here are philip k. dick 's thoughts on confessions of a crap artist , from a letter dated january 19 , 1975 : when i wrote confessions i had the idea of creating the most idiotic protagonist , ignorant and without common sense , a walking symposium of nitwit beliefs and opinions ... an outcast from our society , a totally marginal man who sees everything from the outside only and hence must guess as to what 's going on .