The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford
Encyclopedia
"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. Dick short stories, in 1990.
The story is told from a first person perspective of a young man and his friend, a scientist named Doc Labyrinth, who develops a new device called The Animator, which gives life to otherwise inanimate objects. Doc thinks that the machine doesn't work, and sells it to the narrator for 5 dollars. The narrator leaves his shoe in the machine, and discovers the following day that the shoe has become alive. Doc and the narrator catch the shoe and stuff it in a drawer, while Doc returns to the University to get his fellow professors to witness the shoe. Meanwhile, the narrator loses the shoe, as it escapes and leaves the house. Shortly later, the shoe returns and uses the Animator to animate a woman's shoe for companionship, and when Doc and his fellow professors, and the press, return, they witness the two shoes, moving across the lawn, disappearing into a hedge.
Oxford shoe
An Oxford is a style of laced shoe characterized by shoelace eyelet tabs that are stitched underneath the vamp, a construction method that is also sometimes referred to as "closed lacing". Oxfords first appeared in Scotland and Ireland, where they are occasionally called Balmorals after the Queen's...
" is a science fiction 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...
, first published in the January, 1954 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
and later in Beyond Lies the Wub
Beyond Lies the Wub (collection)
Beyond Lies the Wub is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Gollancz in 1988 and reprints Volume I of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick...
in 1984 and in The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford
The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford (collection)
The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Citadel Twilight in 1990 and reprints Volume I of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick...
, a collection of Philip K. Dick short stories, in 1990.
The story is told from a first person perspective of a young man and his friend, a scientist named Doc Labyrinth, who develops a new device called The Animator, which gives life to otherwise inanimate objects. Doc thinks that the machine doesn't work, and sells it to the narrator for 5 dollars. The narrator leaves his shoe in the machine, and discovers the following day that the shoe has become alive. Doc and the narrator catch the shoe and stuff it in a drawer, while Doc returns to the University to get his fellow professors to witness the shoe. Meanwhile, the narrator loses the shoe, as it escapes and leaves the house. Shortly later, the shoe returns and uses the Animator to animate a woman's shoe for companionship, and when Doc and his fellow professors, and the press, return, they witness the two shoes, moving across the lawn, disappearing into a hedge.