The Man Who Japed

I finally finished The Man Who Japed. I attempted to read it 2 years ago, but the clunky prose turned me off. It's one of Dick's earlier novels, and there is an aura of incompleteness to the narrative. However, it's Dick's humorous insight at its best, as a totalitarian society is gradually unraveled by Alan Purcell, who "japes" the statue of the morally conservative founder of the regime. Striking a balance between the lack of moral inhibitions in the Resorts run by psychoanalysts and the Morec regime established after nuclear war (founded by a South African, and clearly a reference to the Dutch Reformed Church and the Protestant ethic), the novel concludes hilariously with a Swift-like "jape" at the expense of the Morec regime's founder and moral rectitude. All in all, an entertaining read which hints at some of the humorous elements in Dick's darker novels.