The Preserving Machine (short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Preserving Machine" is a science fiction
short story by Philip K. Dick
. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine F&SF. It is also the title story of the collection of the same name, The Preserving Machine
.
"The Preserving Machine" was originally a companion piece to another Doc Labyrinth story, "Left Shoe, My Foot", later published as "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford
".
, particularly classical music
, in the event of the apocalypse
. Accordingly, he orders a machine to be built that will transform musical scores into animals capable of surviving and defending themselves on their own. The machine successfully transforms several composers' works into various animals-- Bach
pieces into little beetles, Schubert songs into a lamb-like creature, and so forth. The Doctor, joyful at his success, releases them into the world; but when he finds them later, he finds that they have undergone evolution
-- they have grown claws, stingers, and fed on one another. When the Bach beetles are fed back into the machine, the resultant musical scores have also changed, become wild and chaotic, with all their beauty and harmony lost.
, beauty, and high culture, in the face of change. The fable also turns the coin the other way, with aesthetics used to question the value of evolution
and survival, asking at what expense they come.
The incarnation of human cultural forms in brutal animals also suggests the opposition between the animal and "human" instincts within us. The story shares this preoccupation with animals with Dick's later work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
, wherein artificial animals are used to replace species that are extinct or in the process of extinction, just as androids threaten to replace mankind.
Finally, the story opens up questions of the value of the archive
and of cultural preservation, as well as being an example of a pre-post-Apocalyptic tale.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story by Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine F&SF. It is also the title story of the collection of the same name, The Preserving Machine
The Preserving Machine
The Preserving Machine is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Ace Books in 1969 as part of their Ace Science Fiction Specials series...
.
"The Preserving Machine" was originally a companion piece to another Doc Labyrinth story, "Left Shoe, My Foot", later published as "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford
The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford
"The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in the January, 1954 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and later in Beyond Lies the Wub in 1984 and in The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford, a collection of Philip K...
".
Plot summary
Doc Labyrinth fears for the safety of the fragile works of high cultureHigh culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
, particularly classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, in the event of the apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
. Accordingly, he orders a machine to be built that will transform musical scores into animals capable of surviving and defending themselves on their own. The machine successfully transforms several composers' works into various animals-- Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
pieces into little beetles, Schubert songs into a lamb-like creature, and so forth. The Doctor, joyful at his success, releases them into the world; but when he finds them later, he finds that they have undergone evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
-- they have grown claws, stingers, and fed on one another. When the Bach beetles are fed back into the machine, the resultant musical scores have also changed, become wild and chaotic, with all their beauty and harmony lost.
Themes
"The Preserving Machine" is, primarily, a brief and poignant fable about the worth of aestheticsAesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, beauty, and high culture, in the face of change. The fable also turns the coin the other way, with aesthetics used to question the value of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and survival, asking at what expense they come.
The incarnation of human cultural forms in brutal animals also suggests the opposition between the animal and "human" instincts within us. The story shares this preoccupation with animals with Dick's later work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick first published in 1968. The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter of androids, while the secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-normal intelligence who befriends some of the...
, wherein artificial animals are used to replace species that are extinct or in the process of extinction, just as androids threaten to replace mankind.
Finally, the story opens up questions of the value of the archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
and of cultural preservation, as well as being an example of a pre-post-Apocalyptic tale.