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15th out of 34 books
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The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (VALIS Trilogy #3)
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, the final novel in the trilogy that also includes Valis and The Divine Invasion, is an anguished, learned, and very moving investigation of the paradoxes of belief. It is the story of Timothy Archer, an urbane Episcopal bishop haunted by the suicides of his son and mistress--and driven by them into a bizarre quest for the identity of C...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
December 14th 2004
by Vintage/Random House (NY)
(first published 1982)
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see Dick. See Dick run. See Dick write about the sacred quest to escape one's body and transcend the narrow human perception of experience through the ongoing search for the essential logos via the ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms while retracing the steps of the Christ. (pant)
This book, the third part of a trilogy beginning with Valis, was nowhere near as mindblowingly wacky as Valis. Rather it was bitter and full of denial. The common thread between Valis and Transmigration is that someone is confronted with the reality of the supernatural, life after death, the resurrection, and they turn their back on it. The major problem in Transmigration is the coldness of the narrator. It sucks to finish reading this book, because even when confronted with everything she h...more
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As often confusing as Dick's books can be I am always intrigued. Perhaps it's the mystifying aspect that is the source of my intrigue. After all this is the mind behind "Blade Runner", "A Scanner Darkley", & "Total Recall". That and the fact that he often writes of people and places that seem to eerily parallel my own life. This is the third book of a trilogy (Valis & The Divine Invasion are the other two), but they are independent and don't have to be read in a par...more
Philip K. Dick'in romanlarında sıkça din konusundaki felsefeye dokunduğu mâlum. Bu kitabı yazmadan önce de PKD, Hristiyanlık, yaşam ve Tanrı hakkında bolca düşünmüş, hatta kullandığı bazı maddelerin etkisiyle mi bilinmez, bazı enteresan tecrübeler yaşadığını iddia etmişti. Tabiî ki bu kitaptaki Timothy Archer aslında PKD'nin fikirlerini paylaştığı yakın arkadaşı; Psikopos Pike'ın bir yansıması. Pike, Ölü Deniz Parşomenlerini bulan adam ve Pike'ın sonu da Timothy Archer'ın sonu gibi.
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This is the last book that PKD ever wrote and the conclusion of the VALIS trilogy. It is a bit different than the first two books, but again deals with religion and philosophy. Bishop Timothy Archer is a man who believes whatever he reads, even if it contradicts what he finished reading two minutes ago. He is haunted by the suicides of his son and mistress, which are fleshed out in depressing detail throughout the book.
Transmigration is narrated by the female voice of Angel Archer, t...more
Transmigration is narrated by the female voice of Angel Archer, t...more
PDK's swan song, as it turned out. It is also his most life-affirming book he ever wrote. Part biographical, part literary fiction and part paranormal mystery and 100% Masterpiece, this book is told from the perspective of a woman, something Dick had never done before. That he pulls it off so easily is a testament to the narrative powers that Dick possessed. Sadly, he died weeks after completing this outstanding book. The plot twist is particularly to die for.
Some notes upon finishing the book.
This is NOT the third book in the "VALIS Trilogy". It is what the author says it is in What If Our World Is Their Heaven, a literary novel that took more out of him to write than four SF novels. He had something to get out about life in general, and his experience with Bishop James Pike in particular, and this is it, a thing in itself. There is nothing here that requires the kind of suspension of disbelief demanded by genre SF. All is d...more
This is NOT the third book in the "VALIS Trilogy". It is what the author says it is in What If Our World Is Their Heaven, a literary novel that took more out of him to write than four SF novels. He had something to get out about life in general, and his experience with Bishop James Pike in particular, and this is it, a thing in itself. There is nothing here that requires the kind of suspension of disbelief demanded by genre SF. All is d...more
My knowledge of Philip K. Dick is limited. I've read only two of his novels: In Milton Lumky Territory, an early work from the 1950s, and this novel, the last one he wrote, published shortly after his death in 1982. Though PKD is famous for his science fiction novels (the most famous example being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the basis for the movie Blade Runner), I can't recall having read any of his SF.
I expected The Transmigration of Timothy Archer to be SF (not only does ...more
I expected The Transmigration of Timothy Archer to be SF (not only does ...more
Imagine what it would be like to meet Philip K Dick at a dinner party in the mid 70's. He seems to be the person who would dominate a conversation, but in a good way. Filled with ideas, stories, convoluted connections and theories. After a few drinks I'd think "This guy is a genius!". But then when I woke up the next morning, I'm not sure if any of it would make any sense, but still I'd invite him over again to hear what he had to say. What a character he must have been! What a ...more
I have only read a handful of Philip K. Dick's books, mostly his earlier science fiction novels and stories, and I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as I enjoyed this. It's an excellent character study with an incredible amount of depth, and on top of that it is very tragic in a subtle, believable way.
I admire Dick here for taking and exploring nearly every possible angle when it comes to beliefs in God, rationalism, and intellectualism. Timothy Archer's theology and his search for th...more
I admire Dick here for taking and exploring nearly every possible angle when it comes to beliefs in God, rationalism, and intellectualism. Timothy Archer's theology and his search for th...more
Another good read. Interesting to think that Dick considered this as part of the VALIS trilogy, as it is quite realistic and down-to-earth in tone. It could basically all happen in real life, even with the "twist" in the last few chapters. The narrator (a female--I have the feeling that this is rare for Dick) is truly endearing and one of the main reasons that this is such an enjoyable read. I totally dug her Berkeley, over-educated, down-to-earth stoner chill stoner vibe in the face o...more
In the final installment of the VALIS trilogy, (or quadrilogy if we count Radio Free Albemuth), Dick debates the validity of divine experience. Much like in the previous VALIS books, the characters experience a divine contact, however, this time the experience is presented as fairly dubious.
The obsessive bishop and his neurotic and paranoid lover balance on belief and disbelief, each in a different manner and for different reasons. Angel is also torn between what to actually believe,...more
The obsessive bishop and his neurotic and paranoid lover balance on belief and disbelief, each in a different manner and for different reasons. Angel is also torn between what to actually believe,...more
The first and last chapters of this book are strong enough that they redeem some of the uneven writing and plotting of the middle. In fact, the first chapter is the single best piece of writing by PKD that I've been exposed to so far. I loved its female narrator, Angel Archer, as PKD always seemed to struggle to pull off fully nuanced female characters before, but Angel is a convincing, complexly-drawn personality. Also notable for being the most seemingly skeptical, 'down-to-earth' take on P...more
I had forgotten that the first time I had read this, it was my "hangover" book. My experience this time was more lucid, and I liked the book better. What I've been learning from rereading Dick (and Powers - about to post another novel after this) is how I really need to figure out some way to get humor into my writing - not parodic, self-referential humor, but good old "humans will be humans" humor that both Dick and Powers do quite well. Part of the reason why these books ar...more
Where to begin? Probably the thing that stood out the most was that in what appears to have been intended as a philosophical character study, the characters were unsympathetic (in the sense that I did not sympathize with them) and the ideas were flat (in the sense of old soda). The book is not without some redeeming features: the voices are strong and consistent (if sometimes annoying or offensive), the prose is mostly solid, the pacing is spot on, and it is not quite as self-indulgent or soph...more
This novel of half-baked ideas is more closely associated with Dick's own life than any other I've read to date. The Tim Archer character is indeed based on Bishop Pike, a liberal Episcopal Bishop whom I listened to a great deal on the old Jerry Williams radio talk show during high school and who was actually a friend of Dick's. Pike also had an affair. Pike also had been involved in spiritualist activities after the death of his son precipitated a series of poltergeist-like events. For this ...more
wow. well, this is pretty fresh in my mind, and it's been a couple of weeks. that doesn't surprise me though because the ideas that dick toyed with in his last cycle of books are to me the most compelling, indeed the most disturbing and challenging to my mind. dick's narrator angel archer is one of his most resonant, matter-of-fact, and yes, human. she is a rare accomplishment in terms of his development of a female character, though this may well be because she has his own very human voice, or ...more
The last book Philip K. Dick wrote was published after his death, and contained very little of the SF he was famous for. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer calls to mind the "straight novels" of the 50s that Dick wrote when he was first starting out. Of these-- In Milton Lumky Territory, Voices From the Street, Puttering About in a Small Land-- only Confessions of a Crap Artist received critical acclaim. It's too bad Dick died after writing Transmigration, as the direction he was hea...more
I was surprised by the tone of the book, which is not typical for Dick, when I started reading. But as I adjusted to it, I really started to like it. There is an honesty and a nakedness to Angel Archer's narration that is startling and difficult, yet simultaneously extremely charming. You can't help but love Angel, not in any sort of physical way but in a deep emotional way.
Unlike Horselover Fat in VALIS, who is also a stand-in for Dick the way Angel is in this novel, Angel is hones...more
Unlike Horselover Fat in VALIS, who is also a stand-in for Dick the way Angel is in this novel, Angel is hones...more
This book is totally different from any other PKD I've read. I'm not an expert on his writings, but this was comparitively not really weird enough, exciting enough, interesting enough, or sci-fi enough for me. The main character (narrator) was curiously absent and difficult to identify with. She just seemed invisible, like she could have been left out and the book would have been essentially the same. Timothy Archer was kind of an interesting character, but I had a hard time digesting all th...more
PKD's characters remind me of programs set going in an AI simulation. He carries them through several iterations, surprising you at each turn. This book plays with the familiar themes of death, fate, classical philosophy and speculative Christianity that the first two VALIS books cover, but have a kind of retro appeal, being set as they are in the early 80s around the time of John Lennon's death. Makes me want to read Allegre's book on Jesus as mushroom, which he uses as premise for the main cha...more
This is quite a difficult book to read. The main ideas - which I won't spoil - are interesting and entertaining, but for me the author follows the wrong narrator. The book would have benefitted from a multi-narrator perspective, or any of the other characters other than the main female protagonist. A lot of the interesting stuff happens off-screen. A lot of her musings are repetitive and uninteresting. She is an unsympathetic character - and whilst she is all the more real for this - it doesn't ...more
Like the rest in the series, this book seemed like it was written for me specifically... If I had read them before reaching this point in my life, they would not have had the full impact that I've experienced.
The entire (Valis) trilogy gives incredible insight into one of (in my opinion) the greatest American writers to have ever lived.
We miss you PKD...
The entire (Valis) trilogy gives incredible insight into one of (in my opinion) the greatest American writers to have ever lived.
We miss you PKD...
Dick's final book and the least thematically linked part of the VALIS trilogy. This is a mildly fictionalized telling of the end of Bishop James Pike's life. Probably the most straight forward book Dick ever wrote, it is a dark meditation on what happens to us when we lose the ones we love.
It closes the VALIS "trilogy" but eschews all of the "sci-fi-ness" associated with VALIS. It is a very heartfelt and sad book, and also the only book of his to feature a positive female POV character. It is said that Dick knew he was going to die after writing this, and in many ways the writing is on the wall. It is a very serious book. By this time in PKD's career, he was basically running on empty. He finished most of his later novels in one or two sittings, and claimed tha...more
For the first three quarters of this book, I was disappointed. The plot is murky, the characters seem like little more than vehicles for Dick's endless philosophizing and recapitulation of various arcana of religious philosophy and history, and the book generally wanders aimlessly in this post-sixties malaise that I guess everyone was living in at the time Dick wrote it.
But then, Dick finally gets to the point, and that almost intoxicating excitement of intense mental stimulation set...more
But then, Dick finally gets to the point, and that almost intoxicating excitement of intense mental stimulation set...more
You see Bishop Pike and Dick were friends, they corresponded about religion, politics of the 1960s,etc.
The bishop was out int he desert reading recently discover Dead Sea Scrolls, and he may have gotten to the truth about the Bible. We can't have that can we?
Pike died in the Israeli desert and Dick thought the government (pick it Israeli or American killed him). Conspiracy
theory, oh yeah,they never found his body.
The bishop was out int he desert reading recently discover Dead Sea Scrolls, and he may have gotten to the truth about the Bible. We can't have that can we?
Pike died in the Israeli desert and Dick thought the government (pick it Israeli or American killed him). Conspiracy
theory, oh yeah,they never found his body.
Although a really good book and interesting themes/story I found this book uninspiring and slow against other PKD books, I find the Transmigration as a long rant by the author of his views...
The final book in the VALIS trilogy is a funny and poignant look at religion through the jaundiced eye of the author. He sets aside any sci-fi angles and just tells the story straight.
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Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more
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