The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. — Job  28:19–21 But in another visible world, completely unrelated to the first and occupying absolutely a different space (but both occupying total space), were the green swamps of Africa . . . The Elliptical Grave  (1989) is one of L

“No one has ever really slaked his thirst in the bogus waters of reality. But almost everyone has imagined that he has. And the imagining is just as good. It was once said that subjectivity and objectivity were opposite sides of the same coin. Now we know that they are the same reverse side of the same coin, and the face of the coin is blank.” The Unique Media Imagination of Lafferty It would be a fun project to curate a chrestomathy of R. A. Lafferty’s thoughts on media, dra

"Fall, at Pel-et-Der (L'Aube), France, June 6, 1890, of limestone pebbles. Identified with limestone at Château-Landon—or up and down in a whirlwind. But they fell with hail—which, in June, could not very well be identified with ice from Château-Landon. Coincidence, perhaps." — La Nature, 1890-2-127, as quoted by Charles Fort in  The Book of the Damned (1919) Forteans today. In “Oh Whatta You Do When the Well Runs Dry?”, the world is thrown into chaos when the well of all hu

" . . . just as Atrox devised one hundred and one tests by which one might know whether one was in a dream or in reality." In an interview, Michael Swanwick says something really interesting about Lafferty's novels. They are obscure not because of what they are, but because readers don’t yet have the reading protocols to decode them. The novels he has in mind often feature numerous characters (books like Arrive at Easterwine , The Elliptical Grave , and East of Laughter ). As

Picking up on how Lafferty likes to leave his readers in a state of Christian burial, I want to hammer out some thoughts on The Elliptical Grave . It is not an easy book, not even by Lafferty's most demanding standards. Ironically, and it was published in a layout that can sap you dead in your tracks, with wickedly small print and text-jammed pages. Dan Knight, who printed it, knew from the outset that it would demand a lot from readers. When he decided to publish more of Laf