Well, I feel differently bout Dick. . . I like the novel better than the movie, I like the entire work a lot, and I think I like the non sf work best of all . . . my most recent assessment. I like him better than Kafka, who I really do like, and what I've read of Borges and Calvino. But then I've been reading Dick since 1967, and he warped that 12 year old mind and kept warping it. He's very relevant to my experience. I started reading him in Africa. . . I think that being American and my re-entry into the American culture as a teenager made an impact that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
I find the comic sad because. . . that "revelation" brought Dick so much turmoil and pain and isolation and unsettlement. I think he finally found some calm near the end, but that was so close to the end, and it probably didn't or wouldn't last.