''Gather Yourselves Together'' is an early novel by the science fiction author Philip K. Dick, written around 1948–1950, and published

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication Posthumous publication refers to material that is published after the author's death. This can be because the auth ...

by WCS Books in 1994. As with many of his early books which were considered unsuitable for publication when they were first submitted as manuscripts, this was not science fiction, but rather a work of straight literary fiction. The manuscript was 481 pages in length. At the time it was published, it was one of only two Dick novels for which the manuscript was known to exist which remained unpublished. The other, '' Voices from the Street'', was published in 2007. Dwight Brown wrote the afterword. As of 2011, the original hardcover edition was

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a boo ...

; in July 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released a trade paperback edition of ''Gather Yourselves Together'', complete with Brown's afterword.

Plot summary

After the final victory of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

's Chinese Communists in 1949, an American company prepares to abandon their Chinese operations, leaving three people behind to oversee transitional affairs - Carl Fitter, Verne Tildon, and Barbara Mahler. Verne and Barbara were previously involved with each other back in the United States, in 1945, when she lost her

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

to him. They have sex again, but Barbara has matured, and becomes more interested in Carl, who is younger than she is. Carl is more interested in reading his handwritten volume of personal

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

to her, but Barbara does succeed in seducing him, shortly before the arrival of the Chinese.

Aspects of ''Gather Yourselves Together''

Despite being an early, non-science fiction work, the book prefigures several staples of Dick's writing. *Carl keeps a notebook much like Dick's own 1970s ''

Exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...

'' *There is a "dead-cat-as-indictment-for-being" story that is very similar to the one later used in ''

VALIS ''Valis'' (stylized as ''VALIS'') is a 1981 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, intended to be the first book of a three-part series. The title is an acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System'', Dick's gnostic vis ...

''. *The first "Dark Haired Girl" in any of Dick's novels appears in one of Carl's flashbacks. *"Teddy", one of Verne's past conquests, is likely a version of Dick's own imaginary sister of the same name. *The conclusion of the novel draws tenuous parallels between America and the late

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, and between the early Christians and communist Chinese.

Bibliography

* Bibliography of Philip K. Dick

References

{{Philip K. Dick 1994 American novels Novels about communism Fiction set in 1949 Novels by Philip K. Dick Novels published posthumously Novels set in China