"Not by Its Cover" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, a "loose sequel" to his first published science fiction short story, "

Beyond Lies the Wub "Beyond Lies the Wub" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was his first published genre story, originally appearing in ''Planet Stories'' in July 1952.Damien Broderick, ''Transrealist Fiction: Writing in the ...

". The story continues the former's theme of immortality, although not focusing on a living Wub itself, but rather its fur.

Plot

Wub fur, so the story suggests, continues to live after the "death" of the Wub, and as such is highly prized owing to its postmortem production of a luxurious pelt that has numerous, albeit trivial, human applications. One such application is its use as a book cover by a Mars-based publisher who issues a new Latin volume of

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into E ...

' poem ''

De Rerum Natura ''De rerum natura'' (; ''On the Nature of Things'') is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius ( – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some ...

'' (On the Nature of Things). Lucretius's poem represents one of the best preserved ancient sources of the materialist philosophy known as

Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

, which espoused an a

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

metaphysical formula of atoms, randomness and determinism, an ethical doctrine promoting

hedonism Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decr ...

and, most notably for Dick's story, personal annihilation at death. Dick's story begins with the book publisher receiving numerous complaints by purchasers of the Wub covered volume of Lucretius. Numerous changes to essential passages in the text have been discovered; those originally advocating personal annihilation now suggest a postmortem

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

state. Detective work by the publisher and his copyist reveals that non-Wub covered volumes did not experience similar amendments and furthermore that no amendments were made to the proofs sent to the printers. The remainder of the story provides a humorous and philosophically interesting counterpointing of the annihilatory statements in Lucretius' poem and the Wub fur that, somehow, amends it. The publisher continues to experiment with the nature of volumes bound in Wub fur, including the Bible, which demonstrates similar amendments to the Lucretius poem. In the end, the publisher decides to take the test one step further, following the messages in the modified passages to see if the Wub fur can preserve other items—including bodies—in the same way it preserves itself.

Reception

Dick said of the story:

References

Sources

* The Three Stigmata of Philip K Dic

* Epicureanism after Epicurus: the Influence of Epicurus on Western Though

{{Philip K. Dick 1968 short stories Short stories by Philip K. Dick