Have
you ever bumped into an old friend? Someone you have not seen or heard of in
two or three decades? I have just had that experience in Bookazine, as there
on the shelf was The Dice Man (ISBN 9-7800-0651-3, Harper and
Collins, 1999 paperback), a reprint of the book I last read in 1971.
The Dice Man was written by George Cockcroft, under the
pen name of Luke Rhinehart, with this character as the central figure in the
plot, and in the early 70’s was one of the cult books from the generation
that held Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as the mantras of
the morrow, and Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint society’s sexual awakening
(and was banned in Australia).
What immediately draws your attention is the almost
cinema verite approach to dialogue, for example, while sitting at the
breakfast table, the following occurs, “What time will you be back from
Queensborough today?”
“Four thirty or so, why?”
“Arlene wants another private chat this afternoon.”
“Larry took my spoon.”
“Give Evie her spoon, Larry,” I said.
“I imagine she wants to talk more of the …”
All very easily a situation that any parent will relate
to.
By page 69 the explanation of the Dice Man concept is
given, whereby instead of taking an individual responsibility for his
actions, psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart attributes his decision to the roll of
the dice. “If it’s a one, I’ll rape Arlene.” He becomes comfortable with
this lack of decision by thinking, “a one means rape, the other numbers mean
bed, the die is cast. Who am I to question the die?”
From there, the Luke Rhinehart persona becomes more
florid, suggesting to those with a defective intellect that the throw of the
dice is dictated to by God, and the dice’s options are then by definition
divine.
To make his revelation more public, Rhinehart comes up
with the concept of Dice Centers and the people who visit them are ‘dicepeople’.
Meanwhile, Dr. Luke Rhinehart swings wildly between his
analysis, self-analysis and psychiatric commitment.
Taken to task by his peers, Dr. Rhinehart states that he
is developing a new form of therapy. “We encourage our patients to reach
decisions by casting dice. The purpose is to destroy the personality. We
wish to create in its place a multiple personality: an individual
inconsistent, unreliable and progressively schizoid.” By this stage in the
book, the reader is wondering just exactly who is off the wall, and who is
not! And then one has to look at the analyst dealing with Dr. Rinehart - is
he mad also, or is it ‘folie a deaux’?
The copy I reviewed came from the Bookazine shelves and
had an RRP of only B. 450. This is a classic book and one of the milestones
in literary expression. I enjoyed it just as much (if not more) the second
time around. Described as funny, shocking and subversive, it is all of those
and more. Roll the dice, a six means you don’t buy it. A one, two, three,
four or five means you do…. The dicepeople claim another victim!
