The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
by Philip K. Dick, Joyce Bean, Carlos Peralta · first published 1982
27% recommend67% neutral7% critical
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 Christ.From the Trade Paperback edition.
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You might want to check out the Philip K Dick book “The Transmigration of Timothy Archer”
on “How Vladimir Lenin Became a Mushroom (2017)” ↗Tangential, but I recently read The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K Dick. It was one of his last books (and one of his best) and has a character inspired by Alan Watts. There's an interesting sequence where that character suddenly grasps the conceptual nature…
on “On knowing who he was” ↗…think you need to be already well acquainted with PKD to fully appreciate them and see how his style and ideas were developing. - The Valis Tri/Tetralogy (Valis/Divine Invasion/Radio Free Albemuth/The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). That's where you start to get deep into PKD lore, and you should read about his life to get the context in which they were written. - Most of the short stories from ~1960 and onwards. Some are great,…
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗if we’re into this, Valis, The Divine Invasion, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, A Maze Of Death, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch are all facets of the same diamomd. IMHO, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is by far the best PKD book.
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗…Maze of Death 3rd rank - VALIS, Eye in the Sky Honorable mention: the middle of Lies, Inc -- it has a weak start and ending, but the middle is up there with the best PKD has ever written. I found The Transmigration of Timothy Archer to be pretty boring, but I didn't make it all the way through, and some PKD books (like Lies, Inc) start dull and turn great, so I might give it another go sometime.. but the impression I got when first…
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗…Second-tier PKD books for me are VALIS and Galactic Pot Healer. Third-tier are Maze of Death, Eye in the Sky, and Divine Invasion (the 2nd in the VALIS trilogy.. didn't like the 3rd in the series, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer at all). Many of his other books, like Lies, Inc, also have great parts in them, but are kind of inconsistent. Some of his short stories are excellent. My favorites: - Beyond Lies the Wub - Roog…
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗Philip K Dick - VALIS, Divine Invasion and (next) Transmigration of Timothy Archer.
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗I tried reading Confessions of a Crap Artist, but had the exact same reaction as I did to The Transmigration of Timothy Archer... boredom. Couldn't finish it. I just didn't think it was good. I couldn't see what you saw in it. Someday maybe I'll give it another chance.
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗Also the corresponding Philip K Dick book The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. (They each wrote those books after meeting each other.)
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗…before being published in a single volume (Martian Time-Slip and We Can Build You) had different titles. Letters, manuscripts, and publication notes are helpful to shed some light on this matter; e.g. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer was regularly referred to as the "Archer novel" or "Bishop Timothy Archer".
on “Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem Is a Communist Committee (2015)” ↗I took two tries to get into Transmigration of Timothy Archer. What got me through the second time was finding out that it was a fictionalized portrait of a real and fascinating person: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pike I also just liked reading Dick's descriptions…
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗…one who has visions and suffer from delusions and the other much more grounded. The second book (Divine invasion) is a oniric sci-fi/mithical story, with little grounding in reality. The last book, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (which is not even sci-fi), is narrated in first person by an atheist, skeptical person investigating possibly paranormal events. Describing PKD works are meta is reductive.
on “Paranoid Android: The Divine Madness of Philip K Dick” ↗…etc), usually within the context of an oppressive government. This is probably clearest in the second Valis book - The Devine Invasion, though certainly these themes are present in Valis (book 1) and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (book 3). I would also note that these books are not a traditional 'series' in that beyond Valis being mentioned there is no direct connection between the stories.
on “Four Kinds of Dystopia” ↗…together terribly well as a story. I much prefer more focused stories like Scanner Darkly, Flow My Tears, or even Divine Invasion. Supposedly Dick's experience conceived three published novels--Valis, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and Divine invasion. There is a fourth, unpublished novel--Radio Free Albemuth that came from it as well. Valis seem to be the most personal since it someone named Philip Dick (or Horselover Fat) having…
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗I would argue that Juliana Frink in The Man in the High Castle is certainly a "well-meaning intelligent woman". His strongest female character is probably Angel Archer, who narrates The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, his last novel.
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗