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Fourth Mansions
Fourth Mansions was inspired by Teresa of Ávila's Interior Castle, & contains quotations from the book, which quotations Lafferty uses as chapter headings. The Interior Castle is a metaphor for an individual's soul; its different rooms, different states of the soul. In the middle of the Castle the soul is in the purest state, which equals Heaven. Lafferty uses more complex symbols to bring colorfully into life his many-sided tale of an individual's reaching towards Heaven or Truth.
Take a trip thru a psychedelic reality, with seven very special people blending to create a higher form of humanity: A laughing man living alone on a mountaintop, guarding the world. The Returnees: men who live again & again, century after century. A dog-ape "Plappergeist," who can only be seen out of the corner of one's eye. A young man named Foley, very much like us, who begins to find out about the above people & things, & how they're reshaping the world!
Take a trip thru a psychedelic reality, with seven very special people blending to create a higher form of humanity: A laughing man living alone on a mountaintop, guarding the world. The Returnees: men who live again & again, century after century. A dog-ape "Plappergeist," who can only be seen out of the corner of one's eye. A young man named Foley, very much like us, who begins to find out about the above people & things, & how they're reshaping the world!
252 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
R.A. Lafferty
549 books300 followersRaphael Aloysius Lafferty, published under the name R.A. Lafferty, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit. He also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and a number of novels that could be loosely called historical fiction.
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November 4, 2022
R.A. Lafferty was an alchemist masquerading as an author, and Fourth Mansions is his transmutation of language into a psychedelic parable of apocalypse (apocalypse here bearing both its ancient meaning of revelation and it’s contemporary one of world’s end). Into his alchemist’s crucible, Lafferty poured the Catholic mysticism of Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, American tall-tales, mythology, folklore, erudite literary references, and obscure occult and Biblical allusions. Passing all through the fire of his own puckish, mad-cap imagination, he produced this baffling and brilliant balderdash, nonsensical wisdom for the ages.
Despite all the sound and fury that surrounds it, the plot of this novel is deceptively simple. It is the classic Fool’s Journey. The hero, simple every-man journalist Freddy Foley (Fool - get it?) must navigate the mysterious powers of The Four Great Beasts (here twisted by Lafferty into Serpents, Toads, Falcons, and Badgers) in his journey of discovery. He starts off unsure even of what he is actually doing, but certain that he must do it. Along the way he interacts with representatives of each of the Beasts, and learns to see with all of their eyes, and in the end, these interactions leave him utterly transformed at the End of the World. Will the cycle repeat, or break on through to the other side?
Reading Fourth Mansions is a roller coaster, mind twisting experience. I’ve taken the ride twice now, and I recommend that you get a ticket.
Despite all the sound and fury that surrounds it, the plot of this novel is deceptively simple. It is the classic Fool’s Journey. The hero, simple every-man journalist Freddy Foley (Fool - get it?) must navigate the mysterious powers of The Four Great Beasts (here twisted by Lafferty into Serpents, Toads, Falcons, and Badgers) in his journey of discovery. He starts off unsure even of what he is actually doing, but certain that he must do it. Along the way he interacts with representatives of each of the Beasts, and learns to see with all of their eyes, and in the end, these interactions leave him utterly transformed at the End of the World. Will the cycle repeat, or break on through to the other side?
Reading Fourth Mansions is a roller coaster, mind twisting experience. I’ve taken the ride twice now, and I recommend that you get a ticket.
September 8, 2015
Despite it having been given pride of place in Scottish critic David Pringle's "Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels," and despite the fact that it has been sitting on my bookshelf for many years, it was only last week that I finally got around to reading R.A. Lafferty's 1969 cult item "Fourth Mansions." The author's reputation for eccentricity, both in terms of subject matter as well as writing style, had long intimidated me, I suppose. But just recently, Jen, one of the managers of NYC sci-fi bookstore extraordinaire Singularity, was enthusing to me about her recent acquisition of a first edition of Lafferty's 1970 short story collection "Nine Hundred Grandmothers" for only $40, and I suppose that her enthusiasm proved contagious in my case, as I manfully dove into "Fourth Mansions" soon after. This book was Lafferty's fourth novel, released when the Iowa native was 55 (Lafferty was a latecomer to the sci-fi game, only releasing his first story at the age of 46, after decades of being an electrical engineer!), following the near-simultaneous release of 1968's "Past Master," "Reefs of Earth" and "Space Chantey." Well, to my great surprise, despite the fact that Lafferty is "one of the most madcap writers of them all" (that's Pringle talking), and notwithstanding that "faintly irritating title" (Pringle again), I found myself hugely enjoying this crazy romp of a book.
That's not to say, of course, that I can honestly claim to have fully understood it. "Fourth Mansions" is loosely based on St. Teresa of Avila's "Interior Castle," a guide for the development of the human spirit, which came out in 1577. Although the book is described on the Amazon site as "one of the most celebrated works on mystical theology in existence," I must admit that I have not read it, and wonder just how many people have today. The plot of Lafferty's novel is so outré and bizarre that I despair of even describing it; any such description will surely not give justice to the loopiness of the entire conceit. Suffice it to say that our hero, young reporter Freddy Foley, learns that the U.S. Secretary of State's right-hand man, Carmody Overlark, bears a remarkable resemblance to both an Egyptian civil servant of 1350 B.C. AND a Mamluk officer of around 500 years ago; the thought occurs to Freddy that all three might somehow be the same man! This thought has been placed in Freddy's mind by a septet of mental mutants (three very strange couples plus Freddy's teenage girlfriend, Bedelia Bencher), the so-called Harvesters, whose "mind-weaving" sets some very strange events in motion, as they attempt to mutate further and overthrow the world. And eventually, Freddy learns that the mundane events of our unknowing planet have long been influenced by another "secret society," the so-called "returnees," who live for a while, then hibernate for centuries, and then come back again to take over the bodies of other men! Not to mention a third secret society comprised of the "patricks," dedicated to fighting the returnees! And before long, poor Freddy is caught up in the cross machinations of all three of these groups, only to find himself thrown summarily into the nuthouse, while the world is racked with plague, hysteria and civil war....
Anyway, those readers who deem David Lindsay's "A Voyage to Arcturus" (1920) the strangest science fiction novel ever written might want to revise their opinion after reading Lafferty's "Fourth Mansions." But despite its way-out plot (there is simply no way for the reader to ever predict what is coming from sentence to sentence!), the author, remarkably, maintains absolute control, and the book manages to hang together. Often, seemingly meaningless lines and bits of business attain significance a hundred pages later on. Conversely, the strangest things are mentioned in passing sometimes, never to be dealt with again in any sort of depth. (For example, the author tells us offhandedly that the Harvesters have just inducted Baubo, a demon from hell, into their group. In most stories, this would be kind of a big deal; here, it is just a brief aside of casual strangeness. Then there is the matter of the "plappergeists," the fascinating half dog/half ape familiars of the patricks that can only be seen out of the corners of one's eyes; they are mentioned a few times in passing but the reader is certainly left mystified by them, and wanting more.) Perhaps the single best thing that "Fourth Mansions" has going for it, though, besides its wild story line and its author's seemingly limitless imagination, is Lafferty's manifest great joy in writing and his love affair with the English language; in that regard, he is reminiscent, for me, of a writer such as Mark Helprin, whose novels almost read like poetry (I say this despite the fact that "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" mentions Lafferty's "labored singing prose"). Thus, in telling us of one of the Harvester couples, Lafferty writes: "There was sometimes a frightening gaiety about this couple, something of serpentine mottled green humor, wholly uncontrollable under-strata of recklessness bursting up in artesian fountains of water that was frosty with forbidden minerals...." Wow! And like most authors who are in love with language, Lafferty is not afraid to make up his own words to suit the occasion; thus, "intengent," "gangeroo," "actionist" and so on. Despite the fact that the book's range of literary reference is fairly formidable (besides the St. Teresa book, Milton's "Paradise Lost" and "Lycidas," G.K. Chesterton's essay "The Nightmare," and Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Henry IV, Part 2" are also mentioned), "Fourth Mansions" is very often laugh-out-loud funny. Freddy does a lot of maturing as the book proceeds (a partial benefit of his brain having been touched by the Harvester mind-weave), and he never seems to be at a loss for a clever comeback or amusing one-liner.
A hugely entertaining, maddeningly bewildering, beautifully written mindblower in the best sense, "Fourth Mansions" is certainly like no other book that I have yet to come across. Pringle tells us that Lafferty's work is "full of blarney and mysticism," and the book in question certainly is that. But really, how could I possibly dislike ANY book that references my favorite author, H. Rider Haggard, repeatedly, and that uses my favorite word in the English language, "chthonic," no less than three times? Thanks for the inspiration, Jen!
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website, http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ,a most excellent destination for all fans of R.A. Lafferty....)
That's not to say, of course, that I can honestly claim to have fully understood it. "Fourth Mansions" is loosely based on St. Teresa of Avila's "Interior Castle," a guide for the development of the human spirit, which came out in 1577. Although the book is described on the Amazon site as "one of the most celebrated works on mystical theology in existence," I must admit that I have not read it, and wonder just how many people have today. The plot of Lafferty's novel is so outré and bizarre that I despair of even describing it; any such description will surely not give justice to the loopiness of the entire conceit. Suffice it to say that our hero, young reporter Freddy Foley, learns that the U.S. Secretary of State's right-hand man, Carmody Overlark, bears a remarkable resemblance to both an Egyptian civil servant of 1350 B.C. AND a Mamluk officer of around 500 years ago; the thought occurs to Freddy that all three might somehow be the same man! This thought has been placed in Freddy's mind by a septet of mental mutants (three very strange couples plus Freddy's teenage girlfriend, Bedelia Bencher), the so-called Harvesters, whose "mind-weaving" sets some very strange events in motion, as they attempt to mutate further and overthrow the world. And eventually, Freddy learns that the mundane events of our unknowing planet have long been influenced by another "secret society," the so-called "returnees," who live for a while, then hibernate for centuries, and then come back again to take over the bodies of other men! Not to mention a third secret society comprised of the "patricks," dedicated to fighting the returnees! And before long, poor Freddy is caught up in the cross machinations of all three of these groups, only to find himself thrown summarily into the nuthouse, while the world is racked with plague, hysteria and civil war....
Anyway, those readers who deem David Lindsay's "A Voyage to Arcturus" (1920) the strangest science fiction novel ever written might want to revise their opinion after reading Lafferty's "Fourth Mansions." But despite its way-out plot (there is simply no way for the reader to ever predict what is coming from sentence to sentence!), the author, remarkably, maintains absolute control, and the book manages to hang together. Often, seemingly meaningless lines and bits of business attain significance a hundred pages later on. Conversely, the strangest things are mentioned in passing sometimes, never to be dealt with again in any sort of depth. (For example, the author tells us offhandedly that the Harvesters have just inducted Baubo, a demon from hell, into their group. In most stories, this would be kind of a big deal; here, it is just a brief aside of casual strangeness. Then there is the matter of the "plappergeists," the fascinating half dog/half ape familiars of the patricks that can only be seen out of the corners of one's eyes; they are mentioned a few times in passing but the reader is certainly left mystified by them, and wanting more.) Perhaps the single best thing that "Fourth Mansions" has going for it, though, besides its wild story line and its author's seemingly limitless imagination, is Lafferty's manifest great joy in writing and his love affair with the English language; in that regard, he is reminiscent, for me, of a writer such as Mark Helprin, whose novels almost read like poetry (I say this despite the fact that "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" mentions Lafferty's "labored singing prose"). Thus, in telling us of one of the Harvester couples, Lafferty writes: "There was sometimes a frightening gaiety about this couple, something of serpentine mottled green humor, wholly uncontrollable under-strata of recklessness bursting up in artesian fountains of water that was frosty with forbidden minerals...." Wow! And like most authors who are in love with language, Lafferty is not afraid to make up his own words to suit the occasion; thus, "intengent," "gangeroo," "actionist" and so on. Despite the fact that the book's range of literary reference is fairly formidable (besides the St. Teresa book, Milton's "Paradise Lost" and "Lycidas," G.K. Chesterton's essay "The Nightmare," and Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Henry IV, Part 2" are also mentioned), "Fourth Mansions" is very often laugh-out-loud funny. Freddy does a lot of maturing as the book proceeds (a partial benefit of his brain having been touched by the Harvester mind-weave), and he never seems to be at a loss for a clever comeback or amusing one-liner.
A hugely entertaining, maddeningly bewildering, beautifully written mindblower in the best sense, "Fourth Mansions" is certainly like no other book that I have yet to come across. Pringle tells us that Lafferty's work is "full of blarney and mysticism," and the book in question certainly is that. But really, how could I possibly dislike ANY book that references my favorite author, H. Rider Haggard, repeatedly, and that uses my favorite word in the English language, "chthonic," no less than three times? Thanks for the inspiration, Jen!
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website, http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ,a most excellent destination for all fans of R.A. Lafferty....)
July 10, 2012
R.A. Lafferty is a strange writer. He doesn't really seem to deal in true science fiction stories, unless deliberately working within such tropes, as in his resetting of the Odyssey in space, so much as mapping elaborate personal systems into semi-genre action and recounted crackpot theories, both found and constructed-to-order. Here, he traces an ascending spiral/fountain/vortex of secret world-governing forces and the cyclic structures of human progress at every level. There's a mind-weave, there're plappergeists, there's a neatly constructed back-door exit into paranoid schizophrenia for the non-mind-weave-and-plappergeist-inclined, there're lost cities, the secret location of olympus, human origins, a demon, it goes on. Lafferty's actual philosophies seem singular enough to be tough to pin down precisely, which is fine, as I suspect we'd have differences there -- as it is, he's just fascinating. And his words, though mostly direct and punchy, appropriate to the journalist-lead, still allow room for many odd and perfect tangents and sketches.
A description:
Some offhanded action:
An ersatz epigraph:
A description:
Salzy, in the aura of her, was a gentle and unknowing murderess of many small bits of the ambient.
Some offhanded action:
An unlighted car roared out of the street and onto the sidewalk after him, and men boiled out of it when it missed him and half-crashed. Through a gap then, down a half-alley, over a fence, up an old outside stairway,across onto a lower roof, on and on. Freddy might be a simpleton, but he was an agile simpleton. They did not have him that night.
An ersatz epigraph:
There is what seems like a regular pattern of excavated cities. From the bottom, three cities, each more advanced in artifact and building, one atop another; then a city of total destruction: following above will be three more cities showing advance and again a fourth showing total destruction.
It is possible, however, that this most common cycle is actually the failed or broken cycle. Much more rarely do we come on the cylce of the full seven cities: at Leros, at Lough Dorg, at Ankor Kong, at Chichen-Ticul. In these cases we find the first three cities of ascending worth, then the fourth or "confusion" plateau which reveals contradictory and exciting values, fragmentary but contained destruction, and grandiose foundations: above this in each case are the fifth and sixth cites, which can only be called marvelous in both their attainments and in their balance and their prophecy: above these are the truncated bases of seventh cities, which are absolutely unique in even their low remnants.
In each case, the local legend is that the final cities (having become perfect) were taken up to heaven in every stone and person.
May 21, 2022
I don’t write reviews.
And I don’t know how I can describe this book. Very little of it takes place in the outside world, it’s an interior exploration of sorts. Freddy Foley is a reporter who, ignoring advice to stop, pursues a line of questioning that changes everything forever. He learns that the world is controlled by archetypical symbols. As he chases down the kind that shape the world with power and money, returning from “death” again and again, Freddy encounters the other archetypes in human form. He accepts a quest that he doesn’t understand, passing a test of faith many others have failed.
“‘There is a holiness in a whole person or a whole world,’ the patrick Croll said. ‘The veriest monsters inside us may be sanctified. They were put here by Him who is ‘Fathers of Monsters’ also. What right have we to cut them out of us? Who are we to edit God? We cut strong things out of ourselves and suppress them, and the rocks and clouds will give birth to them again. We dry up our interior fountains and they gush out again, exteriorly and menacingly. We cannot live without monsters’ blood coursing through us. Only to the whole person is life worth living or death worth dying. Here in Fourth Mansions we must be whole or we must be nothing.’”
And I don’t know how I can describe this book. Very little of it takes place in the outside world, it’s an interior exploration of sorts. Freddy Foley is a reporter who, ignoring advice to stop, pursues a line of questioning that changes everything forever. He learns that the world is controlled by archetypical symbols. As he chases down the kind that shape the world with power and money, returning from “death” again and again, Freddy encounters the other archetypes in human form. He accepts a quest that he doesn’t understand, passing a test of faith many others have failed.
“‘There is a holiness in a whole person or a whole world,’ the patrick Croll said. ‘The veriest monsters inside us may be sanctified. They were put here by Him who is ‘Fathers of Monsters’ also. What right have we to cut them out of us? Who are we to edit God? We cut strong things out of ourselves and suppress them, and the rocks and clouds will give birth to them again. We dry up our interior fountains and they gush out again, exteriorly and menacingly. We cannot live without monsters’ blood coursing through us. Only to the whole person is life worth living or death worth dying. Here in Fourth Mansions we must be whole or we must be nothing.’”
February 1, 2010
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Brilliantly written, very funny and very, very strange. In other words, a CLASSIC R.A. Lafferty novel.
Nominee: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Award (1971)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Award (1971)
Nominee: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Award (1971)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Award (1971)
March 30, 2021
There is entwined seven-tentacled lightning. It is fire-masses, it is sheets, it is arms. It is seven-colored writhing in the darkness, electric and alive. It pulsates, it sends, it sparkles, it blinds!
It explodes!
It is seven murderous thunder-snakes striking in seven directions along the ground! Blindingly fast! Under your feet! Now! At you!
SO MUCH fun. I have never heard of R. A. Lafferty before, only recently did I stumble over this Wired feature on him, calling him the best SF writer you've never heard of.
So I grabbed the first book I could find, which turned out to be Fourth Mansions. It's kind of a mix of the Illuminati! trilogy, hard-boiled detective fiction, a bit of Dan Brown, a bit of SPEED, EXCLAMATION POINTS, a bit of Philip K Dick's mind-worlds, a lot of Pynchon's goofy fun, oh SO MUCH goofy fun.
Well, why didn't they recapture Leo Joe then, since he was right outside the Bug? Since they were looking for him everywhere? They didn't capture him because they didn't recognize him. He did not look anything like what he had looked like inside the Bug. He was a different man entirely in appearance; he had been several such different men; only Freddy Foley could recognize him. And Leo Joe had turned into an ice cream man to pass a message to Fred Foley. Why had he not given him the message when he was inside, when they could talk freely? He had not because that would not have been grotesque enough for him. Freddy did not know what the words or details of the message would be, and yet he already knew their meaning. It was “Goof gloriously, Freddy. Goof gloriously again. It is required that one man should goof gloriously for the people.”
Freddy Foley (the names here are all straight Pynchon or maybe Marvel-comics) is a reporter working on a story about a possibly eternally-living man, purely because he saw a picture from the middle ages of a guy who looks a lot like a currently-living rich man. At the same time, seven people form a 'weave', a strange psychic connection, and they want to use that weave to evolve into better humans, or Gods, past all human morals, Harvesters (WIRED notes that Lafferty was a strict Christian, and it shows everywhere). That weave has accidentally 'touched' Freddy Foley, but it has also touched an up-and-coming paramilitary fascist in Mexico (Miguel Fuentes), and from now on they're all connected, knowing across the weave, conversing across the weave. Foley does not care for he's dumb, blind, blundering, and silly, and he's too thick-headed to leave his original story.
At the same time, other forces, secret societies or maybe just imagined poltergeist-societies or maybe demi-gods, are opposing the weave of the seven, the Patricks (Latin joke from Lafferty - members of the patrician class, not Spongebob's friend), who are probably not human, but perhaps rule reality. Foley bumps into these Patricks everywhere, but also a whole bunch of others, falcons, plappergeists lying to themselves, possessions, psychic manifestations, alternative realities, mind-trips, mind-weaves. Nothing is straightforward here, so readers of Pynchon (oh my god so many shaggy-dog stories) or PKD should be right at home. Just don't expect a straightforward story, or a nice resolution, or a clean-cut reality here, there's no time for that, consciousness needs to be channeled.
"All right. What are the badgers? Tell me about them. You are one."
"Foley, it would take many hours to tell about us. We entrench in the earth and we retain an old empire. I don't joke. Ours is the real; but even if I should tell you all about it you would regard us as a network of lodges or curious societies or comical conventions. Can you not see that it is your apparent government and world that is these things? Foley, there are alternate worlds going on all the time, depending only on the vision. There is a double reflection. I do not accept yours, and you sure would not accept mine. But I say that mine is alive and that its more favorable time-track may still be selected. X-ray eyes, Foley, ghost eyes, fish eyes, shadow flesh, and white golden air. Halo. Aura. Corona."
"As your doctor said, Bagley, one of us is crazy."
Anyway, now I need to read all Lafferty books. Always remember, "It is required that one man should goof gloriously for the people".
March 14, 2021
I don't even know what to say about R. A. Lafferty anymore. So much of fiction and particularly sci-fi/fantasy is an exercise in reworking comforting samenesses. If you want to read something that might actually expand your way of thinking, read Lafferty.
Lafferty has the remarkable trick of being able to present a fictional world that is wild and incoherent in the same way the real world is. Any attempts to explain the "plot" of his books end up ruining the illusion. The summary will inevitably sound anodyne and simplistic, which is exactly what Lafferty's presentation and content aggressively avoid. And this makes sense. We experience the real world as both coherent and baffling. It is concrete, but also contains tantalizing hints of things beyond our understanding, things that may be our brains deceiving us, but maybe are really something out there in the aether. Lafferty lets us experience a fictional world in the same way.
I am now convinced that Lafferty creates the most plausible magical and supernatural events in fiction--plausible in the sense that they might actually be true. He is deeply invested in synthesizing the messy scrum of humanity's supernatural beliefs into one magnificent whole. From folk heroes, to Greek myths, to hedge deities, to the state-sanctioned mythology of nationfounders; from biblical demons to modern psychics. In Lafferty's worldview, psychosis and neurological disorders fit into the same picture. The monsters and creatures that writhe out of Lafferty's books fit like lost puzzle pieces into the modern world and also into a thousand versions of the past, imagined and real.
What maybe makes Lafferty's treatment of all this so convincing is that it is not totally clear whether he believes that his works are in fact fiction. Is Fourth Mansions about a fictional reality where some members/non-members of humanity are ancient psychic monsters? Or is it set in the real world and the supernatural aspects are the imaginings of a schizophrenic protagonist? Or does Lafferty really believe that the world is full of conspiracies and monsters and magic? He might!
Lafferty's unique style (Theodore Sturgeon believed that future literary historians, unable to classify Lafferty, would label his works simply “lafferties”) allows him to present things in the sideways manner of a maybe-tall-tale. It's an ideal vehicle for conveying Lafferty's perspective, which is at its core an attempt to do battle with with the sterilizing homogeneity of the modern world.
I can't stop reading Lafferty, but I also find the weight of his book-length works troubling. Everything is grounded in his peculiar sense of Catholic doctrine, and cannot be fully understood except from that standpoint. Fourth Mansions repeatedly comes back to fountains. Beasts arise from inexplicable earthly fountains. Two characters are Miguel Fuentes and Michael Fountains (the names translate literally as "Who-is-Like-God? Fountains"). These references, and the references to broken cisterns are straight from the Old Testament
Particularly in his longer fiction, Lafferty insists on the ugliness and brokenness of the world. He rejects the "Star Trek" future where humanity truly improves itself and moves ahead to something brighter. Lafferty probably views that sort of thing as obscene. The intellectual is the enemy and a simple everyman is the only possible hero. Still, each of his works is an achievement, and they are more than worth the effort they require.
Lafferty has the remarkable trick of being able to present a fictional world that is wild and incoherent in the same way the real world is. Any attempts to explain the "plot" of his books end up ruining the illusion. The summary will inevitably sound anodyne and simplistic, which is exactly what Lafferty's presentation and content aggressively avoid. And this makes sense. We experience the real world as both coherent and baffling. It is concrete, but also contains tantalizing hints of things beyond our understanding, things that may be our brains deceiving us, but maybe are really something out there in the aether. Lafferty lets us experience a fictional world in the same way.
I am now convinced that Lafferty creates the most plausible magical and supernatural events in fiction--plausible in the sense that they might actually be true. He is deeply invested in synthesizing the messy scrum of humanity's supernatural beliefs into one magnificent whole. From folk heroes, to Greek myths, to hedge deities, to the state-sanctioned mythology of nationfounders; from biblical demons to modern psychics. In Lafferty's worldview, psychosis and neurological disorders fit into the same picture. The monsters and creatures that writhe out of Lafferty's books fit like lost puzzle pieces into the modern world and also into a thousand versions of the past, imagined and real.
What maybe makes Lafferty's treatment of all this so convincing is that it is not totally clear whether he believes that his works are in fact fiction. Is Fourth Mansions about a fictional reality where some members/non-members of humanity are ancient psychic monsters? Or is it set in the real world and the supernatural aspects are the imaginings of a schizophrenic protagonist? Or does Lafferty really believe that the world is full of conspiracies and monsters and magic? He might!
Lafferty's unique style (Theodore Sturgeon believed that future literary historians, unable to classify Lafferty, would label his works simply “lafferties”) allows him to present things in the sideways manner of a maybe-tall-tale. It's an ideal vehicle for conveying Lafferty's perspective, which is at its core an attempt to do battle with with the sterilizing homogeneity of the modern world.
Somehow there is the belief that people in the dark ages believed that the world was flat. They didn't. But it is the contemptuous ones of today who have made a really flat world that is the sad answer to everything.Lafferty strongly believes that there is nobility in our ancestors' churning bucket of ideas, nonsense, and superstition -- and this is all set against what he sees as the crushing weight of a rationalist world.
I can't stop reading Lafferty, but I also find the weight of his book-length works troubling. Everything is grounded in his peculiar sense of Catholic doctrine, and cannot be fully understood except from that standpoint. Fourth Mansions repeatedly comes back to fountains. Beasts arise from inexplicable earthly fountains. Two characters are Miguel Fuentes and Michael Fountains (the names translate literally as "Who-is-Like-God? Fountains"). These references, and the references to broken cisterns are straight from the Old Testament
For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.Jeremiah 2:13.
Particularly in his longer fiction, Lafferty insists on the ugliness and brokenness of the world. He rejects the "Star Trek" future where humanity truly improves itself and moves ahead to something brighter. Lafferty probably views that sort of thing as obscene. The intellectual is the enemy and a simple everyman is the only possible hero. Still, each of his works is an achievement, and they are more than worth the effort they require.
January 10, 2023
i was already pretty insufferable as a teen when i read the illuminatus trilogy and valis; if i had also read this, i would have gone over the insufferability event horizon.
October 22, 2008
It begins thus:
I: I THINK I WILL DISMEMBER THE WORLD WITH MY HANDS
There is entwined seven-tentacled lightning. It is fire-masses, it is sheets, it is arms. It is seven-coloured writhing in the darkness, electric and alive. It pulsates, it sends, it sparkles it blinds?
It explodes!
It is seven murderous thunder-snakes striking in seven directions along the ground! Blindingly fast! Under your feet! Now! At you!
And you! YOu who glanced in here for but a moment, you are already snake-bit!
It is too late for you to withdraw. The damage is done to you. That faintly odd taste in your mouth, that smallest of tingles which you feel, they signal the snake-death.
Die a little. There is reason for it.
There was a young man who had very good eyes but simple brains. Nobody can have everything. His name was Freddy Foley and he was arguing with a man named Tankersley who was his superior.
I: I THINK I WILL DISMEMBER THE WORLD WITH MY HANDS
There is entwined seven-tentacled lightning. It is fire-masses, it is sheets, it is arms. It is seven-coloured writhing in the darkness, electric and alive. It pulsates, it sends, it sparkles it blinds?
It explodes!
It is seven murderous thunder-snakes striking in seven directions along the ground! Blindingly fast! Under your feet! Now! At you!
And you! YOu who glanced in here for but a moment, you are already snake-bit!
It is too late for you to withdraw. The damage is done to you. That faintly odd taste in your mouth, that smallest of tingles which you feel, they signal the snake-death.
Die a little. There is reason for it.
There was a young man who had very good eyes but simple brains. Nobody can have everything. His name was Freddy Foley and he was arguing with a man named Tankersley who was his superior.
June 9, 2024
2024 Book #21:
Fourth Mansions (1969) by R. A. Lafferty
An unhinged, psychedelic romp through bizarre Catholic mindscapes. Lafferty continues to fascinate me with his completely inimitable style and total disregard for conventional narrativity. Fourth Mansions is the “story” of Freddy Foley, a reporter on the verge of uncovering a grand conspiracy (actually several competing conspiracies) to control the world. The perpetrators of world domination are various, and include a septet of individuals who mind-meld and influence the thoughts of others, as well as a group of seemingly immortal body-snatchers. The plot of this novel is nearly indiscernible, but plot is not really what attracts a reader to Lafferty. His prose is electric, blistering, and sometimes opaquely allusive (mostly to obscure Catholic stuff that I don’t fully understand). The writing is also often hilarious in a surreal, farcical way: characters stumble into situations and interactions that border on the absurd, and yet they react with surprising nonchalance. Fourth Mansions creates the exhilarating yet uneasy effect of reading someone’s fevered hallucination or dream-journal. This is because the author cares not at all for narrative continuity or “natural” transitions between scenes. Also, the hallucinatory quality is due to the fact that so much of this novel takes place in the minds of characters whose perception is being altered by the conspirators. If this sounds at all fun, it mostly is. But if there’s something to fault the book for, it’s that much of it is expositional. No matter how entertaining, characters talk at each other and explain in great detail what’s going on. Perhaps as readers we need this in order to navigate the otherwise inexplicable series of events, but I would have preferred less monologuing and more action. Like his previous novel Past Master, Fourth Mansions is probably another attempt by Lafferty to metaphorize his paranoia about communism. But thankfully these politics are shrouded in the gibberings of a madman. (high 4/5)
Fourth Mansions (1969) by R. A. Lafferty
An unhinged, psychedelic romp through bizarre Catholic mindscapes. Lafferty continues to fascinate me with his completely inimitable style and total disregard for conventional narrativity. Fourth Mansions is the “story” of Freddy Foley, a reporter on the verge of uncovering a grand conspiracy (actually several competing conspiracies) to control the world. The perpetrators of world domination are various, and include a septet of individuals who mind-meld and influence the thoughts of others, as well as a group of seemingly immortal body-snatchers. The plot of this novel is nearly indiscernible, but plot is not really what attracts a reader to Lafferty. His prose is electric, blistering, and sometimes opaquely allusive (mostly to obscure Catholic stuff that I don’t fully understand). The writing is also often hilarious in a surreal, farcical way: characters stumble into situations and interactions that border on the absurd, and yet they react with surprising nonchalance. Fourth Mansions creates the exhilarating yet uneasy effect of reading someone’s fevered hallucination or dream-journal. This is because the author cares not at all for narrative continuity or “natural” transitions between scenes. Also, the hallucinatory quality is due to the fact that so much of this novel takes place in the minds of characters whose perception is being altered by the conspirators. If this sounds at all fun, it mostly is. But if there’s something to fault the book for, it’s that much of it is expositional. No matter how entertaining, characters talk at each other and explain in great detail what’s going on. Perhaps as readers we need this in order to navigate the otherwise inexplicable series of events, but I would have preferred less monologuing and more action. Like his previous novel Past Master, Fourth Mansions is probably another attempt by Lafferty to metaphorize his paranoia about communism. But thankfully these politics are shrouded in the gibberings of a madman. (high 4/5)
April 24, 2007
If you've never read anything by R.A. Lafferty, please do as soon as you can. I recommend starting with his short fiction, a few examples of which are available online at [www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/cla...]. (By the way, can anybody give me some tips on formatting here? HTML doesn't work and the advice in the sidebar seems not to either.)
Fourth Mansions is a shaggy badger story starring an improbably likeable young reporter with "good eyes but simple brains" named Fred Foley. Freddy has stumbled into an ancient mystical conspiracy that is trying to immanentize an (also mystical) eschaton. It might sound like the setup for Illuminatus!, and indeed dates from around the same time. Lafferty's inimitable, exuberant prose will pull you along the helical path of Freddy's awakening so skillfully you won't even realize what's happening to you until it's too late. As Lafferty warns us on the first page: "It is too late for you to withdraw. The damage is done to you. ... Die a little. There is reason for it."
Fourth Mansions is a shaggy badger story starring an improbably likeable young reporter with "good eyes but simple brains" named Fred Foley. Freddy has stumbled into an ancient mystical conspiracy that is trying to immanentize an (also mystical) eschaton. It might sound like the setup for Illuminatus!, and indeed dates from around the same time. Lafferty's inimitable, exuberant prose will pull you along the helical path of Freddy's awakening so skillfully you won't even realize what's happening to you until it's too late. As Lafferty warns us on the first page: "It is too late for you to withdraw. The damage is done to you. ... Die a little. There is reason for it."
July 28, 2021
Rating: 4.5
Much like John Crowley, Lafferty was another author that was oft-brought up in conversations I’ve had regarding writing styles and eccentricities that were similar to Gene Wolfe’s, or at least authors whose work bred likeminded fanatics. Wolfe being a friend of Lafferty’s and his praising of him as one of the genre’s most original voices sold me on the idea of seeking out his stories. I actually have a couple of short stories of his collected in some anthologies I own, but have yet to read, so I decided to give Lafferty a try by diving headfirst into one of his full-length novels instead.
Fourth Mansions is hard to parse. Very hard. It feels like a mixture of slipstream fiction and science fiction with a strange theological bent to it, focusing a lot on Eschatology (another similarity to Wolfe’s work). The best I can sum up the plot is that the world is found by a reporter to be run by secret societies, all with their own talent for reality-distortion, and plans for guiding humanity toward the end-times (or preventing it). Running concurrently are motifs that make allusions to Teresa of Ávila’s The Interior Castle (or, The Mansions), a work of Christian mysticism wherein the soul is akin to a mansion full of rooms that represent its different states. The book contains mind-manipulators, strange ghostly entities called Plappergeists that appear out of the corners of one’s eyes, and a general state of confusion regarding physical space, time and goings-on. It’s densely worded and tricky, befuddling, ominous, funny, and above all, intimidatingly obtuse... but despite a kind of ‘kitchen-sink’ approach to what’s included in the novel, it somehow works, thanks to Lafferty’s masterful and entertaining use of language and experimental structure. It’s incredibly bizarre, but I loved it, and it’s easy to see why Lafferty has a cult-like status. Hope to read more of his work as soon as I can.
Much like John Crowley, Lafferty was another author that was oft-brought up in conversations I’ve had regarding writing styles and eccentricities that were similar to Gene Wolfe’s, or at least authors whose work bred likeminded fanatics. Wolfe being a friend of Lafferty’s and his praising of him as one of the genre’s most original voices sold me on the idea of seeking out his stories. I actually have a couple of short stories of his collected in some anthologies I own, but have yet to read, so I decided to give Lafferty a try by diving headfirst into one of his full-length novels instead.
Fourth Mansions is hard to parse. Very hard. It feels like a mixture of slipstream fiction and science fiction with a strange theological bent to it, focusing a lot on Eschatology (another similarity to Wolfe’s work). The best I can sum up the plot is that the world is found by a reporter to be run by secret societies, all with their own talent for reality-distortion, and plans for guiding humanity toward the end-times (or preventing it). Running concurrently are motifs that make allusions to Teresa of Ávila’s The Interior Castle (or, The Mansions), a work of Christian mysticism wherein the soul is akin to a mansion full of rooms that represent its different states. The book contains mind-manipulators, strange ghostly entities called Plappergeists that appear out of the corners of one’s eyes, and a general state of confusion regarding physical space, time and goings-on. It’s densely worded and tricky, befuddling, ominous, funny, and above all, intimidatingly obtuse... but despite a kind of ‘kitchen-sink’ approach to what’s included in the novel, it somehow works, thanks to Lafferty’s masterful and entertaining use of language and experimental structure. It’s incredibly bizarre, but I loved it, and it’s easy to see why Lafferty has a cult-like status. Hope to read more of his work as soon as I can.
April 10, 2019
I used to think Lafferty was just for show. Now, I’m not so sure.
April 15, 2023
Really wild, but I'm still searching for that 5 star Lafferty.
July 31, 2021
This reads very much like Chesterton's "The Ball and the Cross" but on acid. It's not as good in that the plot sort of peters out at the end, and the metaphysics are a bit bizarre, but it sure is memorable enough.
There exists a group of seven psychically talented people called the Harvesters. They decide to weave their minds together to influence society. One of their tests is on a boyfriend of one of their members, the reporter Freddy Foley. They influence him to believe a silly story about a modern wealthy person being the same as someone who died 600 years ago. That also links him back up to their weave, and as the Harvesters start to break things on their path to a new world, other threats are soon rising..
The best part of the book is the Harvesters and the Weave. The mindlink they have is terrifying, and the members are often frightening to diabolical levels. Brilliant, careless people who want to upend the world and do, but because of their carelessness worse comes. When the weave starts to fray, it is horrifying in a way few books have shown.
The rest of the book is sort of a metaphysical odyssey as Freddy Foley discovers the true adversaries and the secrets of the world. The metaphysics are actually quite fascinating; there are forces in the world for good, evil, and a mix, and they come across as archetypes of humanity locked in struggle.
The problem is the book isnt particularly good outside of it. There isn't so much a plot as meeting the various characters and their archetypes, and Freddy doesn't do particularly much of anything till the ending, which is anticlimactic. Freddy really isn't a good character either; he's supposed to be a perceptive simpleton, but he isn't at all. The characters are often too grandiose and quirky for their roles; a lot of talking but little real action. Freddy generally travels to meet them, they unveil info, act weird, and then it's time for the next set.
Some characters are just totally wasted. The book sets up Miguel as a big factor, but he ends up just as an archetype too; his effects really don't do much in the story, and he gets less time than the patricks who really do nothing at all. Some things just don't get explained and are weird for weirds sake; the patricks each have a plappergeist, which is supposed to be a servant, but the most you get out of them is a debate whether or not they can be seen.
I think you mostly need to read this as a philosophical novel, or you'll get very disappointed. I'm not even sure its a particularly good philosophy; a lot of ink is spilled showing how mixed or evil the four monsters are, and the ending is sort of a big switch on that. I think if you like Gordon Dickson's Dorsai novels you'll see the main point, but the book is at its best with the Harvesters and Fred's link to them.
So a very mixed experience. Doesn't really live up to the promise of the opening, but its an interesting book to the end, at least.
There exists a group of seven psychically talented people called the Harvesters. They decide to weave their minds together to influence society. One of their tests is on a boyfriend of one of their members, the reporter Freddy Foley. They influence him to believe a silly story about a modern wealthy person being the same as someone who died 600 years ago. That also links him back up to their weave, and as the Harvesters start to break things on their path to a new world, other threats are soon rising..
The best part of the book is the Harvesters and the Weave. The mindlink they have is terrifying, and the members are often frightening to diabolical levels. Brilliant, careless people who want to upend the world and do, but because of their carelessness worse comes. When the weave starts to fray, it is horrifying in a way few books have shown.
The rest of the book is sort of a metaphysical odyssey as Freddy Foley discovers the true adversaries and the secrets of the world. The metaphysics are actually quite fascinating; there are forces in the world for good, evil, and a mix, and they come across as archetypes of humanity locked in struggle.
The problem is the book isnt particularly good outside of it. There isn't so much a plot as meeting the various characters and their archetypes, and Freddy doesn't do particularly much of anything till the ending, which is anticlimactic. Freddy really isn't a good character either; he's supposed to be a perceptive simpleton, but he isn't at all. The characters are often too grandiose and quirky for their roles; a lot of talking but little real action. Freddy generally travels to meet them, they unveil info, act weird, and then it's time for the next set.
Some characters are just totally wasted. The book sets up Miguel as a big factor, but he ends up just as an archetype too; his effects really don't do much in the story, and he gets less time than the patricks who really do nothing at all. Some things just don't get explained and are weird for weirds sake; the patricks each have a plappergeist, which is supposed to be a servant, but the most you get out of them is a debate whether or not they can be seen.
I think you mostly need to read this as a philosophical novel, or you'll get very disappointed. I'm not even sure its a particularly good philosophy; a lot of ink is spilled showing how mixed or evil the four monsters are, and the ending is sort of a big switch on that. I think if you like Gordon Dickson's Dorsai novels you'll see the main point, but the book is at its best with the Harvesters and Fred's link to them.
So a very mixed experience. Doesn't really live up to the promise of the opening, but its an interesting book to the end, at least.
May 17, 2017
Wow, folks...this book. This book. This is the second novel I've read of his, with many short stories and a few essays in between. Fourth Mansions is the most like reading a really good Lafferty story, somehow maintaining the intensity and light-yet-deadly tone, and still remaining cohesive as a novel. Lafferty isn't for everyone--his style and dialog either charm & delight you or annoy & exhaust you--and while this may or may not be his best work, it is certainly the most HIS. I'm dazzled.
November 26, 2009
A young man becomes involved with four separate conspiracies to control the world. You don't read Lafferty for the plots though, you read him for his crazy storytelling.
June 29, 2011
This is a wonderfully weird book.
January 21, 2023
More strange and interesting than "good", it's definitely worth experiencing. There isn't really any "science fiction" here. Rather, it's a surrealist-psychedelic fantasy in the vein of The Man Who Was Thursday and The Illuminatus! Trilogy (though not as good as either of them). Christian mysticism, secret societies and conspiracies, symbols piled on top of symbols, wild and unexpected plot developments, and a unique style to top things off.
April 26, 2024
This was crazy wild. Half the time I had no idea what was happening. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start reading Lafferty with this story. Acid trip. 3*
March 20, 2017
My first reading of this book I did without reading St. Theresa of Avila's The Interior Castle on which Fourth Mansions is based. My second reading will have her work as the backdrop.
The opening of this book is the best opening ever. It was this opening that turned me into an avid Lafferty fan - I was snake bit!
That said, I found it hard to follow along. The sequence of events didn't always make sense to me and I think that is because I was missing some background and not only of The Interior Castle.
Some say a book should stand on it's own, requiring no prerequisite or extra material for its comprehension. I thoroughly reject this model as it leaves everyone stuck on the lowest common denominator. The true story would go to the writer that wouldn't challenge the knowledge resources of the world's biggest ignoramus.
A second reading may get the 5th star.
The opening of this book is the best opening ever. It was this opening that turned me into an avid Lafferty fan - I was snake bit!
That said, I found it hard to follow along. The sequence of events didn't always make sense to me and I think that is because I was missing some background and not only of The Interior Castle.
Some say a book should stand on it's own, requiring no prerequisite or extra material for its comprehension. I thoroughly reject this model as it leaves everyone stuck on the lowest common denominator. The true story would go to the writer that wouldn't challenge the knowledge resources of the world's biggest ignoramus.
A second reading may get the 5th star.
Read
February 4, 20164 stars from Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
January 28, 2019
nice to read a 'sci fi' author with an actual imagination and genuinely bizarre ideas and attention to language.
January 8, 2022
Until I stumbled upon a cache of old titles by R.A. Lafferty, I'd never heard of him, or having read about him promptly forgotten...It's too bad. Anyone interested in high literature and science fiction ought to know about this author. There was an almost unnoticed, or at least unacknowledged today, golden age of cheap paperbacks from the mid 1960s to mid 1970s, I'm beginning to suspect.
I actually read this and another title by Lafferty, called Space Chantey. Both are short but dense reads. Lafferty didn't start writing until the 50s but produced a large body of work, which makes it more surprising that I never heard of him.
Fourth Mansions was written in 1968 and published in 1970, and is as imaginative and metaphysical as anything written by Philip K. Dick or Doris Piserchia, to name a couple of wildly imaginative authors. His style reminds me of a young Tom Robbins, a-la Another Roadside Attraction. And tho' published as an Ace Science Fiction title, it is more of the same feather as Another Roadside Attraction, tho' a bit more fantastic. The title comes from the book, The Interior Castle, also known as The Mansions or Las Moradas by St. Teresa of Avila, a Christian mystic, who uses mansions as a metaphor for states of being of the soul. The first three are states wherein the soul strives to grow and acquire, where the fourth mansion is where the soul breaks away from actively acquiring: to quote Wikipedia's article on "The fourth mansions are a departure from the soul actively acquiring what it gains as God increases his role."
In Fourth Mansions, various strange powers on Earth but restricted by (God?) to dwelling "outside the castle" (the soul?) keep human society caught in a cycle where humanity passes through the first three mansions again and again, unable to evolve and move beyond those first steps (of spiritual growth?) and the main character, Fred Foley, a somewhat simple but not stupid reporter finds himself at the center of their plotting. He is the key to breaking the pattern, which some members and ex-members of the powers push, or help, along.
It's a dense and strange read, one perfectly suited to the intellectually curious but not necessarily deeply grounded reader, such as myself, who has access to the internet (don't we, almost, all?) who enjoys pausing to look things up and learning new things about culture-in Lafferty's case mostly Western Culture I'd reckon-and literature, also Western in this case.
I'll write another review, of Space Chantey, later. It's also very literary. Also very funny. It's a none-too subtle retelling of Homer's Odyssey.
I actually read this and another title by Lafferty, called Space Chantey. Both are short but dense reads. Lafferty didn't start writing until the 50s but produced a large body of work, which makes it more surprising that I never heard of him.
Fourth Mansions was written in 1968 and published in 1970, and is as imaginative and metaphysical as anything written by Philip K. Dick or Doris Piserchia, to name a couple of wildly imaginative authors. His style reminds me of a young Tom Robbins, a-la Another Roadside Attraction. And tho' published as an Ace Science Fiction title, it is more of the same feather as Another Roadside Attraction, tho' a bit more fantastic. The title comes from the book, The Interior Castle, also known as The Mansions or Las Moradas by St. Teresa of Avila, a Christian mystic, who uses mansions as a metaphor for states of being of the soul. The first three are states wherein the soul strives to grow and acquire, where the fourth mansion is where the soul breaks away from actively acquiring: to quote Wikipedia's article on "The fourth mansions are a departure from the soul actively acquiring what it gains as God increases his role."
In Fourth Mansions, various strange powers on Earth but restricted by (God?) to dwelling "outside the castle" (the soul?) keep human society caught in a cycle where humanity passes through the first three mansions again and again, unable to evolve and move beyond those first steps (of spiritual growth?) and the main character, Fred Foley, a somewhat simple but not stupid reporter finds himself at the center of their plotting. He is the key to breaking the pattern, which some members and ex-members of the powers push, or help, along.
It's a dense and strange read, one perfectly suited to the intellectually curious but not necessarily deeply grounded reader, such as myself, who has access to the internet (don't we, almost, all?) who enjoys pausing to look things up and learning new things about culture-in Lafferty's case mostly Western Culture I'd reckon-and literature, also Western in this case.
I'll write another review, of Space Chantey, later. It's also very literary. Also very funny. It's a none-too subtle retelling of Homer's Odyssey.
September 27, 2023
I used to binge anthologies without paying attention to author names. Later I preferred novels, where author mattered more. After reading 'Fourth Mansions', I was able to close eyes and identify which short stories were Lafferty's, even the ones read years before. His voice is simply that unique. Easy to follow, yet always over the top and around the bend. Hilarious, with humor serving as the delivery system for sly philosophic/spiritual points.
Lafferty's short stories built his fame, and maintain it now. His books... well, they carry the same weird, fantastical qualities. But what works in a short story does not always carry to book length. Lafferty's best-regarded novels are 'Past Master' and 'Apocalypses'. Other works like 'The Devil is Dead' and 'Annals of Klepsis'... only devotees speak of them. Or know of them. And we treasure our tattered paperback copies.
But there is one book where the qualities of Lafferty's short stories explodes; and yet it remains in dust and oblivion: 'Fourth Mansions'. Not to alarm you; but when I read it, I went slightly mad. Why hadn't my English teachers TOLD me people could write like this? A tale told off the top of the head and tip of the tongue, and yet revealing a complex mythology behind ordinary reality; an everyman hero tilting against a mad conspiracy to keep the world exactly as it is; with a crowd of characters more real and interesting than the dreary denizens of classic literature.
Readers who overdose on Vonnegut, Dick or Douglas Adams can sometimes feel that all reality begins tasting pointless, is nihilistic farce. Lafferty is as mad as any at the fantasycon tea party; but in his stories there remains an affirmation of secret meaning and open joy in daily existence. His stories don't make you tired of life. They make you remember how amazing it is.
"Fourth Mansions" holds a theme close to Lafferty's heart: that there is a nihilistic fatalism that leads souls and civilizations to circle in futility. That fatalism battles the noble call to master our own inner mythologies, and circle upwards to something better.
Which is NOT a theme the 21st century can allow to be shelved in dust.
Lafferty's short stories built his fame, and maintain it now. His books... well, they carry the same weird, fantastical qualities. But what works in a short story does not always carry to book length. Lafferty's best-regarded novels are 'Past Master' and 'Apocalypses'. Other works like 'The Devil is Dead' and 'Annals of Klepsis'... only devotees speak of them. Or know of them. And we treasure our tattered paperback copies.
But there is one book where the qualities of Lafferty's short stories explodes; and yet it remains in dust and oblivion: 'Fourth Mansions'. Not to alarm you; but when I read it, I went slightly mad. Why hadn't my English teachers TOLD me people could write like this? A tale told off the top of the head and tip of the tongue, and yet revealing a complex mythology behind ordinary reality; an everyman hero tilting against a mad conspiracy to keep the world exactly as it is; with a crowd of characters more real and interesting than the dreary denizens of classic literature.
Readers who overdose on Vonnegut, Dick or Douglas Adams can sometimes feel that all reality begins tasting pointless, is nihilistic farce. Lafferty is as mad as any at the fantasycon tea party; but in his stories there remains an affirmation of secret meaning and open joy in daily existence. His stories don't make you tired of life. They make you remember how amazing it is.
"Fourth Mansions" holds a theme close to Lafferty's heart: that there is a nihilistic fatalism that leads souls and civilizations to circle in futility. That fatalism battles the noble call to master our own inner mythologies, and circle upwards to something better.
Which is NOT a theme the 21st century can allow to be shelved in dust.
January 21, 2024
I re-read the book just recently.
3.5 stars.
It had amazing ideas and was better than Past Master till page 170. Then it lost my interest when it got bogged down in too much that I couldn't comprehend. I like following tangents but after a while, when there is too much and it seems like Lafferty is just bringing together a bunch of loose ends and piling one aspect on top of many others, I couldn't stay into it.
The premise and mystery are wonderful. Fred Foley is a reporter who has noticed that one man Carmody Overlark resembles facially a man who existed 500 years ago and wants to figure out whether he is the same man as 500 years ago; since 2 years ago, there was oddly no resemblance. Then there is a group of 7 people who psychically weave themselves together to try to evolve themselves to humanity's next point in evolution with some wacky science. Then there are the patricks, also known as badgers who are guardians of sort. Then there are the falcons also known as the revolutionaries.
I was interested in all of Lafferty's four groups 3/4s in. The points that shined in the book were the brain weavers, the mystery regarding Overlark and certain moments like Fred Foley's first encounter with a dr who tries to undermine his sanity and the mystery surrounding the death of an inventor (the death scene was done quite well).
It was when the Overlark mystery was somewhat resolved with a confrontational reveal where it fell apart for me. Too many loose ends come together. There is just some big battle with happenstance after happenstance and perhaps I wasn't following it well enough but I wasn't invested enough after a while to try.
The concepts are what make this great. Lafferty presents unique ideas for human evolution, where we are presently in that evolutionary scale and creates great conspiracies that run against that evolution. He also charges the book with great interpersonal conflicts that at times had me on the edge of my seat. The different characters that live outside the castle are differentially defined but I felt in particular that the falcon was inserted in points where he was peripheral yet connected to the main action in a way that created too much distance to get to know the character. Also, his revolutionary stance was complex, so complex I couldn't grasp it. That is somewhat Lafferty's style in the novels. I recognize the similarities to Past Master as there were big battles there too but in Past Master, the narrative seemed to take a structured overarching course to the end which I liked as each chapter had its focus. Here, the late chapters had many foci and the end seemed to tie things together quickly and unsatisfyingly for me. There was a Lafferty story the ending reminded me of called I believe Some of Velvet Gowns. The theme of takeover worked well in that short but not here for some reason.
3.5 stars.
It had amazing ideas and was better than Past Master till page 170. Then it lost my interest when it got bogged down in too much that I couldn't comprehend. I like following tangents but after a while, when there is too much and it seems like Lafferty is just bringing together a bunch of loose ends and piling one aspect on top of many others, I couldn't stay into it.
The premise and mystery are wonderful. Fred Foley is a reporter who has noticed that one man Carmody Overlark resembles facially a man who existed 500 years ago and wants to figure out whether he is the same man as 500 years ago; since 2 years ago, there was oddly no resemblance. Then there is a group of 7 people who psychically weave themselves together to try to evolve themselves to humanity's next point in evolution with some wacky science. Then there are the patricks, also known as badgers who are guardians of sort. Then there are the falcons also known as the revolutionaries.
I was interested in all of Lafferty's four groups 3/4s in. The points that shined in the book were the brain weavers, the mystery regarding Overlark and certain moments like Fred Foley's first encounter with a dr who tries to undermine his sanity and the mystery surrounding the death of an inventor (the death scene was done quite well).
It was when the Overlark mystery was somewhat resolved with a confrontational reveal where it fell apart for me. Too many loose ends come together. There is just some big battle with happenstance after happenstance and perhaps I wasn't following it well enough but I wasn't invested enough after a while to try.
The concepts are what make this great. Lafferty presents unique ideas for human evolution, where we are presently in that evolutionary scale and creates great conspiracies that run against that evolution. He also charges the book with great interpersonal conflicts that at times had me on the edge of my seat. The different characters that live outside the castle are differentially defined but I felt in particular that the falcon was inserted in points where he was peripheral yet connected to the main action in a way that created too much distance to get to know the character. Also, his revolutionary stance was complex, so complex I couldn't grasp it. That is somewhat Lafferty's style in the novels. I recognize the similarities to Past Master as there were big battles there too but in Past Master, the narrative seemed to take a structured overarching course to the end which I liked as each chapter had its focus. Here, the late chapters had many foci and the end seemed to tie things together quickly and unsatisfyingly for me. There was a Lafferty story the ending reminded me of called I believe Some of Velvet Gowns. The theme of takeover worked well in that short but not here for some reason.
November 26, 2024
Some very fantastical ideas (the Harvestmen, the brain weave, the 4 archetypes), and a very thin plot that doesn't go anywhere. Even as a philosophical novel, it's not very good.
October 10, 2019
Mr Lafferty describes worlds and characters that are profoundly different from what other authors can describe. Places that we may or may not live in, or near, if we decide to look. Strange histories and powers or abilities abound, and nothing is quite as it seems. I cannot describe the plot, one must read this with an open mind.
May 27, 2022
His style is amazing. It's a circus exploding out of a clamshell, a hundred thousand vases falling off of shelves stacked 200 ft high, Danny Brown's Ain't It Funny coming out of the mouth of an alleycat. Psychedelic SFF, pure imagination. And Freddie Foley is a pretty money protagonist.
July 21, 2022
I'm struggling with Mr Lafferty's work. So far, they're simply not to my taste. I have one more to try (I was given a collection of three of his novels). Unless I fall in love with his writing at the third attempt, I'm probably done. Too many other books...
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