Diogenes Pontifex

Pontifex is not a member of the Institute for Impure Science. He is barred by the minimal decency rule. He is out of bounds in all ways, some good and some bad.

[Ktistec Press @KtistecP]

Later this year Ktistec Press will publish The Wolfe’s Lair: Critical Essays on Gene Wolfe. the first collection of original essays exploring Wolfe's work, with several pieces focusing on his theological and philosophical themes.

[Ktistec Press @KtistecP]

We have 12 contributors so far but there is room for more pieces. The August 1 deadline for submitting essay proposals is fast approaching. However, there is still time to send us a 100-300 word abstract.

[Diogenes Pontifex @DiogenesPontif1]

@Jozefinaaaa_S @iits__Meee Gilles Emery is the best writer on Aquinas and the Trinity right now. This is his masterpiece:

[R_A_Lafferty_Tweets @LaffertyTweets]

The corral is open and the beasts are loose. Do not look back. The world isn't there any more.

Fourth Mansions (1969)

[R_A_Lafferty_Tweets @LaffertyTweets]

You will use your finger and the blood from the roots of your tongue. You will write "I will never tell anyone how fun it is in this place."

Space Chantey (1968)

[R_A_Lafferty_Tweets @LaffertyTweets]

Myths are not merely things that were made in times past: myths are among the things that main­tain the present in be­ing. I wish most strongly that the present should be main­tained: I of­ten live in it.

"Boomer Flats" (1971)

[BunRab🫀 @mstdn.social @BunRab]

Most of LaffCon was way above my paygrade as just an aging SF reader who read the short stories when they were published, but one talk /almost/ convinced me to give Joyce's Ulysses a try. My end take: now I want a "Cordwainer Smith" con, and then a comparison of the two.

[Kiichiro Yanashita @kiichiro]

昨日は朝までremote LAFFCONを聞いていた。zoomの調子が悪くて途切れ気味だったけど、なかなか楽しかった。Japanese Laffertians are deep cuts of Lafferty fans! とかAndrew Fergusonが言ってたみたいだけど、きっとらっぱ亭@RappaTei さんのことだな。

[Andrew Ferguson @epiktistes]

Schedule here, all of it should be fun but especially looking forward to @EcomonstrousPhD on Lafferty as bioregional writer, and Gregorio Montejo on Lafferty's authorial conversation with Joyce (via Bishop Berkeley)

[LaffCon @LaffCon]

LAFFCON 5, celebrating the life and works of author R. A. Lafferty. June 12, 2021. For the first time Lafferty fans from around the world can watch and participate. Info & free registration at https://t.co/9krwMkaJbL

[Diogenes Pontifex @DiogenesPontif1]

@AaronIrber What fiction are you giving out?

[Diogenes Pontifex @DiogenesPontif1]

@AaronIrber Praying.

[stacktrust @stacktrust]

@locusmag R.A. Lafferty fans, including Jason Kehe and past publishers of Lafferty, will be celebrating his body of work on June 12th 2021. Join the free online LaffCon5, with a focus on the SF novel "Space Chantey".

@awfulagent @neilhimself @sfwa @torontolibrary

https://t.co/RMLF7TpL6m

[LaffCon @LaffCon]

LAFFCON 5, celebrating the life and works of author R. A. Lafferty. June 12, 2021. For the first time Lafferty fans from around the world can watch and participate. Info & free registration at https://t.co/9krwMkskAl @neilhimself @epiktistes

[Ktistec Press @KtistecP]

Inspired by George Berkeley, in Ulysses Joyce has Stephen walk on the beach as he contemplates the protean material world whose existence is perceived by the senses. In Space Chantey, Lafferty directly echoes this scene when Roadstrum wrestles with the Protean forms of being.

[EcomonstrousPhD @EcomonstrousPhD]

The claim that 'Lafferty was a profoundly Joycean writer' has a lot to recommend it - both were language-besotted, liturgically literate, Irish, neo-mythologists of (post)modernity. But oh the questions! Especially: did Lafferty consciously write in response to Joyce?

[Ktistec Press @KtistecP]

Lafferty and Joyce employ a method of continuous parallelism with Homer to create mythologies suitable to capture realities that escape more mundane techniques. Lafferty wrote portions of Space Chantey in creative dialogue with Ulysses. Lafferty was a profoundly Joycean writer.

[EcomonstrousPhD @EcomonstrousPhD]

A silver lining of lockdown is online conferences. I get to speak at @LaffCon 5 next month (first time since LaffCon 1 in 2016) on #RALafferty as a #bioregional writer. Looking very forward to it & to hearing a good handful of other folks on other topics: https://t.co/sM31pL1qbw

[EcomonstrousPhD @EcomonstrousPhD]

Oh, I see I missed that Ktistec Press (who'll publish the conference papers as a book) gave me a mention. (Oh & Ktistec Press has a twitter account now!?🤪😂 A whole year after completing my PhD & still re-emerging into the real world.)
(Those are regional 'kit foxes' pictured.)