n Cardboard Universe, Chris Miller tells the

gloomily yet hilariously believable tale of three no-

talent writers:
Bill Boswell, the story's narrator;
Phoebus K. Dank, its ostensible subject; and
Owen Hirt, Boswell's nemesis.
But, as anyone familiar with Miller's earlier novel,
Simon Silber, should expect, things are not as they
seem.
The characters may not be what or even who (or
is that whom?) they say they are, or even think
they are.
Phoebus K. Dank is a science fiction writer
modeled on Philip K. Dick, but living half a
century later.
Though moderately successful, he is not
particularly talented - both of the other characters
point out the weaknesses of his work,
Boswell smarmily and Hirt viciously.
Unlike Boswell (who can't get his
fiction published) and Hirt (who can't get
anything published)
 Dank makes a decent living as a writer. It's
obvious that Miller knows Dick: Every detail of
Dank's life is set out in deliberate imitation of or
contrast to some element of Dick's.
And Dick's oeuvre - especially Valis - is
mercilessly parodied.
At this point Philip K. Dick's fans may be stirring
uneasily, not certain whether Miller loves Dick or
hates him. Dank seems drawn from the
unflattering portrait in Thomas M. Disch's The
Dreams Our Stuff is Made of rather than the more
hagiographic portraits of Rest assured: Such
obsessive attention to detail can only come from
true devotion; as G.K. Chesterton said, parody is
the worshipper's half-holiday.
And just to dispel any doubts, Miller praises Dick
in an afterword. Including a character based on a
fairly well-known real person can be dealt with in
several ways;
Miller, happily, chooses the path of humor.
Throughout the novel he pokes fun at the conceit,
whether mocking the book's own disclaimer that
"any resemblance to any persons living or dead is
purely coincidental," or mocking himself for
choosing to write the book this way, or playing
post-structuralist games:
Dank lives in an alternate universe in which Philip
K. Dick never existed, but Dank begins to suspect
Dick's and by extension Miller's existence,
choosing at the end to go on strike.
(In another, comical afterword, he
interviews Miller, disdainfully.) Many other such
games can be found throughout the book:
Spot the lipogram! Watch it disappear beneath
another! This isn't to say Miller has written a
collection of obscure egghead in-jokes, though.
For instance, I'm not much of a Philip K. Dick
fan, and haven't read half the works parodied or
referred to in The Cardboard Universe.
I'm sure jokes by the dozens sailed over my head,
but there were enough, from the crudely physical
to the airily cerebral, to keep me smiling
throughout.
I can't say too much about Boswell or Hirt
without giving away too much of the story, but
here are the basics:
Boswell is a sycophant and failed novelist who
becomes, as his name would suggest, Dank's
biographer, which Dank himself finds "not
plausible."
At least one of Boswell's novels, described but
never presented, seems to be a burlesque of the
structure of the aforementioned Disch's 334 -
another Oulipo reference. Hirt is a boyhood friend
of Dank, as much of a failure as a poet
as Boswell is as a novelist. Naturally, the two
detest each other.
While all three characters are as cluelessly inept
as the two protagonists of Simon Silber, Miller is
up to something darker here; Bill Boswell is made
from something more sinister than Norm
Fayreweather Jr. And now I've said as much as I
can without unforgivable spoilers... As in Simon
Silber, the influence of Nabokov and John
Kennedy Toole is clearly visible; here there's a
third influence equally present –
a novel about Philp K. Dick must, at least some of
the time, be Dickian.
The Cardboard Universe will make you laugh,
and possibly cry, while reading, and it will make
you think afterward. Ultimately there's something
serious being said here about the relationship
between writers and those who study them; this
deserves a place on the shelf of literature about
literary criticism alongside David Lodge's
Rummidge College trilogy.
Summary: amusing lampoon
Rating: 4
The late Phoebus K. Dank was a copious author of
mostly science fiction. His collective work was not
highly regarded by critics as his plots were
simplistic proof that the shortest distance between
two points was his storylines from start to finish.
Yet somehow anything Dank wrote
was published and his loyal fan base would have
bought his copying the Hemlock phonebook. After
his death, an encyclopedia of all things Dank and
dirty appears. Primarily two men debate the merit
of Dank. Professor Bill Boswell who did his thesis
on Dank conducts a class in Dank Studies at
Hemlock in California;
Dank's housemate Owen Hirt is renowned in
Dank circles for more than rooming with the
author as he is famous for murdering him. They
represent the polar opposites with both sharing
the thought that Dank would have abbreviated
them.
This is an odd brilliant premise that satirizes the
self proclaimed experts on the works of a writer,
but could be any topic like TV business and
financial reporters. The book has an encyclopedia
feel to it as it serves in many ways more like a
biography than a novel in spite of the clever
murder mystery that runs throughout. Although
at times the tale is difficult to read as
"encyclopedia" sections require filler to insure the
concept remains valid, fans will enjoy this often
amusing lampoon summed up with the ironic twist
that Phillip K. Dick appears in a Phoebus K. Dank
story. Harriet Klausner
Summary: Stunning, Genius, Hilarious...
Rating: 5
Finally, some innovative fiction with a sense of
humor! This novel is the real deal and
Christopher Miller is a genius.
Unlike much of the innovative stuff out there, this
isn't selfish esoterica you have to pretend to like;
this is intelligent and groundbreaking in its
narrative structure, but it's also hilarious. Best
book I've read in a long while. HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED.
Summary: Great book