.jpg) Cover of first edition (paperback) | |
| Author | Philip K. Dick |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | VALIS trilogy |
| Genre | Postmodern,philosophical,science fiction,autofiction |
| Published | 1981 (Bantam Books) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 271 |
| ISBN | 0-553-14156-2 |
| OCLC | 7066446 |
| LC Class | CPB Box no. 2502 vol. 18 |
| Followed by | The Divine Invasion |
Valis (stylized asVALIS) is a 1981science fiction novel by American writerPhilip K. Dick, intended to be the first book of a three-part series. The title is an acronym forVast Active Living Intelligence System, Dick'sgnostic vision of God. Set in California during the 1970s, the book features heavy auto-biographical elements and draws inspiration from Dick's own investigations into his unexplainedreligious experiences over the previous decade.
It is the first book in the incompleteVALIS trilogy of novels, followed byThe Divine Invasion (1981). The planned third novel,The Owl in Daylight, had not yet taken definite shape at the time of the author's death.[1] Dick's final novel,The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982), builds on similar themes; Dick wrote: "the three do form a trilogy constellating around a basic theme."[2]
In March 1974, Horselover Fat (the alter-personality of Philip K. Dick) experiences visions of a pink beam of light that he calls Zebra and interprets as atheophany exposing hidden facts about the reality of our universe, and a group of others join him in researching these matters. One of their theories is that there is some kind of alien space probe in orbit around Earth, and that it is aiding them in their quest; it also aided the United States in disclosing theWatergate scandal and the resignation ofRichard Nixon in August 1974.
Kevin turns his friends on to a film,Valis, that contains obvious references to revelations identical to those that Horselover Fat has experienced, including what appears to be time dysfunction. The film is itself a fictional account of an alternative-universe version of Nixon (Ferris F. Fremount) and his fall, engineered by a satellite called VALIS. (The plot of the fictitious filmValis was that of Dick's then-unpublished novelRadio Free Albemuth.)
In seeking the film's makers, Kevin, Phil, Fat, and David—now calling themselves the Rhipidon Society—head to an estate owned by popular musician Eric Lampton and his wife Linda. They decide the goal that they have been led toward is Sophia Lampton, who is two years old and the Messiah or incarnation of Holy Wisdom (Pistis Sophia) anticipated by some variants ofGnostic Christianity. In addition to healing Phil's schizophrenic personality split, she tells them that their conclusions about VALIS (which Fat had previously termedZebra) and reality are correct, and more importantly, that we should worship, not gods, but humanity. She dies two days later due to a laser accident caused by Brent Mini.
Undeterred, Fat (who has now resurged) goes on a global search for thenext incarnation ofSophia.
Dick also offers a rationalist explanation of his apparent theophany, acknowledging that it might have been visual and auditory hallucinations from eitherschizophrenia or drug addictionsequelae.[3]
Phil, Fat, Kevin, and David decide to call themselves the Rhipidon Society. The motto they adopt is, "Fish cannot carry guns."
Radio Free Albemuth, a posthumously published earlier version ofVALIS, is not included as a component of theVALIS trilogy. Dick completed one more novel afterThe Divine Invasion,The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982), based on Dick's association withBishop James A. Pike and which, while not referencing VALIS directly, is thematically similar. According to Dick, these three books "form a trilogy constellating around a basic theme."[4]
Greg Costikyan reviewedValis inAres Magazine #9 and commented that "The plot is minor, the characterization poor, and the prose unexciting; philosophy and deft manipulation of mood are not enough to carry the book."[5]
Dave Langford reviewedValis forWhite Dwarf #98, and stated that "Here a hard-headed Dick gently mocks the weird metaphysics of Fat through a series of wonderfully insane conversations and misadventures: a slapstick-tightrope-dance over a bit of potential insanity, a wrestle with demons in which (both inside and outsideValis) Dick is the unexpected winner."[6]
Thomas M. Disch reported that "the fascination of the book, what's most artful and confounding about it, is the way the line between Dick and Fat shifts and wavers." Disch concludes that "as a novel, as awhole novel ... it went off the rails sometimes. But the first half holds together wonderfully, considering how much there is to be held together."[7]
Umberto Rossi posits that some degree of academic discomfort towards the novel has resulted from uncertainty whether Dick genuinely believed in the more fantastical aspects of the narrative (further supported by theExegesis which followed). In detailing the many ideological shunts between skepticism and belief which occur within the plot, Rossi concludes Dick intended neither view to achieve hegemony, but that the synthesis of both effectively depict "the unyielding contradictions in [Dick's] experience of self... Being involved in a quest does not automatically confer enlightenment, but rather involves a search for the light; the condition of the quester is one of doubt, not certainty."[8]
VALIS has been described as one node of an artificialsatellite network originating from the starSirius in theCanis Major constellation. According to Dick, the Earth satellite used "pink laser beams" to transfer information and project holograms on Earth and to facilitate communication between an extraterrestrial species and humanity. Dick claimed that VALIS used "disinhibiting stimuli" to communicate, using symbols to triggerrecollection ofintrinsic knowledge through theloss of amnesia, achievinggnosis. Drawing directly fromPlatonism andGnosticism, Dick wrote in hisExegesis: "We appear to be memory coils (DNA carriers capable of experience) in a computer-like thinking system which, although we have correctly recorded and stored thousands of years of experiential information, and each of us possesses somewhat different deposits from all the other life forms, there is a malfunction—a failure—ofmemory retrieval."
At one point, Dick claimed to be in a state ofenthousiasmos with VALIS, where he was informed his infant son was in danger of perishing from an unnamed malady. Routine checkups on the child had shown no trouble or illness; however, Dick insisted that thorough tests be run to ensure his son's health. The doctor eventually complied, despite the fact that there were no apparent symptoms. During the examination doctors discovered aninguinal hernia, which would have killed the child if an operation was not quickly performed. His son survived thanks to the operation, which Dick attributed to the "intervention" of VALIS.
Another event was an episode of supposedxenoglossia. Supposedly, Dick's wife transcribed the sounds she heard him speak, and discovered that he was speakingKoine Greek—the common Greek dialect during theHellenistic years (3rd century BC–4th century AD) and direct "father" of today'smodern Greek language—which he had never studied. As Dick was to later discover, Koine Greek was originally used to write theNew Testament and theSeptuagint. However, this was not the first time Dick had claimed xenoglossia: a decade earlier, Dick insisted he was able to think, speak, and read fluentLatin under the influence ofSandozLSD-25.
The UK edition ofVALIS also included "Cosmology and Cosmogony", achapbook containing selections from Dick'sExegesis.
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Theology andphilosophy, especiallymetaphysical philosophy, play an important role inVALIS, presenting not just Dick's (and/or Horselover Fat's) own views on these subjects but also his interpretation of numerous religions and philosophies of the past. The most prominent religious references are toValentinian Gnosticism, theRose Cross Brotherhood,Zoroastrianism andBuddhism, as well as Biblical writings including theBook of Daniel and theNew Testamentepistles. Many ancientGreek philosophers are discussed, including severalPre-Socratics (Pythagoras,Xenophanes,Heraclitus,Empedocles, andParmenides) as well asPlato andAristotle. More recent thinkers that are mentioned include the philosophersPascal andSchopenhauer, the ChristianmysticJakob Böhme, the alchemistParacelsus,Carl Jung andSigmund Freud, the Romanian historian of religionMircea Eliade, and the author and psychologistRobert Anton Wilson. In Wilson's autobiographicalCosmic Trigger (released shortly before Dick commenced work onVALIS), Wilson describes similar musings concerning the 'Sirius Connection', contemplating the idea that alien entities are sending out waves of information that we can tune in on.VALIS specifically mentions theDogon people, saying that they had encounteredthree-eyed people who had descended fromIkhnaton. References are also made to numerous deities, includingYurugu (who it associates withYin) andNommo (who it associates withYang); it also suggests a blind, mad creator deity calledYaldaboath orSamael. The novel frequently references the 1945 discovery atNag Hammadi.
The action ofVALIS is set firmly in the American popular culture of its time, with references to theGrateful Dead,Frank Zappa, andLinda Ronstadt, as well as the fictional rock musicians Eric Lampton and Brent Mini (likely based onDavid Bowie andBrian Eno respectively). However, the novel also contains a number ofhigh culture references such as the poetsVaughan,Wordsworth, andGoethe, and the classical composersHandel andWagner. In particular, the novel contains several extended discussions about Wagner's metaphysical operaParsifal.
"The Black Iron Prison" is a concept of an all-pervasive system of social control postulated in theTractates Cryptica Scriptura, a summary of an unpublishedGnostic exegesis included inVALIS. Dick wrote:
Once, in a cheap science fiction novel, Fat had come across a perfect description of the Black Iron Prison, but set in the far future. So if you superimposed the past (ancient Rome) over the present (California in the twentieth century) and superimposed the far future world ofThe Android Cried Me a River over that, you got the Empire, as the supra- or trans-temporal constant. Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it.[9]
VALIS was adapted in 1987 as an electronic opera by composerTod Machover, and performed atCentre Georges Pompidou, with live singers and video installations created by artist Catherine Ikam.[10]
On February 1, 2004,Variety announced thatUtopia Pictures & Television had acquired the rights to three of Philip K. Dick's works:Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said,VALIS, andRadio Free Albemuth.[11]
VALIS appeared in the TV showLost. In the episode "Eggtown", aired February 21, 2008, the character John Locke gives Ben Linus the book to read from Ben's own book shelf, while Ben is being held captive. In "The Other Woman", aired March 6, 2008, Ben is again shown reading the novel before being interrupted by Locke.
John Alan Simon, director of thefilm adaptation ofRadio Free Albemuth, remarked thatVALIS will form the basis of a sequel to that film if it is successful: "SinceRadio Free Albemuth is essentially the first draft ofVALIS, we ended up with rights to both from the estate ofPhilip K. Dick. IfRadio Free Albemuth is successful,VALIS the book would form the basis for the sequel toVALIS the movie. In other words, the story ofVALIS would form the basis forVALIS 2."[12]
Britishindie rock bandBloc Party has a song titled "V.A.L.I.S." on their 2012 albumFour.[13]
Progressive metal band Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster have songs named "Exegesis", "Valis" and "Black Iron Prison", all inspired by Dick's work, on their 2012 albumExegesis.[14]
Portuguese double bassist Hugo Carvalhais's 3rd albumGrand Valis (Clean Feed Records 2015) is inspired by Dick's book.[15]
Grant Morrison usedVALIS as a source of inspiration forThe Invisibles, in particular for the Barbelith sentient satellite.
