Friday, May 23, 2014

Finished Past Master Not-a-Review

It's not too difficult to see Lafferty here wrestling with the end of the Modern world. One needn't be conspiratorial to see hints of the Astrobean Dream manifest in so much contemporary rhetoric. Lafferty cheerfully exposes the nihilist root of transcendent quests to be more human than human. Lafferty dances and spins stories in protest. The super-code-crackers can't crack them. I fumble through faulty misunderstandings and attempts at systematizing story as if it could be dismantled and applied as something outside of what it is. I fail. Blessed be this rum. Past Master is a simple (not simplistic) philosophical/theological argument for living (and dying) eschatologically, Beyond oneself. Its central thesis, I suspect, is the basic notion that often it is quite right to lose one's head. Quite properly, it is a smash-bang honest-to-goodness adventure story. Starring Thomas More and a gang of misfit followers. Chased by killer robots. I love it. In the mornings I sometimes believe a little.

8 comments:

  1. The first time I finished Past Master I came away from it blinking and gasping as if coming up from deep under water or perhaps from a deep, vaguely remembered dream. Doesn't it leave you with the feeling that your eyes have been cleared with a magic cleaner, that you have been given entree to something you can almost, but not quite grasp? Thank you for sharing this unique and bewildering joy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely right, Kevin. For all of the strangeness, the best part of Past Master is the shock of recognition, not estrangement!

    And thank you for all of your encouragement. The best part of reading Lafferty, besides the reading of Lafferty, is the joy of sharing the reading with others.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And in further celebration, have you tried reading Lafferty aloud? I challenge you: Read the opening chapter of Past Master aloud to your children. Firstly, you will be surprised how well his words work for oral storytelling. Secondly, you will be amazed how much of the story your children grasp, no matter their age. Thirdly, you will be astounded at how much more you get out of the story through their reactions. Daniel has commented numerous times about this phenomenon on The Ants of God Are Queer Fish (though I can't find the particular posts at the moment).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Kevin, thanks for all of your interaction and encouragement. I've been very busy the past week with the birth of a new son: http://shotsnaps.blogspot.com/2014/06/our-little-fire.html
    But, I've been meaning to respond to your last comment and also put up a short post about "Narrow Valley." Hopefully in the next couple of days.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Narrow Valley" is among my three favorite Lafferty stories, along with "Days of Grass, Days of Straw" and "Hole on the Corner." It is also, in my opinion, his best story for reading aloud. Try it on your kids. Get the voices of the Rampart children distinct from each other just a little. See if they laugh out loud at the "I've had it. I think I'll go out back and die" conversation between Clarence Big Saddle and Clarence Little Saddle. I tell you, it works!

    ReplyDelete
  6. And serious congratulations on the little one! The pictures of your kids all holding their new brother are great--that's what this world is all about.
    Or in the words of the visitors from Skandia, "Happy increase!"
    (see "Guesting Time" the last story in 900 Grandmothers)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, Kevin! I've now read "The Hole on the Corner" aloud to my children with mixed results. "Narrow Valley" is next. I'll try to post something about reading to them.

    ReplyDelete