Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern is an academic monograph by Christopher Palmer, published by Liverpool University Press as part of the prestigious Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies series, under the general editorship of David Seed with series advisers I.F. Clarke, Edward James, Patrick Parrinder, and Brian Stableford.
At 272 pages, the study examines how Dick's fiction embodies the contradictory affects of postmodernism: the liberating exhilaration of dissolving fixed categories of reality and identity alongside the terrifying implications of a world without stable foundations. Palmer's critical framework engages with the theoretical landscape that has made Dick a key figure in discussions of postmodern literature.
The Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies series is one of the most important academic series devoted to science fiction scholarship. Palmer's volume takes its place alongside works by major scholars, including Robert Crossley on Olaf Stapledon, David Seed's collection on early science fiction precursors, and Jane Donawerth and Carol Kolmerten's work. The series' institutional backing by Liverpool University Press reflects the growing academic legitimacy of science fiction studies and Dick's central position within that field.