Editing The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

{{short description|1982 novel by Philip K. Dick}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name          = The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = TheTransmigrationOfTimothyArcher(1stEd).jpg
| caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author        = [[Philip K. Dick]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = 
| genre         = [[Postmodern novel|Postmodern]], [[Philosophical novel|philosophical]]
| publisher     = [[Timescape Books]]/[[Simon & Schuster]]
| release_date  = 1982
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages         = 255 
| isbn          = 0-671-44066-7
| dewey= 813/.54 19
| congress= PS3554.I3 T7 1982
| oclc= 8051839
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
}} 
'''''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer''''' is a 1982 novel by American writer [[Philip K. Dick]].  As his final work, the book was published shortly after his death in March 1982, although it was written the previous year.

The novel draws on autobiographical details of Dick's friendship with the controversial [[Anglicanism|Episcopal]] bishop [[James Pike]], on whom the title character is loosely based. It continues Dick's investigation into the religious and philosophical themes of ''[[VALIS]]''.

The novel was nominated for the [[Nebula Award]] for [[Nebula Award for Best Novel|Best Novel]] in 1982.<ref name="WWE-1982">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1982 
| title = 1982 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-09-27
}}</ref>

==Plot==
Set in the late 1960s and 1970s, the story describes the efforts of [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]] bishop Timothy Archer, who must cope with the [[theology|theological]] and [[philosophy|philosophical]] implications of the newly discovered [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] [[Zadokite]] scroll fragments.  The character of Bishop Archer is loosely based on the controversial, iconoclastic Episcopal bishop [[James Pike]], who in 1969 died of exposure while exploring the [[Judean Desert]] near the [[Dead Sea]] in the [[West Bank]].

As the novel opens, it is 1980. On the day that [[John Lennon]] is shot and killed, Angel Archer visits the [[houseboat]] of Edgar Barefoot, (a [[guru]] based on [[Alan Watts]]), and reflects on the lives of her deceased relatives. During the sixties, she was married to Jeff Archer, son of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] Bishop of California Timothy Archer. She introduced Kirsten Lundborg, a friend, to her father-in law, and the two began an affair. Kirsten has a son, Bill, from a previous relationship, who has [[schizophrenia]], although he is knowledgeable as an [[automobile]] [[mechanic]]. Tim is already being investigated for his allegedly [[heresy|heretical]] views about the [[Holy Ghost]].

Jeff commits [[suicide]] due to his romantic obsession with Kirsten. However, after [[poltergeist]] activity, he manifests to Tim and Kirsten at a [[seance]], also attended by Angel. Angel is skeptical about the efficacy of [[astrology]], and believes that the unfolding [[Existentialism|existential]] situation of Tim and Kirsten is akin to [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s [[Germany|German]] [[Romanticism]] era masterpiece, the [[Wallenstein (play)|Wallenstein trilogy]] (insofar as their credulity reflects the loss of rational belief in contemporary consensual reality).

The three are told that Kirsten and Tim will die. As predicted, Kirsten loses her [[remission (medicine)|remission]] from [[cancer]], and also commits suicide after a [[barbiturate]] overdose. Tim travels to [[Israel]] to investigate whether or not a [[psychotropic]] [[mushroom]] was associated with the [[resurrection]], but his car stalls, he becomes disoriented, falls from a cliff, and  dies in the [[desert]].

On the houseboat, Angel is reunited with Bill, Kirsten's son who has [[schizophrenia]]. He claims to have Tim's reincarnated spirit within him, but is soon institutionalized. Angel agrees to care for Bill, in return for a rare record (''[[Koto Music]]'' by [[Kimio Eto]]) that Edgar offers her.

''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer'' is one of Dick's most overtly philosophical and intellectual works. While Dick's novels usually employ [[multiperspectivity|multiple narrators]] or an omniscient perspective, this story is told in the [[first person narrative|first person]] by a single narrator: Angel Archer, Bishop Archer's daughter-in-law.

==Characters==
*Angel Archer: Narrator, manager of a Berkeley record store, widow of Jeff Archer.
*Timothy Archer: Bishop of California; father of the late Jeff Archer and father-in-law of Angel. Dies in Israel, searching for psychotropic mushroom connected with Zadokite sect. Based on [[James Albert Pike]], Dick's personal friend, who was an American Episcopalian bishop.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/philip-k-dick-dead-sea-scrolls|title=Philip K. Dick's Last Great Obsession|date=25 June 2020}}</ref>
*Kirsten Lundborg: Timothy Archer's secretary and lover. Dies from barbiturate overdose after loss of remission from cancer.
*Bill Lundborg: Kirsten's son who has [[schizophrenia]], and who is obsessed with cars.
*Edgar Barefoot: Houseboat guru, radio personality, lecturer. Based on [[Alan Watts]].
*Jeff Archer: Son of Timothy Archer, and deceased husband of Angel. A [[professional student]] who was romantically obsessed with Kirsten.

==Other works==
''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer'' is thematically related to Dick's unfinished [[VALIS trilogy]] of novels:

* ''[[VALIS]]'' (1981)
* ''[[The Divine Invasion]]'' (1981)

The novel has been included in several omnibus editions of the trilogy as a stand-in for the unwritten final volume. ''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer'' was not intended by Dick to be part of the trilogy; however, the book fits 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/media_twilightzone.html |title=Philip K. Dick's Final Interview, June 1982 |access-date=2011-07-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528112644/http://www.philipkdick.com/media_twilightzone.html |archive-date=2013-05-28 }}</ref>

The book was originally titled ''Bishop Timothy Archer''.

==Criticism==
*Frasca, Gabriele, “Come rimanere rimasti: ''La trasmigrazione di Timothy Archer''”, ''Trasmigrazioni: I mondi di Philip K. Dick'', eds. De Angelis and Rossi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2006, pp.&nbsp;237–60.
*{{cite news |last1=Zaleski |first1=Philip |title=Getting metaphysical: The transcendental world of Philip Kendred Dick |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-08-10_11_32/page/n64/mode/1up |access-date=September 13, 2024 |work=The Boston Phoenix |date=August 10, 1982}}

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=224 The Transmigration of Timothy Archer] at Worlds Without End

{{Philip K. Dick}}

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[[Category:1982 American novels]]
[[Category:American philosophical novels]]
[[Category:Books about drugs]]
[[Category:Fiction about Christianity]]
[[Category:Novels about religion]]
[[Category:Novels by Philip K. Dick]]
[[Category:Novels published posthumously]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Postmodern novels]]
[[Category:Simon & Schuster books]]