the I Ching again and his ‘falling out’ shifted overtime. Dick’s novel is often depicted as being related to the uchronie genre which means that it is a piece of work consisting of a made-up time period through the real world. 

Philip K. Dick was an American author who created a piece of work that he proposed was written partially by the I Ching or the oracle. He consulted an ancient Chinese text to create his famous novel, and it probably would not be as famous as it is today if he had not.

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. Science fiction studies. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

How does Dick use the I Ching and how did his views on the oracle and its role in the novel shift over time?

Dick uses the I Ching in a multitude of ways in both the construction of the novel, The Man in the High Castle, and in the novel itself. In the novel itself, it is used by the characters – Frank Frink, Nobusuke Tagomi, and Juliana Frink – as a consultation device to receive answers to their pressing questions. This much is abundantly clear upon a surface reading of the novel. The I Ching, however, is also used by Dick to great extent within the the novel’s construction. When posed with pressing questions himself about the direction of the novel – such as the very decisions the characters are making within the novel – so too would Dick consult the I Ching. In this way, the I Ching was what formed and guided the direction of the novel. Dick said of using it to write The Man in the High Castle, ‘I used [the I Ching] in The Man in the High Castle because a number of characters used it. In each case when they asked a question, I threw the coins and wrote the hexagram lines they got. That governed the direction of the book’. (Dick, 1974)

However, Dick did not merely use the I Ching to make individual decisions for his characters in singular moments. Dick uses the I Ching in the craft of the novel to create a sense of connection between the characters – a sense that their decisions, the paths they choose to take, are interconnected in some way, running parallel, touching at points. ‘What these twelve readings reveal, when considered as a whole, is a kind of occluded patterning at the core of the novel,’ writes Mountfort, P. in his essay ‘The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle’ (2016), ‘encapsulated in alternating doublets, pairings, and other complementarities between characters, in terms of their questions, the hexagrams they receive, and when they receive them’. (Mountfort, 2018) Alongside this, Dick’s use of the I Ching also inserts key philosophies from the I Ching into the novel – most notably around the passage of time, with the key events or ‘moments’ of the novel flowing in synchronicity, as opposed to in a wholly linear and causal form. This is perhaps most emphasized at the famous – or infamous – conclusion of the novel, where the reader is left with the open-ended question as to what is real and what is fiction – our world, where the Nazis lost World War II, or the world within The Man in The High Castle, where they did not. Jumping off from this, as the I Ching and the synchronous flow of time suggests that any one outcome may be a possibility at any moment, than any number of ‘realities’ could be the ‘real’, as any number of ‘fictionalities’ could be the fiction; as written in Mountfort’s ‘The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle’, Dick’s notion of history is certainly synchronic rather than diachronic… both in his evocation of a web of interrelationships and in his sense that the profusion of possible realities could radically undermine our sense of the real.’ (Mountfort, 2018)

The authenticity of Dick’s use of the I Ching in the writing of The Man in the High Castle, along with how steadfast he held on to his belief in the I Ching’s voice in later years, has come into question, however. There have been questions as to whether Dick truly took the I Ching at it’s word – it’s first word, specifically – and did not instead manipulate or ‘re-interpret’ it’s messages to suit the direction he already had in mind. (Mountfort, 2018) Such implicit human bias is hard, nearly impossible to avoid even in clinical settings, and in the environment of a writer such as Dick could easily influence results. This is suggested by such scholars as Emmanuel Carrere in I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Inside the Mind of Philip K Dick, ‘“[Phil] didn’t need [the I Ching] to help him come up with the exact structure for his novel, he maintained, but it did lead him to see better the organization he was already struggling to build by helping him understand the importance of structure”’ (Carrere, 1993/2005) and even implied within the novel itself, where the fictional novelist – an implied stand-in for Dick in this fictional world – is implied to have done the same when consulting the I Ching. In later years, Dick himself also questioned and even seemed to outright resent the way the I Ching ‘wrote’ the novel, saying, ‘The I Ching failed me at the end of that book, and didn’t help me resolve the ending. That’s why the ending is so unresolved…the I Ching copped out completely, and left me stranded’. (Dick, An Interview with Phillip K. Dick, 1976)

References

Carrere, E. (1993/2005). I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Inside the Mind of Phillip K Dick. (T. Bent, Trans.) London: Bloomsbury.

Dick, P. K. (1974). Vertex Interview with Phillip K. Dick. (A. B. Cover, Interviewer)

Dick, P. K. (1976). An Interview with Phillip K. Dick. (D. DePerez, Interviewer)

Mountfort, P. (2018). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle . SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 43 (2016), 287-309.

In this blog post, I will be discussing Philip K Dicks and his use of the I Ching and how his views on the oracle and its role in the novel shift over time.

In writing the novel the man on the high castle Philip K Dicks used the I Ching to create and advance the plot for his character (Mountfort, 2020). In doing so he placed an importance on the I Ching that was unlike anyone else had when using other oracle typed mechanisms in their work (Mountfort, 2020). Unlike people like Sylvia Plath used this oracle, the I Ching in his case as oppose to the more western taro cards, as an engine to create a story rather than a plot device (Mountfort, 2020). In Dicks own words “I used [the I Ching] in The Man in the High Castle because a number of characters used it. In each case when they asked a question, I threw the coins and wrote the hexagram lines they got…” (Mountfort, 2020). Through this quote and through the information on how Philip K Dicks used the I Ching one can reasonably state that Dicks viewed of the oracle, the I Ching, as important and revolutionary in the context of storytelling.

In regards to Dicks shifting view of the oracle, I Ching, and its role as part of his novel one can note that while individual like Paul Williams describes the oracles contributions and “not extensive,” (Mountfort, 2016)  it does seem that Dicks himself had a differing opinion on this. Writing later in Schizophrenia & the Book of Changes “I speak from experience. The Oracle—the I Ching—told me to write this piece” (Mountfort, 2020). So we can see that while before the oracle, I Ching, had a role of service to Dicks in creating storyline he now seemed to place the oracle even before his control in general. Whereas before he described it as taking some creative control from himself as it randomized these playthrough of his characters’ stories stating “I’ve used it to develop the direction of a novel”, the man in the high castle being the said novel(Mountfort, 2020), he now seemed to imply that it had influence over him the writer.

Now Philip K Dicks wrote and won the 1962 Hugo award, though science fiction as a genre had not yet garnered large respect and was still seen as low brow works (Mountfort, 2020). Despite this Dicks won awards and recognition in a time of this view of science fiction as the pulp fiction of the 1940s to ’60s. It still holds large respect from the writing community and is seen as a pioneer in the area of alternat history fiction (Mountfort, 2020). It kind of makes sense that as a writer his view of the I Ching did evolve as there was a benefit in him using this oracle in a way that in his own words to developed plot (Mountfort, 2020). It cannot be confirmed if it truly told him to write it but the prediction of its success (Mountfort, 2020) even after he passed holds. In any case, it’s clear that Philip K Dicks view of the oracle shifted to one of more dependence on it as time progressed.

Reference

Mountfort, P (Lec). (2020). The man in the high castle, uchronie and the I ching [Lecture powerpoint]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_96250_1&content_id=_5273101_1&mode=reset

Mountfort, P (Lec). (2020). The man in the high castle, uchronie and the I ching [Lecture recording]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_96250_1&content_id=_5273101_1&mode=reset

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I ching and philip k. dick’s the man in the high castle. Science Fiction Studies, 43(2), 287-309. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5348349-dt-content-rid-13108728_4/institution/Papers/ENGL602/Publish/Mountfort%202016_High%20Castle%281%29.pdf