THE DIVINE INVASION

Num	N	S	Writing Date	Pub. Date	Previous	Next	Notes
177	56		Mar 1980	Jun 1981	VALIS	THE GOLDEN MAN (Col.)	See: "Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr"

HISTORY

In two weeks in March 1980 ending on the 22^nd, Philip K. Dick wrote VALIS REGAINED. Although it is possible that the outline was done by March 14^th and the novel completed in May and June 1980.

VALIS REGAINED was published as THE DIVINE INVASION by Simon & Schuster in June 1981.

This two-week period to write THE DIVINE INVASION might seem awfully short since PKD had taken so long to write VALIS and had, since 1970 and FLOW MY TEARS, taken years to write his next book A SCANNER DARKLY. Dick himself said of that time that he was "no longer able to dash off stuff at the rate that I had before."

So is he back again to doing it the old way? Not really; his work habits had changed but mostly in the area of preparation. K.W. Jeter explains to Andy Watson:

    (KWJ): I think there were about three different periods. There was that period where he wrote very fast without revision, simply because of economic pressure, when he was up in the Bay Area. That accounted for that period. Then there was a later period in the 70s which would include FLOW MY TEARS and A SCANNER DARKLY, books like that, where he was no longer under that economic pressure, and he did go through drafts and drafts of his books. I can't say for sure, but I would have been very much surprised if there were more than one or two drafts of VALIS, and, uh --
    (AW:) THE DIVINE INVASION.
    (KWJ:) Yeah, Son Of VALIS, or VALIS Regained, which was Phil's original title for it. I would be surprised because when Phil got around to the point of writing those books, he wrote them in a period of a few days. That is not taking into account the years and years of thinking about the material that's in the books. But when it came to actually physically sitting down at a typewriter and typing a book that started out with a title page saying VALIS and going straight through to the end, he did that very quickly. When he did it, he reverted to his old work habits, when he did work under a time and economic pressure. Also I think its somewhat internally consistent, just looking at the books. They weren't done on a draft by draft basis. Structurally the books are very poor.
    (AW:) They ramble.
    (KWJ:) They ramble, and they go from one thing to another, and its just one idea after another popping into Phil's head. That doesn't say anything about the quality of the ideas. But just in terms of a structure, this may be something that I think about the books that nobody else thinks about the books because I tend to be a structuralist in my approach to writing. To me, I think its internally consistent to look at the books as just being a straight through unrevised draft of ideas Phil has been working on in another form for a long time. In terms of the actual dramatic content of the book, characters and so forth, I can't believe that those last couple of books were done draft by draft.

That curious wasp Charles Platt says that you will print book reviews in which the author pans his own work. Can I do that please? I have no motive except, well, I'd like to see if I can do it. So enclosed you will find my attack on THE DIVINE INVASION, my most recent novel. If, as Platt says, you are secretly financed by David Hartwell, this may prove embarrassing, since Hartwell published this novel. Anyhow, as a challenge it fascinates me.
Be sure to let me know if the enclosed review is satisfactory and will see publication.

Chipdip K. Kill's review of THE DIVINE INVASION will be in Venom #3. Meanwhile here is a copy of Venom #2 for your amusement. By the way, we agree that the review is one of the funniest we've ever read. Best. Venom.

Paul Williams notes that Venom #3 was never published and that David Hartwell did not finance the zine although he encouraged the anonymous editors. Chipdip K. Kill’s review of THE DIVINE INVASION can be found in PKDS-29.

In the end Philip K. Dick’s THE DIVINE INVASION affirms the role of free will in a universe dictated by God. But on the way to that end! Dick repeated many of the themes of his last book, VALIS, even to the knowledgeable beam of pink light, as he tells us of a God who, exiled, must return to Earth doubly enwombed, woman-borne, spaceship borne, to fight the devil who has ruled our planet for two millennia.

Or perhaps we can say that Dick’s philosophical originality lies in his contrast to the depressing stories I mentioned before. He is optimistic. He has faith in a future worth living. And where other sf writers play their games in the head – even Ellison does this, really – he plays in the soul, the heart of hearts. He must be horribly shocking to True believers, though I doubt they read him.

Certainly a more sympathetic review than the one by Baird Searles on VALIS! Still, not everyone was pleased with THE DIVINE INVASION; in the FDO fan poll Erik Davis writes:

At some point in FDO you asked what the most boring PKD novel is. THE DIVINE INVASION wins that contest for me hands down. I would prefer reading VULCAN'S HAMMER or another minor work any day. VALIS is as far as I go.

As THE DIVINE INVASION was, really, more of PKD’s EXEGESIS explorations turned into a novel, it is not surprising that the novel fed back into the EXEGESIS after its publication. Here’s PKD deeply into it all:

In 1990 after nearly a decade of work, Russ Galen at the Agency, arranged a publishing deal with Vintage Books that would bring PKD’s novels to the American public in a form not directly associated with science fiction. THE DIVINE INVASION was one of the first to be published. Paul Williams makes the proud announcement:

    Eight years of effort on the part of Russell Galen at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency have come to fruition with the announcement that Vintage Books, probably the most prestigious literary paperback publisher in the U.S., will be reissuing six Dick novels, with the possibility of more to follow if these do well.
    The first books to be released will be the so-called Valis Trilogy, VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION and THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER, in separate trade paperback volumes ($10 each), tentatively scheduled for publication in July 1991. The other three Dick novels covered by this agreement are still to be named. I believe that this is the first time Vintage has published any science fiction (with the possible exception of non-genre works like Zamyatin's We).
    What is hoped for is that the books will attract new readers beyond the SF genre and the existing Dick coterie, and that they will be kept in print (mass market paperbacks, as Dick readers well know, tend to come and go like the tide).
    "The idea was to accumulate a large number of major Dick works," Galen told Locus, "so that a publisher could buy them as a group. With the reversion two months ago of a large cache of former Doubleday titles, we finally made our move. Vintage was the only publisher we approached."

The Vintage trade paperback editions of the Valis Trilogy accordingly came out in July 1991. They have had several printings since from Vintage.

THE DIVINE INVASION concerns a much more traditional theological view, with the son of God being born from a human virgin, opposed by the establishment, and battling the devil for human souls...
Dick's style is, however, much more simple, and it is this, combined with his prodigious output at times in the past, which have unjustly given him a reputation as a 'hack' in some circles. Ursula Le Guin states my views beautifully when she says "the fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation -- this has escaped most critics." The nature of reality and sanity (two closely interlinked concepts) have been the dominant theme through much of his work, and this book is no exception.

Neither of these are great books, but they're both good ones, well worth yer 'ard earned cash.

One cannot expect THE DIVINE INVASION to be as good as VALIS, but it is! The only thing that it lacked was ‘the shock of the new’; VALIS had caused a great stir in science fiction circles with many people thinking PKD had gone crazy while many others thought that he’d ‘got religion’ and was now unreadable. This made the reception of THE DIVINE INVASION a suspicious one; what would the madman do next? So the novel had a stroke against it before it began. But if it had been written before VALIS it would have had that novel’s spectacular debut.

What I’m trying to say is that these two novels are really one; everything about them is similar. It’s as if PKD had written his EXEGESIS in the form of a two long novels instead of page after page of notes.

OTHER ENGLISH EDITIONS: For Cover Pix Click Here

FOREIGN EDITIONS:

Although dead and in cryonic suspension, herb Asher was having his own problems. Very close to the Cry-Labs, Incorporated, warehouse a fifty-thousand-watt FM transmitter had been located the year before. For reasons unknown to anyone the cryonic equipment had begun picking up the powerful nearby FM signal. Thus Herb Asher, as well as everyone else in suspension at Cry-Labs, had to listen to elevator music all day and all night, the station being what it liked to call a "pleasing sounds" outfit.

PKDS-2 5:

"Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr" (Stellar #5, 1980)... was written into THE DIVINE INVASION but has quite a different flavor on its own.

PKDS-2 7:

VALIS was actually the beginning of a trilogy, the second part being DIVINE INVASION. The third book THE OWL IN DAYLIGHT, was never written... (Letter from Tessa Dick)

PKDS-2 7:

Ursula LeGuin called him the Quiet One, as it seems he produced books of remarkable talent. No big hoopla, just exit, stage left, when the job is over: "The work is complete; the final word is here. He has been transplanted and is alive." Anyone who could write that as the lead-in quote for THE DIVINE INVASION had it all planned out. (Letter from David Seburn, Ontario)

PKDS-4 7:

The theme which runs most consistently through Phil's work is that of Parsifal, the "wise fool". The young man who is too innocent to connive, ends up the survivor in Phil's scripts. He may be merely young, or he may be actually handicapped, either mentally or physically. But he is the hero who, unklike Joe Chip, is not moved by passion or greed in the same way as more "mature" people. Joe Chip, in UBIK, comes close to innocence, but falls when he goes to his room with a woman other than his girlfriend. The Parsifal character is seen in CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST, keeping a journal -- the journal, by the way, is the novel. He appears in DIVINE INVASION as Manny (Emmanual), in VALIS as Horselover Fat searching for the saviour. This character is the real pivot point about which his work revolves. The rest is window dressing. But what beautiful window dressing! (Letter from Tessa Dick)

PKDS-4 11:

The Missouri Review, Vol. VII.#2 (Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, 1984) contains discussion of THE DIVINE INVASION amongst other PKD works by Douglas Mackey. Address: TMR, Dept. of English, 321 Arts & Science, University of Missouri. Columbia, MO 65211. $4

PKDS-5 13:

(KWJ:) I think there were about three different periods. There was that period where he wrote very fast without revision, simply because of economic pressure, when he was up in the Bay Area. That accounted for that period. Then there was a later period in the 70s which would include FLOW MY TEARS and A SCANNER DARKLY, books like that, where he was no longer under that economic pressure, and he did go through drafts and drafts of his books. I can't say for sure, but I would have been very much surprised if there were more than one or tw drafts of VALIS, and, uh --
. (AW:) THE DIVINE INVASION.
. (KWJ:) Yeah, Son Of VALIS, or VALIS Regained, which was Phil's original title for it. I would be surprised because when Phil got around to the point of writing those books, he wrote them in a period of a few days. That is not taking into account the years and years of thinking about the material that's in the books. But when it came to actually physically sitting down at a typewriter and typing a book that started out with a title page saying VALIS and going straight through to the end, he did that very quickly. When he did it, he reverted to his old work habits, when he did work under a time and economic pressure. Also I think its somewhat internally consistent, just looking at the books. They weren't done on a draft by draft basis. Structurally the books are very poor.
. (AW:) They ramble.
. (KWJ:) They ramble, and they go from one thing to another, and its just one idea after another popping into Phil's head. That doesn't say anything about the quality of the ideas. But just in terms of a structure, this may be something that I think about the books that nobody else thinks about the books because I tend to be a structuralist in my approach to writing. To me, I think its internally consistent to look at the books as just being a straight through unrevised draft of ideas Phil has ben working on in another form for a long time. In terms of the actual dramatic content of the book, characters and so forth, I can't believe that those last couple of books were done draft by draft.
... For him an outline of a novel was strictly a selling device; a device to sell the book to an editor. Once that was accomplished and he had the contract he'd throw the outline away.
. (AW:) He'd sit at the typewriter and crank it out...
. (from: The PKDS Interview with K.W. Jeter conducted by Andy Watson)

PKDS-5 14:

. (AW:) This notion of the minimum hypothesis as a balance to the baroque theorizing is the essence of VALIS. What a lot of readers come away with though is that Philip K. Dick had a genuine theophany. He was contacted by God!
. (KWJ:) Oh, yeah, yeah... Especially after reading THE DIVINE INVASION I was sick of the whole subject matter. I thought, "Well, if Phil wants to believe these things, and if it makes him happy to believe these things, then okay. It's fine. Maybe that's what religion is for. Opiate of the masses, and here is somebody who cooked up his own individual opiate."
(AW:) I felt like DIVINE INVASION lacked the self-effacing humour that made VALIS so wonderful.

PKDS-8 9:

"Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr" served as the basis for the first few chapters of THE DIVINE INVASION; it was definitely written before Phil submitted the outline and got a contract for that book (so novel follows story rather than vice versa). The original title was "The Man Who Knew How To Lose."

PKDS-13 14:

PKDS-25 19:

Vintage Books to issue PKD titles. ... Eight years of effort on the part of Russel Galen at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency have come to fruition with the announcement that Vintage Books, probably the most prestigious literary paperback publisher in the U.S., will be reissuing six Dick novels, with the possibility of more to follow if these do well.
. The first books to be released will be the so-called Valis Trilogy, VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION and THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER, in seperate trade paperback volumes ($10 each), tentatively scheduled for publication in July 1991. The other three Dick novels covered by this agreement are still to be named. I believe that this is the first time Vintage has published any science fiction (with the possible exception of non-genre works like Zamyatin's We).
. What is hoped for is that the books will attract new readers beyond the SF genre and the existing Dick coterie, and that they will be kept in print (mass market paperbacks, as Dick readers well know, tend to come and go like the tide).
. "The idea was to accumulate a large number of major Dick works," Galen told Locus, "so that a publisher could buy them as a group. With the reversion two months ago of a large cache of former Doubleday titles, we finally made our move. Vintage was the only publisher we approached."

PKDS-26 9:

The first Vintage trade paperback editions of PKD will be available in July. VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION, THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER ($10 each). This should do a lot to increase the availability and visibility of Dick's work in the United States, particularly in terms of attracting the attention of non-SF readers. The next three Vintage titles will be, A SCANNER DARKLY, UBIK THE 3 STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH . All three are scheduled for December 1991.

PKDS-28 14:

Tim Powers collection: ... the top copy manuscript of VALIS REGAINED (THE DIVINE INVASION, inscribed, plus the carbon copy manuscript of the same book, also inscribed...

PKDS-29 5:

That curious wasp Charles Platt says that you will print book reviews in which the author pans his own work. Can I do that please? I have no motive except, well, I'd like to see if I can do it. So enclosed you will find my attack on THE DIVINE INVASION, my most recent novel. If, as Platt says, you are secretly financed by David Hartwell, this may prove embarassing, since Hartwell published this novel. Anyhow, as a challenge it fascinates me.
Be sure to let me know if the enclosed review is satisfactory and will see publication.

Chipdip K. Kill's review of THE DIVINE INVASION will be in Venom #3. Meanwhile here is a copy of Venom #2 for your amusement. By the way, we agree that the review is one of the funniest we've ever read. Best. Venom.

{Editor's note (PW): Venom 3 was never published... David Hartwell says the publication was not financed by him, though he "certainly encouraged" its editors, who remain anonymous.}

Kevin Lyons on PKD:

THE DIVINE INVASION (1981) saw Dick taking the next logical step {after VALIS}, with a newborn Martian colonist being returned to earth by his parents as the new Messiah.Sadly, the book is virtually unreadable. A third non-sf novel, THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER (1982), saw Dick still in the theological territory but keeping a better sense of literary balance.

Martin Skidmore on PKD:

THE DIVINE INVASION concerns a much more traditional theological view, with the son of God being born from a human virgin, opposed by the establishment, and battling the devil for human souls...
. Dick's style is, however, much more simple, and it is this, combined with his prodigious output at times in the past, which have unjustly given him a reputation as a 'hack' in some circles. Ursula Le Guin states my views beautifully when she says "the fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation -- this has escaped most critics." The nature of reality and sanity (two closely interlinked concepts) have been the dominant theme through much of his work, and this book is no exception.

Manny, the second son of God, suffers brain damage at a very young age, and much of the book concerns his struggle to understand the nature of the world, and particularly of Zina, a young girl who is his constant companion, but who hides her enigmatic true self from him. Dick leaves the reader in doubt almost to the end as to whether Zina is an agent of God or the devil, or some completely seperate entity. He also examines the problems faced by Manny's legal father, an ordinary human, as the war for the soul of mankind progresses. Herb Asher is constantly at or near the center of the action, yet is completely helpless to influence events in the smallest way. He acts as the typical human observer, and many other characters strike a chord in a person livingt in today's times, thus giving us a stable base from which to view events. Dick is also a master of delightfully humorous interjections...

Neither of these are great books, but they're both good ones, well worth yer 'ard earned cash.

"What bothers you the most?" Elias Tate said. "The fact that Yah was driven off Earth, that he was defeated by the Adversary, or that you have to go back to Earth carrying him inside you?"

IPOV 62fn:

IPOV 194:

I just now looked over DIVINE INVASION. As I recently realised about VALIS, the dialectic that is the inner life of God -- as revealed to Boehme & explicated later by Schelling -- & commented on by e.g. Tillich -- is presented as the very bases of the book. In VALIS it is expressed dramatically as world-order in which the irrational confronts the "bright" or rational, designated (properly) Logos. In DI this same dialectic reappears & this time is stated to be the two sides of God (rather than world order; that is, in DI it is now correctly seen to be within God himself!): it is now (in DI) between Emmanuel who is the terrible, destroying "solar heat" warring side -- & Zina who is loving, playful, tender, associated with bells & flowers; & what unifies the two at last (by the way; it is she who takes the lead in restoring memory & hence unification: Emmanuel is the side that has forgotten -- i.e., is impaired; she has not & is not impaired) is play. She plays, & Emmanuel has a secret desire to play.

So both novels basically deal with the dialectic that I experienced as the nature of Valis & which I construe to be the dynamic inner life of God. If you superimpose both books then you get this equation: (see IPOV 195 for equation)

Really, then DI simply continues the fundamental theme of VALIS -- but does not seem to do so -- not unless one perceives this theme & what it is (the dialectic that is the dynamic inner life of God). DI is not so loose a sequel to VALIS as it might seem (by in the shift from Gnosticism, the present, realism, to Kabbala, the future, that which would not and could not come with POT... {1981 EXEGESIS}

IPOV 199:

In a way I better depict the 3-74 theophany (of Valis) in DI than in VALIS itself. In any case if you superimpose the two novels it is there -- precisely what I lacked when I wrote POT... {1981 EXEGESIS}

IPOV 239

It was not up to the Baptist to teach the xtian kerygma but, rather, to announce the imminant coming of the long-awaited messiah. There is in VALIS a vague kerygma but it is only guesswork (what Sophia says, & she dies anyhow): the Saviour is still yet to come, at the end ov VALIS, explicitly, as if she, too, like the Baptist, only prepares the way "for one Creator." ("Who is yet to come.") Both novels are essentially anticipatory! Even DI Since in DI YHWH has come but has not disclosed to the world his presence (yet). {1981}

Analog, Dec 7, 1981, pp96-97. Review by Tom Easton. Found in PKD OTAKU #8, Jan 2003, pp7-8.

"There is an abomination out there," Cardinal Harms said. "Exodus 22, verse seventeen. 'Thou --'"

"Big Noodle won't let it reach Earth. It must have been intercepted at one of the outer rings of Immigration."

For collectors the major edition is the first from Simon & Schuster. At the turn of the century this edition was still easy to find for about $50. In the bookstores though, if not on the internet, it is becoming more scarce. For the ultimate package on THE DIVINE INVASION we once more peruse Ken Lopez’ online catalog:

VALIS REGAINED. (Published by Simon & Schuster in 1981 as THE DIVINE INVASION). Three manuscripts. Carbon copy typescript, 80 pages, of "VALIS REGAINED/Outline for a science fiction novel." An unpublished outline for the book, with a handwritten note by the author on the first page: "published as `The Divine Invasion'/ Philip K. Dick." And a stray sheet that appears to be a couple of handwritten notes Dick wrote to himself on the subject of Yahweh and his own federal taxes. Together with the ribbon copy typescript, 297 pages, of the full novel, with many typesetter's marks and a few corrections in Dick's hand. Inscribed by the author on the first page: "To Serena & Tim Powers -- my two dearest friends/ Philip K. Dick." Together with a carbon copy typescript, 297 pages, with a handful of minor ink corrections in Dick's hand. Inscribed: "To my best friend/ Tim Powers -/ with thanks &/ appreciation./ Philip K. Dick." The first few pages of the ribbon copy typescript are tattered; otherwise each of the three manuscripts is in very good condition.

{…} For the three manuscripts, which both pertain to Dick's greatest work and also reflect an extraordinary association: $10,000.

Besides the manuscript package Lopez also offers a signed first edition for sale:

THE DIVINE INVASION, Timescape, hb, 1981. NF/NF. Inscribed by Dick to Tim Powers in the year of publication: "This novel will teach you the True religion." Powers noted that "not more than a dozen copies of this title can ever have been inscribed by Dick, and those in the hands of close friends outside the book world." Near fine in near fine dust jacket. An important book; an excellent association; and an exceptional rarity signed. $1750.

		Denoel, pb, Presence du Futur 338, 1982, FF 332 (?) {tr. intoFrench by Alain Doremieux as L'INVASION DIVINE}ISBN: 2-207-50338-0

		Hayakawa, pb, sf3f, 1982, ?, ? (?) {tr. intoJapanese as}
		Moewig, pb, 3650, 1984, ?, ? (?) {tr. into German as DIE GOTTLICHE INVASION}
		Mondadori, ?, 1031, 1986, 176pp, Lit 3000 (Karel Thole) {tr. into Italian as DIVINA INVASIONE in LA TRILOGIA DI VALIS}
		Denoel, pb, Presence du futur, 1986c, ?, ? (?) {tr. intoFrench by Alain Doremieux as L'INVASION DIVINE}

		Ultramar, ?, CF 96, 1990, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Spanish as LA INVASION DIVINA} ISBN: 8473865766. "Bolsillo"
		Mondadori, ?, ? 1993, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Italian as DIVINA INVASIONE in LA TRILOGIA DI VALIS}
		Zysk i S-ka -- Poznan, ?, Kameleon, 1996, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Polish by Lech Jeczmyk as BOZA INWAZJA} ISBN: 83- 7150-135-9

		Denoel, pb, Presence du Futur 338, 1997, ?, ? (?) tr. intoFrench by Alain Doremieux as L'INVASION DIVINE}

Credits Navigation philipdick.com Novels Short Stories References

THE DIVINE INVASION

I had the strangest, most weird sensation for just a second, there," Asher said, "It's gone now. As if this had all happened once before."

HISTORY

OTHER ENGLISH EDITIONS: For Cover Pix Click Here

FOREIGN EDITIONS:

PKDS-2 5:

PKDS-2 7:

PKDS-2 7:

PKDS-4 7:

PKDS-4 11:

PKDS-5 13:

PKDS-5 14:

PKDS-8 9:

PKDS-13 14:

PKDS-25 19:

PKDS-26 9:

PKDS-28 14:

PKDS-29 5:

Kevin Lyons on PKD:

Martin Skidmore on PKD:

IPOV 62fn:

IPOV 194:

IPOV 199:

IPOV 239

		Timescape, hb, 41776-2, Jun 1981, 239pp, $12.95 (Rowena Morrill)

tdi2a.jpg		Corgi, pb, 11893-1, Feb 1982, 243pp, L1.50 (?)

Credits Navigation philipdick.com Novels Short Stories References

THE DIVINE INVASION I had the strangest, most weird sensation for just a second, there," Asher said, "It's gone now. As if this had all happened once before."

HISTORY

OTHER ENGLISH EDITIONS: For Cover Pix Click Here

FOREIGN EDITIONS:

PKDS-2 5:

PKDS-2 7:

PKDS-2 7:

PKDS-4 7:

PKDS-4 11:

PKDS-5 13:

PKDS-5 14:

PKDS-8 9:

PKDS-13 14:

PKDS-25 19:

PKDS-26 9:

PKDS-28 14:

PKDS-29 5:

Kevin Lyons on PKD:

Martin Skidmore on PKD:

IPOV 62fn:

IPOV 194:

IPOV 199:

IPOV 239

THE DIVINE INVASION

I had the strangest, most weird sensation for just a second, there," Asher said, "It's gone now. As if this had all happened once before."