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The Dice Man

First edition cover (US)
Author	Luke Rhinehart
Language	English
Publisher	William Morrow (US) Talmy Franklin (UK)
Publication date	1971
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	305 pp.
ISBN	0-68-801457-7
OCLC	59367330
Followed by	The Search for the Dice Man

The Dice Man is a 1971 novel by career English professor George Cockcroft, writing under the pen name Luke Rhinehart. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who makes life decisions based on the casting of a die. Cockcroft describes the origin of the title idea variously in interview, most recently recalling a college "quirk" he and friends used to decide "what they were going to do that night" based on a die-roll, or sometimes to decide between mildly mischievous pranks. The novel is described by the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy user site as a book that was viewed as subversive, as having "anti-psychiatry sentiment", and as "reflecting the mood of the early 1970s in permissiveness". It has content that includes the protagonist's decisions to engage in rape and murder, and is described as having been "banned in several countries".

At the time of its publication, "t was not clear whether the book was fiction or autobiography", all the more because its protagonist and author were eponymous, both were described as having the same profession (psychiatry), and elements of the described lives of the two (e.g., places of residence, date of birth) were also in common; hence, curiosity over its authorship have persisted since its publication. Emmanuel Carrère, writing for The Guardian, presented a long form expose on Cockroft and the relationship between author and legend, disclosing him as a life-long English professor living "in an old farmhouse with a yard that slopes down to a duck pond", a husband of fifty-years, father of three, and a caregiver to a special needs child.

On its initial publication, the cover bore the confident subheader, "Few novels can change your life. This one will"; in the United States this was changed to, "This book will change your life". The book quickly became, and remains thought of as a cult classic. Writing in 2017 for The Guardian, Tanya Gold noted that "over the course of 45 years" it was still in print, had become famous, had devoted fans, and had "sold more than 2m copies in multiple languages." As well, it has been republished a number of times. It initially sold poorly in the United States, but well in Europe, particularly England, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain. Cockroft continued themes of the book in two other novels, Adventures of Wim (1986) and The Search for the Dice Man (1993), and in a companion title, The Book of the Die (2000), none of which achieved the commercial success of The Dice Man.

Plot summary

As stated at the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy user site:

The book tells the story... of a psychologist named Luke who, feeling bored and unfulfilled in life, starts making decisions... based on a roll of a dice. Along the way, there is sex, rape, murder, 'dice parties', breakouts by psychiatric patients, and various corporate and governmental machines being put into a spin. There is also a description of the cult that starts to develop around the man, and the psychological research he initiates, such as the 'F**k without Fear for Fun and Profit' programme.

Critical response

This section needs expansion with: content from scholarly sources on critical response to this work, in the context of the further work on the same themes, by the same author. You can help by adding to it.

The book is considered by one school librarian to be a cult classic.

Publishing history

This section needs expansion with: a standard Misplaced Pages presentation of the section subject, including publishers, changes in title or subtitle, to forwards, etc. You can help by adding to it.

• ISBN 0-900735-00-7 - September 9, 1971
• ISBN 0-246-11058-9 - July, 1978
• ISBN 0-586-03765-9 - April 13, 1989
• ISBN 0-87951-864-2 - July, 1998
• ISBN 0-00-651390-5 - December 15, 1999
• ISBN 0-00-716121-2 - April 7, 2003

References

1. ^ Carrère, Emmanuel (7 November 2019). "Who is the Real Dice Man? The Elusive Writer Behind the Disturbing Cult Novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2019. It was not clear whether the book was fiction or autobiography, but its author, Luke Rhinehart, had the same name as his hero and, like him, he was a psychiatrist. According to the back cover, he lived in Majorca... 'Psychiatrist? Psychoanalyst?' George repeats, as surprised as if I had said cosmonaut. No, he was never a psychiatrist, he has been a college English teacher all his life... / Really? But on the cover of his book... / George shrugs as if to say, editors, journalists, you know, there is almost nothing they won't write... / ... handles the wheel with an abruptness that contrasts with his good humour and makes his wife laugh. It is moving to see how the two love each other, and when Ann tells me in passing that they have been married for 50 years, I am not surprised. / They live in an old farmhouse with a yard that slopes down to a duck pond. They have three grown boys, two of whom live nearby. One is a carpenter and the other is a housepainter; the third still lives at home. He is schizophrenic, Ann tells me matter-of-factly; he is doing fine at the moment, but I shouldn't worry if I hear him speaking a bit loudly in his room, which is right beside the guest room where I will be staying.
2. ^ Adams, Tim (27 August 2000). "Dicing with Life". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2009. ...progress on the novel was slow, and by the time he completed it he was 37, living in Majorca with his family
3. See Carrère, The Guardian, 7 November 2019, op. cit. Quoting that source: "The dice was a quirk the young George picked up in college. He and his friends used it on Saturdays to decide what they were going to do that night. Sometimes, they dared each other to do stuff: hop around the block on one leg, ring a neighbour’s doorbell, nothing too mischievous. When I ask, hopefully, whether he pushed these experiences further as an adult, he shrugs his shoulders and smiles apologetically because he can tell that I would like something a little spicier."
4. ^ Gold, Tanya (4 March 2017). "Three days with The Dice Man: 'I never wrote for money or fame'". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2019. The book was published in 1971, an era devoted to psychoanalysis (not the mocking of it), and it was not an instant success. But over the course of 45 years, it has become a famous book, with devoted fans. The Dice Man has sold more than 2m copies in multiple languages and is still in print... / As his notoriety grew, journalists came to interview the Dice Man. But Luke Rhinehart does not exist: he is the pseudonym of a man called George Powers Cockcroft, who shielded his real identity from his readers for many years... / As a boy, he was shy and compliant, and began to use the dice at 16. He was a procrastinator: 'So I would make a list of things to do in a day and the dice would choose which one I did first.' Then he began to use the dice 'to force myself to do things I was too shy to do. If the dice chose it, then somehow that made it possible.' / did badly in America, partly, Cockcroft thinks, because of a cover jacket featuring a naked woman lying on a bed. But it did better in Europe, particularly in England, Sweden, Denmark and now Spain, where it was for a time the most requested library book in Spanish universities.
5. ^ Anonymous contributors (11 March 2008). "Luke Rhinehart—Author". h2g2.com. Retrieved 12 November 2019. Luke's first book, The Dice Man was published in 1971 with the confidant subheader, 'This book can change your life'. It quickly became a cult classic, as people read it and passed it around. Some in authority saw it as subversive, reflecting the mood of the early 1970s in permissiveness, and anti-psychiatry sentiment, and it was banned in several countries. It went through a number of republishings—in the USA it got the even more confident subheader 'Few novels can change your life. This one will', but was cut somewhat from the original. Perhaps because of this, and despite the author and the character both being American, it was slightly less successful than in the UK and Scandinavia... The book tells the story (there is a persistent rumour that the book is based on a true story) of a psychologist named Luke who, feeling bored and unfulfilled in life, starts making decisions about what to do based on a roll of a dice. Along the way, there is sex, rape, murder, 'dice parties', breakouts by psychiatric patients, and various corporate and governmental machines being put into a spin. There is also a description of the cult that starts to develop around the man, and the psychological research he initiates, such as the 'F**k without Fear for Fun and Profit' programme. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
6. Dickson, E. Jane (4 November 2000). "Striptease at the Roll of the Dice". The Times.
7. ^ Fann, Kelly (2011). Trott, Barry (ed.). "Tapping Into The Appeal of Cult Fiction". Reference and User Services Quarterly. 51 (1): 15–18. doi:10.5860/rusq.51n1.15.
8. See the PDF that can be downloaded at the reference cited.

See Also

• Yes Man (book)

External links

• Extracts

• 1971 American novels
• Debut novels
• William Morrow and Company books
• Novels about psychoanalysis
• Dice
• Novels set in New York City