Here are two passages from Lafferty on what it means to be called civilized. The first passage, from The Fall of Rome, contrasts Gothic workmanship with Roman prestige; the second, from Okla Hannali, contrasts Choctaw life with stereotypes of primitivism. To score Lafferty’s music, I've used a technique developed by Richard Lanham. Repeated expressions occupy the same column, and indentation shows the relations among clauses. This arrangement directs attention to how the argu

There are the Kings: Godigisel and Respendial and Uldin the Hun. The ministers, the heresiarchs, the great ladies were all parts of the big picture. Sometimes the picture of the passion and death of the Empire will be the face of the crucified Christ: but often there will emerge the most fulfilled, the most shatteringly profound image ever, the laughing Christ of Creophylus. — The Fall of Rome The meaning of the references came clear with the examination of reproductions of c