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A review by iswendle
VALIS by Philip K. Dick
3.0
In March of 1974, Philip K. Dick himself had an "exegesis", a series of strange events, visions and hallucinations that he himself experienced as a religious epiphany. He was in an information stream of a godly creature he dubbed Zebra, God, and the Vast Active Living Intelegence System.
VALIS is a book where we follow Horselover Fat, a drugged out man on the brink of sanity who has gone through a lot and is going through more. As we loosely follow a plot based on his life, he mostly rambles on about his experience with god, in 1974, and how he sees rays of information. Fat mostly shares these prophecies with his friends; Philip, Kevin and David. But as the book progresses the line between the author, and Philip the character and Horselover fades. What unfolds is really an autobiographical tale of the events of Philips own exegesis, not that of Horselover Fat.
Eventually, the four friends go to see a film called “Valis,” which seems to corroborate much of what Horselover Fat experienced during March 1974. There’s more to it than that, of course, but that’s the bare bones of the actual plot. After this, the four friends go to meet the filmmaker, Eric Lampton, and his wife Linda, who claim to be beings from another star. They also claim that their two year-old daughter is a Saviour in a line that includes Elijah, Jesus Christ and a few others. Phil Dick and Horselover Fat realise that they are one individual, not two, and the three friends return to their homes, whereupon they learn that the two year-old Saviour has died.
If that doesn't make sense, it didn't really when I first read it either.
In truth, there is a lot inside this book. Dick is very well read in ancient history and philosophy, religious history and much more. He jumps from source to source and draws insane connections (insane as in impressive or insane as in not sane I am not well-read enough to establish). What remains in the book is in essence an entire essay on his new religious view on the nature of life, as he has come to realise in his actual exegesis in his own life.
That means that in reading I found a lot of interesting sources for further reading; philosophers, unknown bible studies, ancient history, Gnosticism(!) etc. It's extremely fascinating to read VALIS with this perspective. Having finished the book and reading more about Dick's life also puts it in a unique perspective.
But in all I think I am not ready to understand more than half of what this book was trying to convey. I hope to one day return to it, and give it the time and understanding it needs.
VALIS is a book where we follow Horselover Fat, a drugged out man on the brink of sanity who has gone through a lot and is going through more. As we loosely follow a plot based on his life, he mostly rambles on about his experience with god, in 1974, and how he sees rays of information. Fat mostly shares these prophecies with his friends; Philip, Kevin and David. But as the book progresses the line between the author, and Philip the character and Horselover fades. What unfolds is really an autobiographical tale of the events of Philips own exegesis, not that of Horselover Fat.
Eventually, the four friends go to see a film called “Valis,” which seems to corroborate much of what Horselover Fat experienced during March 1974. There’s more to it than that, of course, but that’s the bare bones of the actual plot. After this, the four friends go to meet the filmmaker, Eric Lampton, and his wife Linda, who claim to be beings from another star. They also claim that their two year-old daughter is a Saviour in a line that includes Elijah, Jesus Christ and a few others. Phil Dick and Horselover Fat realise that they are one individual, not two, and the three friends return to their homes, whereupon they learn that the two year-old Saviour has died.
If that doesn't make sense, it didn't really when I first read it either.
In truth, there is a lot inside this book. Dick is very well read in ancient history and philosophy, religious history and much more. He jumps from source to source and draws insane connections (insane as in impressive or insane as in not sane I am not well-read enough to establish). What remains in the book is in essence an entire essay on his new religious view on the nature of life, as he has come to realise in his actual exegesis in his own life.
That means that in reading I found a lot of interesting sources for further reading; philosophers, unknown bible studies, ancient history, Gnosticism(!) etc. It's extremely fascinating to read VALIS with this perspective. Having finished the book and reading more about Dick's life also puts it in a unique perspective.
But in all I think I am not ready to understand more than half of what this book was trying to convey. I hope to one day return to it, and give it the time and understanding it needs.