The Eyes Have It

First published in Science Fiction Stories (1953), “The Eyes Have It” is perhaps the shortest of Philip Dick’s short stories. Although on the surface it appears to be a mere bagatelle, it is also a sophisticated exploration if the idomatic structures of the English language.

It is in the form of a monologue by a narrator who wishes to warn us about an imminent alien invasion. He appears to be paranoid, but claims to have evidence, which has found in the text of a novel he recently found abandoned on the bus. However, when he begins to explain his “evidence,” the reader realizes that the narrator is indeed paranoid, and that his paranoia is result of interpreting the metaphors of idiomatic English literally.

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