“It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven’t done anything about it; I can’t think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses.”
As a non-native English speaker I just took that line to be a hilarious version of form letter response. "Your business is important to us" replies have been around forever.
If you want to stretch it a bit there could be a pun involving frame-up but I doubt it.
I'm amazed by how bright-eyed the prose style is here compared to Dick's later works, not to mention the gimmick! There's nothing like a few decades of literary failure to stamp out the pesky flame of exuberance and enable some really great writing.
He’s a fascinating author to read the corpus of, in chronological order. You can see the man, quite clearly, and how he goes from chipper 50’s pulp writer to new wave prophet of banal doom, step by reality-shattering step. Some of his earlier work like “Beyond Lies the Wub” hints at what would later come, with the theme of existential query and horror.
The man had a truly brilliant mind. His final works, up to and including his death, are the most concinnous possible conclusion to the arc of a life he could have executed. He lived his art.
"There's nothing like a few decades of {X} failure to stamp out the pesky flame of exuberance and enable some really great {Y}" would seem to hold for many, many (X,Y) pairs.
Freya said, "Tell me. What is the 'eye-eater'? I have to know." Her breath caught in her throat; raggedly, she managed to breathe, but with difficulty.
"A fungiform," the taller of the THL agents said briefly. "One that resides here." He said nothing further. [...]
The eye-eater said pleasantly, "Mr. Ben Applebaum, reach inside me and you will find a slightly-different edition of Dr. Bloode's Text. A copy of the twentieth edition, which I ingested some time ago... but as far as I can determine, not already dissolved by my gastric juices." The idea seemed to amuse it; the lower portion of its face split apart in a peal of excrutiatingly-penetrating laughter.
"You're serious?" Rachmael said, feeling disorganized. And yet the eye-eater was correct; if it did possess a later edition of the text he most certainly had reason to seek it out -- wherever it lay, even within the body of the offensive eye-eater. "Look, look," the eye-eater exclaimed; it held in one of its longer [...]
"A lie," the eye-eater rumbled ominously; again its pseudopodia whipped viciously, seeking out the agile creditor balloon, which dipped and bobbed barely beyond the flailing reach of the several sucker-impregnated arms. "As a matter of fact, this gentleman here-" It indicated Rachmael. "My understanding is that the lady and this individual are emotionally involved. Miss Holm is-was, whatever-a friend of mine, a very close friend. But hardly my mistress." The eye-eater looked embarrassed. [...]
“It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven’t done anything about it; I can’t think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses.”