An edition of Time out of joint (1959)

Time out of joint

1st Vintage Books ed.
  • 3.9 (7 ratings)
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  • 3 Currently reading
  • 21 Have read
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  • 3.9 (7 ratings)
  • 58 Want to read
  • 3 Currently reading
  • 21 Have read

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Last edited by ImportBot
April 21, 2025 | History
An edition of Time out of joint (1959)

Time out of joint

1st Vintage Books ed.
  • 3.9 (7 ratings)
  • 58 Want to read
  • 3 Currently reading
  • 21 Have read

Time Out of Joint is a dystopian novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in novel form in the United States in 1959. An abridged version was also serialised in the British science fiction magazine New Worlds Science Fiction in several installments from December 1959 to February 1960.

The novel epitomizes many of Dick's themes with its concerns about the nature of reality and ordinary people in ordinary lives having the world unravel around them. The title is a reference to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The line is uttered by Hamlet to Horatio after being visited by his father's ghost and learning that his uncle Claudius murdered his father; in short, a shocking supernatural event that fundamentally alters the way Hamlet perceives the state and the universe ("The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!/That ever I was born to set it right!" [I.V.211-2]), much as do several events in the novel.

Ragle Gumm is an ordinary man leading an ordinary life, except that he makes his living by entering a newspaper contest every day -- and winning, every day. But he gradually begins to suspect that his life -- indeed his whole world -- is an illusion, constructed around him for the express purpose of keeping him docile and happy. But if that is the case, what is his real world like, and what is he actually doing every day when he thinks he is guessing 'Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?'

Publish Date
Publisher
Vintage Books
Language
English
Pages
255

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Time out of joint
Time out of joint
2002, Vintage Books
in English - 1st Vintage Books ed.
Cover of: Time out of joint
Time out of joint
1984, Bluejay Books
in English
Cover of: Time out of joint
Time out of joint
1979, Dell
in English
Cover of: Time out of Joint
Time out of Joint
1959, J. B. Lippincott Company
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New York
Genre
Fiction.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
813/.54
Library of Congress
PS3554.I3 T5 2002

The Physical Object

Pagination
255 p. ;
Number of pages
255

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL3567332M
ISBN 10
037571927X
LCCN
2002066151
OCLC/WorldCat
49550600
LibraryThing
4144871
Goodreads
698034

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL2172523W

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