The Dice Man
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | "[[Such a Shame]]" was inspired by [[Luke Rhinehart]]'s ''[[The Dice Man]]'', one of composer [[Mark Hollis]]' favourite books. When asked what drove him to respond to Rhinehart's book, Hollis replied, "A good book, not a lifestyle I'd recommend." | + | What else might the [[dice]] dictate? Well, that I stop writing silly psychoanalytic articles ; that I sell all my stock, or buy all I could afford ; that I make love to Arlene in our double bed while my wife slept on the other side ; that I take a trip to San Francisco, Hawaii, Peking ; that I bluff every time when playing poker; that I give up my home, my friends, my profession. After giving up my psychiatric practice I might become a college professor … a stockbroker … a real estate salesman … [[Zen]] master … used-car salesman … travel agent …elevator man. My choice of profession seemed suddenly infinite."--''[[The Dice Man]]'' (1971) by Luke Rhinehart |
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| The themes of the book are continued in two other novels, ''[[The Search for the Dice Man]]'' and ''[[Adventures of Wim]]'' and a companion title, ''[[The Book of the Die]]''. | The themes of the book are continued in two other novels, ''[[The Search for the Dice Man]]'' and ''[[Adventures of Wim]]'' and a companion title, ''[[The Book of the Die]]''. | ||
| - | ==References in popular culture== | ||
| - | *Two plays have been produced based on the ideas in The Dice Man: ''[[The Dice House]]'', written by Paul Lucas and produced by Neal Foster's Birmingham Theatre Company, and ''The Six Sided Man'' by Gavin Robertson. | ||
| - | *The song "Dice Man" by Mancunian band [[The Fall (band)|The Fall]] is inspired by the novel. It can be found on their 1979 LP [[Dragnet]]. | ||
| - | *English band, [[star27]] wrote a song called 'The Diceman' inspired by this book. They also had a "Day of the Dice" where they handed out special die which were numbered 2-7 (whose combined sides add up to 27) so that anybody with a die could make decisions based on rolling it. | ||
| - | *The song "[[Such A Shame]]" by [[Talk Talk]] was inspired by ''The Dice Man'', which was one of lyricist [[Mark Hollis]]' favourite books. | ||
| - | *The song "X, Y & Z" by [[Pop Will Eat Itself]] is a reference to a sentence from ''The Dice Man'', in which the main character predicts that there will come a time when a person is considered insane who believes that "I am he who is X, Y & Z, and X, Y & Z only." | ||
| - | *The book and the lifestyle it presents have been the subject of a number of television documentaries. | ||
| - | *The melodic death metal band [[At the Gates]] has quotations from the book in the songs "Slaughter of the Soul" and "World of lies" from the [[Slaughter of the Soul]] album. | ||
| - | *In [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s segment of the film [[Four Rooms]] entitled "The Man from Hollywood," Chester urges Ted the Bellhop to chop off his friend's finger by referring to him as "The Dice Man." | ||
| - | *The song "Random I Am" by Swedish Pop/Punk band [[Millencolin]] is a homage to ''The Dice Man'' in which the lead singer is singing from Luke Rhinehart's perspective. | ||
| - | *Electronic music artist [[Aphex Twin]] has used the name 'The Dice Man' as an alias for some of his work. | ||
| - | *The song "Roll the Dice" by Danish group [[Jaconfetti]] is also inspired by the novel/lifestyle. | ||
| - | *An excerpt was published for Day 272 of ''This Book Will Change Your Life'' by [[Benrik]]. | ||
| - | *The novel can be seen as an inspiration for [[Danny Wallace]]'s ''[[Yes Man (film)|''Yes Man'' book and the subsequent film]]. | ||
| - | *In episode 19 of Season 2 of [[Mile High]], the drama on [[Sky One]], characters meet a man dressed as a squirrel who is living his life in the diceman manner. | ||
| - | *Mentioned in the [[Manic Street Preachers]]' song 'Patrick Bateman' ("Travis, Rhinehart rolled into one cute son") | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | :''[[flipism]], [[decision]]'' | + | *[[Flipism]] |
| + | *[[Decision]] | ||
| + | *"[[Flip Decision]]" | ||
| + | *[[Yes Man (book)|''Yes Man'' (book)]] | ||
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What else might the dice dictate? Well, that I stop writing silly psychoanalytic articles ; that I sell all my stock, or buy all I could afford ; that I make love to Arlene in our double bed while my wife slept on the other side ; that I take a trip to San Francisco, Hawaii, Peking ; that I bluff every time when playing poker; that I give up my home, my friends, my profession. After giving up my psychiatric practice I might become a college professor … a stockbroker … a real estate salesman … Zen master … used-car salesman … travel agent …elevator man. My choice of profession seemed suddenly infinite."--The Dice Man (1971) by Luke Rhinehart |
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The Dice Man is a comedic novel published in 1971 by George Cockcroft under the pen name Luke Rhinehart and tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice. The novel is noted for its subversivity, anti-psychiatry sentiments and for reflecting moods of the early 1970s. Due to its subversive nature and chapters concerned with controversial issues such as rape, murder and sexual experimentation, it was banned in several countries. Upon its initial publication, the cover bore the confident subheader, "This book can change your life" and quickly became a modern cult classic.
The book went through a number of republishings - in the United States it acquired the even more confident subheader "Few novels can change your life. This one will", in spite of its being a highly edited version of the original. Perhaps because of this, and despite the author and the character both being from the USA, it was initially less successful than in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. After a further UK reprint in 2003, The Dice Man enjoyed something of a miniature comeback as it was introduced to a new generation.
The themes of the book are continued in two other novels, The Search for the Dice Man and Adventures of Wim and a companion title, The Book of the Die.
See also
