History Literature / VALIS

** And then you read ''Radio Free Albumeth'' (yes, the movie of the film ''VALIS'' mentioned in-novel), ''The Divine Invasion'', and ''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer'' and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation your brain may slowly melt away]] [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence to some plane of higher existence]]. Either that or you'll need therapy. Lots, and lots of therapy.
* TakingYouWithMe: this is a strange variation on this trope, but Sherrie enacts a psychological version of this as she spirals towards her death, pulling everyone who knows her with her (particularly Fat ([[UnreliableNarrator according to]] [[PointOfView him, anyway]])).
* ThirdEye: your interpretation may vary but, generally, the third eye is either something all humans possess which, if opened, would allow them to free themselves of the Iron Fortress and the vestiges of time; or it can be used to brainwash and condemn humans to an earthbound existence of depression. There is the co-joined idea that those with a third eye are aliens, and have possibly reached out through a satellite to interact with the human mind. Possibly Fat's. The "possible"s are [[SelfDemonstratingArticle probably necessary]].
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: it's really difficult to tell whether Fat is insane or his reality is literally manifesting itself in strange and unusual ways due to the result of either a caretaker deity, a NeglectfulPrecursor to the human race, aliens, or an EldritchAbomination... and probably about another twenty different possible causative factors if his reality ''is'' [[RealityWarper being warped]]. However, if he is insane (even [[DrivenToMadness if his insanity is due to something]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane supra-natural]]), then this trope may be in effect. It becomes very difficult by the end to find distinct boundaries between Fat's neurosis/(possible)psychosis and reality, and even then the question raised is "''is'' there any definition?" However, since he has a split personality that manifests itself and which he talks to repeatedly on a daily basis, the answer may simply be "Yes. He's a paranoid schizophrenic. Next patient please?"
* UnreliableNarrator: it's not really that Fat is unreliable, but his reality is. Arguably.
* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Except that it was, [[LampshadeHanging as the narrator says multiple times]].

* DeusEstMachina: Possibly?

* KillSat: well, sorta

* UnreliableNarrator: it's not really that Fat is unreliable, but his reality is. Arguably. [[OrIsIt Maybe...]]

Thus, the book begins. Throughout, Horselover Fat is confronted by the Soviet Union, Satan (in the form of [[RonaldReagan Ferris F Fremount]]), Jesus, alien space lasers, and his own possible madness.

Thus, the book begins. Throughout, Horselover Fat is confronted by the Soviet Union, Satan (in the form of [[RichardNixon Ferris F Fremount]]), Jesus, alien space lasers, and his own possible madness.

Thus, the book begins. Throughout, Horselover Fat is confronted by the Soviet Union, Satan (in the form of [[RonaldReagan Ferris F Fremount]]), Jesus, alien space lasers, and his own possible madness.

* JerkassWoobie: [[spoiler:Sherrie,]] a misanthropic cancer patient.

* ParanoiaFuel: you will never see the color pink the same way again. EVER.

PhilipKDick's second to last completed novel, ''VALIS'', is about his own experiences with ''something'' in 1974. Drugs? Schizophrenia? Alien intervention? And what does the name Horselove Fat mean? [[MindScrew It's difficult to say]], but it's certainly some kind of novel.

** And then you read his ''Exegesis'' (yes the same one mentioned in-novel), and ''Radio Free Albumeth'' (yes, the movie of the film ''VALIS'' mentioned in-novel) and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation your brain may slowly melt away]] [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence to some plane of higher existence]]. Either that or therapy. Lots, and lots of therapy.

*** [[spoiler: Debatable. The novel is written in the 3rd person, where both Fat and Philip are treated as separate entities, however the novel is ''written by'' Horselover Fat[[hottip:*:See Chapter 1]]. Hence Philip's consciousness is tied into the persona of Fat, he adopts the personality in an attempt to diverge and distance himself from the identity of Philip. This is the only way he can cope with the weight of existence within reality - the Black Iron Prison. That's why when Sophia finally is introduced, he sees a solution and his cognitive processes coalesce back into the central identity of Philip, but when she dies, he reverts. If Fat was a hallucination there would be no point-of-view to work from and he would act as an external intrusion, but instead the point of view is introspective where ''Philip'' is extruded from the central subjective view of reality. Schizophrenic yes, but you can't really argue for him being ''not''dissociative when the entire point of Fat's existence is as a refuge so Philip can dissociate himself from reality. It doesn't need to manifest as classical disocciative identity disorder with a psychotic fugue or black-outs - you could easily stamp him with the label "atypical" and the DSM-IV wouldn't argue with you.]][[hottip:*:Fat debates this himself at the end of chapter 7, for anyone who's interested.]] However, considering the amount of YMMV, MindScrew and [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory symbolic interpretations]] ([[ParanoiaFuel paranoia to follow), there are undoubtedly other ways to view this scenario.

** [[spoiler: Makes a great deal more sense if you consider that Fat probably isn't supposed to be another personality, but a hallucination. Another personality would take over Philip's body periodically, and leave Philip with holes in his memory. It's pretty clear in the novel that Philip believes in Fat's existence, but everyone else thinks its a hallucination. If Fat were another personality, Philip would be in the dark. It's possible his friends went to the airport because they were tired of arguing with Philip. He's schizophrenic, not dissociative.]] But... still a MindScrew.

* [[RuleOfThree MindScrew]]

** For example, Fat drops a man named Phil off at the airport. Phil is a friend of his and he goes overseas for a year or so to get his head around the vents that happened in-book. He sends Fat postcards of where he's been, and told him about a woman he's been seeing. Phil eventually comes home and Fat and his friends go to the airport and welcome him back from his journey, of which he has many photos. During this entire time, Fat was staying at home and spent most of his time watching TV all day, and meeting periodically with his friends. Okay, have you got all that? Good. All right. [[spoiler: Phil is Fat's split personality.]] Have a nice day now.

** [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou The reader.]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeanToKnow By the end of the book.]]

* WildMassGuessing: the hypotheses that Fat, his alternate personality, and their group of friends start churning out to try to explain the possible grinding humdrum of psychosis, insanity, the tedious events of everyday life, and the coming of a new messiah to earth to release man from the sins of a destructive Creator god who imprisoned all human form within a fortress that may or may not exist overlaid in multiple dimensions on top of our own reality. Generally. Depending on what part of his exegesis Fat is detailing, you may get an addition of ancient greek languages, the dichotomy of early christian symbols, the possibility of 3-eyed aliens from whom humans originally came (and who have come back to free humanity from the Iron Fortress), and philosophical debates on the nature of life and death. You may need a neck brace to deal with the Ideological Whiplash.

** The reader. [[ThereAreThingsManIsNotMeanToKnow By the end of the book.]]

** For example, Fat drops a man named Phil off at the airport. Phil is a friend of his and he goes overseas for a year or so to get his head around the vents that happened in-book. He sends Fat postcards of where he's been, and told him about a woman he's been seeing. Phil eventually comes home and Fat and his friends go to the airport to welcome him back to America. During this entire time, Fat was staying at home and spent most of his time watching TV all day. Okay, have you got all that? Good. All right. [[spoiler: Phil is Fat's split personality.]] Have a nice day now.

* ParanoiaFuel

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: it's really difficult to tell whether Fat is insane or his reality is literally manifesting itself in strange and unusual ways due to the result of either a caretaker deity, a NeglectfulPrecursor to the human race, aliens, or an EldritchAbomination... and probably about another twenty different possible causative factors if his reality ''is'' [[RealityWarper being warped]]. However, if he is insane (even [[DrivenToMadness if his insanity is due to something]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane supra-natural]]), then this trope may be in effect. It becomes very difficult by the end to find distinct boundaries between Fat's neurosis/(possible)psychosis and reality, and even then the question raised is "''is'' there any definition?" However, since he has a split personality that manifests itself, and who he has talked to ''very'' frequently, the answer may simply be "Yes. He's a paranoid schizophrenic. Next patient please?"

Thus, the book begins. Throughout, Horselover Fat is confronted by the Soviet Union, Satan (in the form of [[RichardNixon Ferris F Fremount]]), Jesus, alien space lasers, and his own possible madness.

Thus, the book begins. Throughout, Horselover Fat is confronted by the Soviet Union, Satan (in the form of [[RonaldReagan Ferris F Fremount]]), Jesus, alien space lasers, and his own possible madness.