Dick was a subversive SF writer, right from the get-go. Even when he deigned to adopt some of the cliches of the genre, it was in a way that was recognizably unique to him.
I'm not sure "subversive" is quite the right word, though a good deal of his fiction can be taken that way. Rather, I think that where most authors look at tropes as restrictions and boundaries, Dick looked at them as toys to play with and let loose his imagination. And play he did.
Dick was a subversive SF writer, right from the get-go. Even when he deigned to adopt some of the cliches of the genre, it was in a way that was recognizably unique to him.
I'm not sure "subversive" is quite the right word, though a good deal of his fiction can be taken that way. Rather, I think that where most authors look at tropes as restrictions and boundaries, Dick looked at them as toys to play with and let loose his imagination. And play he did.