The Last of the Masters (original) (raw)

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"The Last of the Masters" (also known as "Protection Agency") is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick. The original manuscript of the story was received by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency on July 15, 1953, and the story was published by the in the final issue of Orbit Science Fiction in 1954. It has since been reprinted in several Philip K. Dick story collections, beginning with The Golden Man in 1980. "The Last of the Masters" depicts a society 200 years after a global anarchist revolution has toppled the national governments of the world (the exact year is unstated). Civilization has stagnated due to the loss of scientific knowledge and industry during the legendary revolt. Elsewhere, the last state, governing a highly centralized and efficient society, conceals itself from the Anarchist League, a global militia preventing the recreation of any government. When three agents of the League are sent to investigate rumors of the microstate's existence, the government arranges for them to be killed, leading to the death of one and the capture of another. Tensions rapidly escalate after the agents of the state realize that the third has escaped. Assuming he will report the state's existence, the government mobilizes for total war. In actuality, the surviving anarchist elects to attempt his comrades' rescue and assassinate the head of state: the last surviving "government robot". The primary theme of the story is the conflict between anarchism and statism, the political and ethical dimensions of which are explored through the characters' dialogue. Though the attention the story received was limited prior to the author's death in 1982, it has since seen greater circulation in Philip K. Dick story collections, and has been reviewed and analyzed for its postmodern critique of technology and its political implications. (en)

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English (en)

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The Last of the Masters (en)

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November/December 1954 (en)

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Orbit Science Fiction No.5 (en)

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Nobody should set out to do things for the masses; the masses, after all, are more than capable of doing for themselves. (en)
Here, within the ring of hills, Bors had constructed an accurate and detailed reproduction of a society two centuries gone. The world as it had been in the old days. The time of governments. The time that had been pulled down by the Anarchist League. (en)
Dick's attitude to highly-developed clever machinery is... far more complex than blanket suspicion or hostility. (en)
In these stories the real enemy is hypertrophied technology and the attitudes that give it power. The earth's natural resources have been destroyed or depleted, while technology not merely survives this process, but waxes more dominant. (en)
"My God," she said softly. "You have no understanding of us. You run all this, and you're incapable of empathy. You're nothing but a mechanical computer." (en)
"You have to know," Tolby said, "how the League was formed. You have to know how we pulled down the governments that day. Pulled them down and destroyed them. Burned all the buildings. And all the records. Billions of microfilms and papers. Great bonfires that burned for weeks." (en)

dbp:source

dbr:Philip_K._Dick
"The Last of the Masters" (en)
Aaron Barlow, (en)
Bright Stableford, (en)
Christopher Palmer, (en)
How Much Does Chaos Scare You?. (en)
Little Victories: Philip K. Dick. (en)
Philip K. Dick, (en)
Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern. (en)

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The Last of the Masters (en)

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"The Last of the Masters" (also known as "Protection Agency") is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick. The original manuscript of the story was received by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency on July 15, 1953, and the story was published by the in the final issue of Orbit Science Fiction in 1954. It has since been reprinted in several Philip K. Dick story collections, beginning with The Golden Man in 1980. (en)

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The Last of the Masters (en)

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