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.” It would be fun to have a chrestomathy of Lafferty’s ideas about media with smart connections drawn to media studies for at least two

"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...

" . . . 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...

Picking up on how Lafferty likes to leave his readers in states of Christian burial, I want to hammer out some thoughts about The Elliptical Grave . It's not an easy book, not even by Lafferty's most demanding standards. Ironically, it was published in a layout that can sap you dead in your tracks. Dan Knight, who printed it, knew from the outset that it would demand a lot from readers. When he decided to publish more of Lafferty's work, he asked the man what his least publis