Valis and Later Novels: A Maze of Death Valis the Divine Invasion the Transmigration of Timothy Archer

In 2007, Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960sbecame the fastest selling title in The Library of America’s history. The 2008 companion volume, Five Novels of the1960s & 70s, broke series records for advance sales. Now comes a third and final volume gathering the best novels of Dick’s final years, when religious revelation, always important in his work, became a dominant and irresistible theme. In A Maze of Death(1970), a darkly speculative mystery that foreshadows Dick’s final novels, colonists on the planet Delmak-O try to determine the nature of the God—or Mentufacturer”—who plots their destiny. The late masterpiece VALIS(1981) is a novelistic reworking of the events of 2-3-74,” when Dick’s life was transformed by what he believed was a mystical revelation. It is a harrowing self-portrait of a man torn between conflicting interpretations of what might be gnostic illumination or psychotic breakdown. The Divine Invasion(1981), a sequel to VALIS, is a powerful exploration of gnostic insight and its human consequences. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer(1982), Dick’s last novel, is by turns theological thriller, roman à clef, and disenchanted portrait of late 1970s California life, based loosely on the controversial career of Bishop James Pike—a close friend and kindred spirit.

Jonathan Lethem, editor, is the author of seven novels, including the bestsellers The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and, most recently, You Don-'t Love Me Yet. He is also the author of two short story collections, Men and Cartoons and The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye, and a collection of essays, The Disappointment Artist. He has edited Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s, and Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s, also for The Library of America.