More R A Lafferty Stories and Novels: RGBIB 114

We continue our intermittent striding across the sea of stories left behind by the immortal Lafferty:
Collected Short Fiction vol. 3
Past Master
Fourth Mansions
The Devil is Dead

[@PontoLyone]

Just finished Past Master. I'm trying to place it's rank in my list of favorite books; it might be number 1. I'm still chewing on the ending, making sense of it. I'm a traditional catholic, I love how he preserved the Latin and old world feel to Thomas' personality.

[@monkeycarz]

At University of Oklahoma - Norman,... at the library, there was a certain vault, probably on one of the top floors, and you needed to provide all sorts of ID, and couldn't bring in a backpack even, etc... and it was all Lafferty. The security was crazy,... they even had glass walls...and if you asked the librarian for one of the books, it was like you were asking for access to the Kabah.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Sounds like a Lafferty story: “The Perspex Chamber Language Caper” or something that sounds like it doesn’t make any sense-and then it DOES!

[@monkeycarz]

​@@Scottmbradfield Anyways, that was what it felt like going there at the time 10 years ago. Just looked Lafferty up in the library catalog and came upon, for example,...The 6 fingers of time : and other stories. R. A Lafferty 1965 Available at Bizzell Memorial Library Nichols Collection ( PN 6071 .S33 S599 1965 ) which I actually have a copy of, and consider one of his finest stories. Thanks for the great description of his work and info regarding the new set of collected short stories.

[@Scottmbradfield]

monkeycarz yeah I agree that’s one of his best stories. Sounds like a great library. S

[@chrisbinckes2732]

through reading his works lafferty exerted the 'squirrel effect' on some people... in your case the librarian and mine late seventies up to now... the need to constantly refer back to the supernarrative instances... more than food for thought yet not exactly theosophical fiction... i reckon his zealot followers must have also existed in previous incarnations when such ideas as lafferty proposes were officially nonauthorised nor encouraged as such during the inquisition era etc. i refuse to loan out any of his books in my collection........ greetings from tasmania

[@Scottmbradfield]

Welcome to the bathtub, Chris! Can I officially enroll you in the IBA as our first Tasmanian Devil Laffertyophile? Scott

[@ericchristen2623]

I also enjoy nonsense, but only when sitting in the cafe inside my brain listening to transparent lizard violins...😅

[@TheDungeonDive]

One of my favorite authors. So underrated! No one like him. I'm reading The Devil is Dead right now, and....I'm not sure what to think of it!

[@Scottmbradfield]

Stick with it. That's probably my favorite of his novels... Stay safe in the dungeon! s

[@PontoLyone]

Past Master is an absolute masterpiece. I think you need a certain level of understanding of catholic church history, philosophy, and theology to truly appreciate it's depth. Lafferty was a catholic raised on the pre-V2 Catholicism, trained in the Latin and traditional thinking.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Thanks for all those thoughts, Ponto. I'm sure you're right about the Catholic stuff, but all us non Catholics get quite a kick out of the guy too! More Lafferty soon! Scott

[@ronginzler6600]

So, I don't recommend anyone read any Lafferty novel until they've read a hundred short stories. "Selenium Ghosts of the 1870's" is a good jumping off spot. Lafferty uses the Shakesperian trick of the play within the play, the story inside the story. Past Master is probably his most accessible novel. I'm still trying to get through my second reading of Fourth Mansions. I've read The Devil is Dead twice. The first time I thought I understood it. The second time I knew I didn't. It actually doesn't matter. If you get one sentence at a time, you win.

[@AndalusianIrish]

I have the new edition of Past Master from Random House on pre-order. Looking forward to the new foreword.

[@Scottmbradfield]

That's a good place to start, but just get the old paperbacks. They don't need introductions!

[@AndalusianIrish]

@@Scottmbradfield This one sounds interesting though. It is by Andrew Ferguson. "Andrew Ferguson, a leading Lafferty scholar, is currently at work on a biography of this neglected master. He serves as visiting assistant professor of English and Digital Studies at the University of Maryland."

[@omarelric]

Im afraid I might not have been able to catch the allegories in Fourth Mansions. What's the deal with the 4 factions symbolized by animals? What's that about? Is it some sort of political compass at most or some sort of esoteric symbology? Is that all there is to it?. I've always cringed a bit about that stuff. It's a bit silly. rather than exercising the good old geometric approach to narratology or even mythopoeia (kind of like Borges' ficciones) the thing just falls flat and becomes esoteric arcana aimed at who? Intellectualoids? Secret societies' initiates are silly clowns craving a place above the rest of us. They don't seem smart, they're just an accretion of self proclaimed superiority. All in all, it was a good book. It was entertaining and intriguing. I've always wondered what the psyche of a Bona fide master of puppets might be: megalomania, lust for unlawful carnal knowledge, pleasure for killing, etc? all that seems too obvious to be interesting. I wonder how alien such a mind must be. What kind of linguistic and psychological circuitry might be involved? I guess we'll never know. RA Lafferty probably had a good idea and it might have been related to recursion. I'd hoped to get more out of it without having to research the Roman à clef beforehand. I did read space chantey also by Lafferty and THAT was quite fun. The bit about Roadstrum and Atlas, that's the good stuff.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Welcome to the bathtub, Omar, where Lafferty and his readers are always already bathing-buddies! I can't ever remember FOURTH MANSIONS very long after reading it, but I always remember enjoying reading it! Your questions sound a bit related to Lafferty's love of Chesterton, esp. Man Who Was Thursday? Stay safe! s

[@omarelric]

@@Scottmbradfield thanks, Lafferty is kind of addicting. I remember watching your take on Pynchon's Against the day some time ago. That's good, there's not a whole lot of discussion of these rather obscure books, so it's good to see there's someone reading and talking about it. Take the ATD character Umeki Tsuragane (ゆめきつらがね?) Is that a wordplay on "You make Kit (Traverse) sure again"? Well, the best of christian luck finding out, there's not that much talk about the book on internet.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@omarelric We'll definitely do more Lafferty. (I wrote the intro to the next volume of his collected stories from Centipede Press, which should be out soon.) And I'd love to take AGAINST THE DAY into the bathtub again someday, it's a huge bathtub all its own! But maybe want to reread another favorite, BLEEDING EDGE, first! Stay safe in the bathtub! s. (P.S. If you'd like to join the International Bathing Alliance, just give me a first name/id you want to use, and a location, and I put it on a google map! It's a totally worthless experience!)

[@omarelric]

@@Scottmbradfield Golly, Bleeding edge it's good. I'm gonna eagerly wait for that. Yeah sure, I go by: Omistoteles and I'm from Mexico.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@omarelric Can you give me a city? Here's the existing map without you on it: www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Tc7RT3iL24ErPt8HJgjXj4m5Pey1HnSi&fbclid=IwAR0iDpT45e-i7WmqYPjUWcGAGxqI4eKZutxQkNDlkLCeMj0MZDf7YkNxL48&ll=6.191120079247263%2C-103.82483890000003&z=3

[@chasingshadows7103]

sounds like nastasia kinski ;)

[@chrisbinckes2732]

it could be far worse than that....... it could be klaus...... his rants were psychiatric classics

[@Doctor_Rockter]

YES! Thank you so much for helping bust those two myths!!

[@Scottmbradfield]

Welcome to the bathtub, Daniel! (Which two myths are those? I forget...") s

[@Doctor_Rockter]

@@Scottmbradfield That both Lafferty's novels and later writing are generally to be avoided. :)

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@Doctor_Rockter A hah! Yes, I think we agree that many of the Lafferty novels are excellent, and even the not so excellent ones have great stuff in them. (I find he loses the way about halfway through REEFS and FOURTH MANSIONS but maybe that's me.) And some great late stories as well! Stay safe in the bathtub, Daniel.

[@Doctor_Rockter]

@@Scottmbradfield yeah, exactly - I've found the ones that maybe lost me part way through were still filled with sideways wonders, sometimes in forms not found in his short fiction. I didn't even finish 4th Mansions on my first go, but on subsequent (complete) reads it has gone very far up in my estimation. This has happened with a number of both stories and novels. Much of Lafferty's fiction is a second time round type of thing, not unlike, say, Gene Wolfe. Take care! :)

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@Doctor_Rockter I agree. I said much the same thing in my intro to the next volume of "collected Lafferty stories" which should come out from Centipede Press soon... Keep the Lafferty alive! s