Not to Mention Camels
by R. A. Lafferty
R. A. Lafferty has created three memorable creatures in Pilger Tisman, Pilgrim Dusmano, and Polder Dossman. Pilger is a protean figure of phantasmagoric qualities; Pilgrim’s fragmented existence lies in thousands of minds besides his own; Polder is eidolon-man and cult-figure, hypnotic, electric, magnetic, transcendent.
They are all world-jumpers in a meta-cosmosic universe. What hellish worlds they jump to — Hieronymus Bosch landscapes that thrive on anti-matter, anti-space, anti-time. What mind-and-body-searing challenges they are confronted with. For Pilger, Pilgrim, and Polder are one man.
This strange and curious novel, laced with superb similes and mind-blowing metaphors, offers cascading prose that echoes and re-echoes long after you put it down. It ranks among Lafferty’s finest works.
Rate this book
R. A. Lafferty
Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1914–2002) 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, In a Green Tree; a history book, The Fall of Rome; and a number of novels that could be more or less loosely called historical fiction.
Links
R. A. Lafferty. Wikipedia.
Photo author: Keith Purtell. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.
