The Transmigration of Timothy Archer: VALIS, Book 3 (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

PKD's final three books, VALIS, The Divine Invasion and, of course, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer were all greatly influenced by his breakdown/revelation in 1974. This is the final book in the sequence, and is perhaps the most beautiful of the three. Breaking away from his more traditionally SF ideals it is a story of a search for faith and meaning that manages to be both literary and gripping (the two seldom go together in my experience). PKD's philosophical powers have reach their height and it is a mark of his storytelling ability that he breaks the mould of his reputation as a pure SF writer to tell this tale.

PKD spent much of his life trying to break away from his reputation as an SF writer and write more mainstream literature. This represented his first real success and shows that - despite his depth of imagination and talent as an SF writer - he was a master storyteller and philosopher no matter the genre in which he wrote.

"The Transmigration of Timothy Archer" was Philip K Dick's final work. It was published shortly after his untimely death in March 1982 from a series of strokes. It is one of his most overtly philosophical and intellectual works. It is narrated throughout by Angela Archer, unusual in Dick's work as he usually employed multiple narrators. It is a very questioning and occasionally despairing work, but ultimately life affirming. The subtlety of the plot development, the intellectual rigour of the discussions that take place, both conversational and interior monologue and most of all the wonderfully expressed character of Angela Archer make this, to me, his most rewarding work, a fact that makes his death shortly before publication all the greater loss. Philip K Dick is often cited as the main influence on the Cyberpunk movement led by William Gibson, but as this work, and titles as diverse as the inventive "Eye in the Sky" and "Martian Time Slip", the moving "Galactic Pot Healer", the complex and yet delicate "The Man in His High Castle" and the chilling yet deeply moving "A Scanner Darkly" show, there was so much more to his genius than just influence.

Bishop Timothy Archer is haunted by the suicides of his son and mistress. He must also deal with the theological and philosophical implications of the newly-discovered Gnostic Zadokite scroll fragments. These events drive him into a quest for the identity of Christ.

The character of Bishop Archer is loosely based on the controversial Episcopalian Bishop James Pike whose outspoken views on many theological and social issues made him one of the most controversial public figures of his time. In 1969 Pike died of exposure while exploring the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea in the West Bank. Dick and Pike were friends, and Pike officiated at Dick's wedding to his forth wife Nancy Hackett 1966.

Philip K Dick's thirty-fifth published novel, written in 1981 and published in 1982. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is the third of Dick's final three novels (along with VALIS and The Divine Invasion) which are often referred to as the VALIS trilogy. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer was not originally intended as the final work of the trilogy. The final novel was originally going to be called Fawn, Look Back, then The Owl in Daylight. However, this novel had not been written by the time of Dick's death and as such, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer was substituted for the unwritten final volume. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer does however fit comfortably with the two finished volumes and Dick himself called the three novels a trilogy, saying "the three do form a trilogy constellating around a basic theme."

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer continues Dick's exploration of the philosophical and religious themes that dominate his later works. It was a Nebula Award nominee (1982) and a Locus Award nominee (1983).

"I am a fictionalizing philosopher, not a novelist; my novel and story-writing ability is employed as a means to formulate my perception. The core of my writing is not art but truth. Thus what I tell is the truth, yet I can do nothing to alleviate it, either by deed or explanation. Yet this seems somehow to help a certain kind of sensitive troubled person, for whom I speak. I think I understand the common ingredient in those whom my writing helps: they cannot or will not blunt their own intimations about the irrational, mysterious nature of reality, and for them, my corpus of writing is one long ratiocination regarding this inexplicable reality, an investigation & presentation, analysis and response and personal history. My audience will always be limited to those people."
- Philip K Dick, Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick

If you are new to Philip K Dick's work I would recommend the following novels (which generally seem to be regarded as among his best):

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Ubik (S.F. Masterworks)
The Man In The High Castle (S.F. Masterworks)
A Scanner Darkly (S.F. Masterworks)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (S.F. Masterworks)

That said, though some of PKD's works are better than others, to my mind they are all well worth reading. I would also recommend his short story collections.

I would also recommend Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Gollancz S.F.).