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The VALIS trilogy and his exegesis are probably the most philosophical but almost most impenetrable of his works. Some of his intermediate period stuff, like F
by madaxe_again 7y ago
The VALIS trilogy and his exegesis are probably the most philosophical but almost most impenetrable of his works.
Some of his intermediate period stuff, like Flow My Tears the Policeman Said and Radio Free Albemuth is a softer landing, as you can see the ideas that lead to his later work building from his earlier more facile metaphysics.
I re-read his corpus last year in the order he wrote them -and finished feeling like I understood his entire mental journey, tortured twists and turns and human fallibilities and all. He was prolific, so I only recommend that route if you have a thousand hours spare.
- sifar 7y agoThanks. I have the first book in VALIS - will start on it. It does take some effort to track things as one is unraveling it. But the feeling of realization and a new way of looking at things that you get at the other end of such works is worth it. The problem is keeping those insights. One has to hold on to them, ensure they don't get lost in the ever increasing sea of information. To revisit them periodically and imbibe in oneself. Another problem is not knowing if you are the only one to see it this way. It shouldn't, but it is.
- madaxe_again 7y ago> The problem is keeping those insights. One has to hold on to them, ensure they don't get lost in the ever increasing sea of information. Oh boy, yes. I find that holding on to that fragile mote of sanity is often like something you can only see on the edge of your field of vision, which, the moment you look directly at it, draws you into its complexity so deeply that you lose your image of the whole in your journeys within it.