Raphael Aloysius "R. A." Lafferty (November 7, 1914March 18, 2002) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

writer known for his original use of

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

, and

narrative structure Story structure or narrative structure is the recognizable or comprehensible way in which a narrative's different elements are unified, including in a particularly chosen order and sometimes specifically referring to the ordering of the plot: ...

. Lafferty also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and several novels of historical fiction.

Biography

Lafferty was born on November 7, 1914, in Neola, Iowa to devoutly

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parents, Hugh David Lafferty, a broker dealing in oil leases and royalties, and Julia Mary ( Burke), a teacher. He was born the youngest of five siblings. His first name, Raphael, derived from the day on which he was expected to be born (the Feast of St. Raphael). When he was 4, his family moved to Perry, Oklahoma. He graduated from Cascia Hall,"Sci-fi author R.A. Lafferty rites set", ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

'', March 21, 2002. Accessed March 31, 2010. and came of age in the early years of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He later attended night school at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

for two years starting in 1933, mostly studying Math and German, but left before graduating. He then began to work for Clark Electric Co. in

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

and, during this period (1939–42), he attended the International Correspondence School. Per ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', "He taught himself

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

in order to read the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

in the original." He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. After training in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, he was sent to the South Pacific Area, serving in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, Morotai and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. When he left the Army in 1946, he had become a 1st Sergeant serving as a

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

and had received an

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal was a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was create ...

. He never married and lived most of his life in Tulsa with his sister, Anna Lafferty. Lafferty did not begin writing until the 1950s, but he wrote thirty-two novels and more than two hundred short stories, most of them at least nominally science fiction. His first published story was "The Wagons" in the ''New Mexico Quarterly Review'' in 1959. His first published science fiction story was "Day of the Glacier", in ''The Original Science Fiction Stories'' in 1960, and his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

was ''Past Master'' in 1968. He followed it with ''Space Chantey'' (1968), a science fiction retelling of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', and '' Fourth Mansions'' (1969), inspired by

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28March 15154or 15October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during the Counter-Re ...

. Until 1971, Lafferty worked as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. After that, he spent his time writing until around 1980, when his output declined due to a stroke. He stopped writing regularly in 1984. In 1994, he suffered an even more severe stroke. He died on March 18, 2002, aged 87 in a nursing home in

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Broken Arrow is a city in Tulsa and Wagoner counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest suburb of Tulsa. According to the 2020 census, Broken Arrow has a population of 113,540 residents and is the 4th most populous city in the s ...

. His collected papers, artifacts, and ephemera were donated to the University of Tulsa's McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives. Other manuscripts are housed in the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

's Library special collections department. Lafferty's funeral took place at Christ the King Catholic Church in Tulsa, where he regularly attended daily Mass. He is buried at St. Rose Catholic Cemetery in Perry.

Writing style

In his 2006 short story collection '' Fragile Things'',

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

includes a short story called "Sunbird" written in the style of Lafferty. In the introduction, he says this about Lafferty:

There was a writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma (he died in 2002), who was, for a little while in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the best short story writer in the world. His name was R. A. Lafferty, and his stories were unclassifiable and odd and inimitable -- you knew you were reading a Lafferty story within a sentence. When I was young I wrote to him, and he wrote back.
"Sunbird" was my attempt to write a Lafferty story, and it taught me a number of things, mostly how much harder they are than they look....

Gaiman and Lafferty had corresponded for several years during Gaiman's adolescence; he remembered Lafferty's letters as "filled with typical cock-eyed Lafferty humour and observations, wise and funny and sober all at once." Per ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'':

He has fairly been described as a writer of tall tales, as a cartoonist, as an author whose tone was fundamentally oral; his conservative Catholicism has been seen as permeating every word he wrote (or has been ignored); he has been seen as a ransacker of old Mythologies, and as a flippant generator of new ones; he clearly delighted in a vision of the world as being irradiated by conspiracies both godly and devilish, but at times paid scant attention to the niceties of plotting; he has been understood by some as essentially light-hearted and by others as a solitary, stringent moralist; he was technically inventive, but lunged constantly into a slapdash sublime only skittishly evocative, and only occasionally, of anything like the traditional Sense of Wonder; his skill in the deploying of various rhetorical narrative voices was manifest, but these voices were sometimes choked in baroque flamboyance. ... He and
Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and no ...
have more than a shared faith in common.

Themes

Lafferty's quirky prose drew from traditional storytelling styles, largely from the Irish and Native American, and his shaggy-dog characters and tall tales are unique in science fiction. Little of Lafferty's writing is considered typical of the genre. His stories are closer to

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it ...

s than traditional science fiction and are deeply influenced by his

beliefs; '' Fourth Mansions'', for example, draws on ''The Interior Mansions'' of

. His writings, both topically and stylistically, are not easy to categorize. Plot is frequently secondary to other elements of Lafferty's writing. While this style has resulted in a loyal cult following, it causes some readers to give up reading his work. Not all of Lafferty's work was science fiction or fantasy. His novel '' Okla Hannali'' (1972), published by University of Oklahoma Press, tells the story of the

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, and after the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

, in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, through an account of the larger-than-life character Hannali and his large family. This novel was thought of highly by the novelist Dee Brown, author of ''

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West'' is a 1970 non-fiction book by American writer Dee Brown. It explores the history of American expansionism in the American West in the late nineteenth century and its de ...

'' (1970), who on the back cover of the edition published by the

University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...

, writes "The history of the Choctaw Indians has been told before and is still being told, but it has never been told in the way Lafferty tells it ... Hannali is a buffalo bull of a man who should become one of the enduring characters in the literature of the American Indian." He also wrote, "It is art applied to history so that the legend of the Choctaws, their great and small men, their splendid humor, and their tragedies are filled with life and breath." " nce a/nowiki> French publisher nervously asked whether Lafferty minded being compared to G. K. Chesterton (another Catholic author), and there was a terrifying silence that went on and on. Was the great man hideously offended? Eventually, very slowly, he said: 'You're on the right track, kid,' and wandered away."

Awards and recognition

Lafferty received

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

nominations for ''Past Master'', "Continued on Next Rock", "Sky", and "Eurema's Dam", the last of which won the Best Short Story Hugo in 1973 (shared with

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

and Cyril M. Kornbluth's "The Meeting"). He received

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

nominations for "In Our Block", "Slow Tuesday Night", ''Past Master'', ''Fourth Mansions'', "Continued on Next Rock", "Entire And Perfect Chrysolite", and ''The Devil is Dead''. He never received a Nebula award. His collection ''Lafferty in Orbit'' was nominated for a

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

, and in 1990, Lafferty received a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. His 1992 collection ''Iron Tears'' was also a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award. In 2002, he received the Cordwainer Smith Foundation's Rediscovery award. The Oklahoma Department of Libraries granted him the

Arrell Gibson Arrell Morgan Gibson (1921–1987) was a historian and author specializing in the history of the state of Oklahoma. Gibson was born in Pleasanton, Kansas on December 1, 1921. He earned degrees from Missouri Southern State College and the Univers ...

Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. '' Fourth Mansions'' was also named by

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

as one of his selections for '' Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels''.

Selected works

Lafferty's work is represented by Virginia Kidd Literary Agency, which holds a cache of his unpublished manuscripts."R.A. Lafferty (1914–2002), ''Locus'', May 2002, p.9, 68. This includes over a dozen novels, such as ''In The Akrokeraunian Mountains'' and ''Iron Tongue of Midnight'', as well as about eighty short stories and a handful of essays.

Novels

Science fiction

* '' Past Master'' (1968); Hugo Award nominee, 1969; Nebula Award nominee 1968 * '' The Reefs of Earth'' (1968) * '' Space Chantey'' (1968); a retelling of the ''

'' in SF terms * '' Fourth Mansions'' (1969); Nebula Award nominee, 1970 * '' The Devil is Dead'' (1971); Nebula Award nominee, 1972 econd chronologically in The Devil is Dead trilogy* '' Arrive at Easterwine: The Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine'' (1971) * '' Not to Mention Camels'' (1976) * ''

Archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

'' (1979); irst chronologically in The Devil is Dead trilogy* '' Aurelia'' (1982); Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 1982 * '' Annals of Klepsis'' (1983) * '' Serpent's Egg'' (1987) * '' East of Laughter'' (1988) * '' How Many Miles to Babylon?'' (1989) * '' The Elliptical Grave'' (1989) * '' Dotty'' (1990) * '' More Than Melchisedech'' (1992); hird chronologically in The Devil is Dead trilogy, consists of three novels** '' Tales of Chicago'' ** '' Tales of Midnight'' ** ''

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

'' * '' Sindbad: The Thirteenth Voyage'' (1989)

Other

* '' The Flame is Green'' (1971); irst in the unfinished Coscuin Chronicles* '' Okla Hannali'' (1972) * '' Half a Sky'' (1984) econd in the unfinished Coscuin Chronicles

Collections

* '' Nine Hundred Grandmothers'' (1970) * '' Strange Doings'' (1972) * '' Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?'' (1974) * '' Funnyfingers & Cabrito'' (1976) * '' Apocalypses'' (1977) * '' Golden Gate and Other Stories'' (1982) * '' Through Elegant Eyes'' (1983) * '' Ringing Changes'' (1984) * '' The Early Lafferty'' (1988) * '' The Back Door of History'' (1988) * '' Strange Skies'' (1988); poems * '' The Early Lafferty II'' (1990) * '' Episodes of the Argo'' (1990) * '' Lafferty in Orbit'' (1991); World Fantasy Award nominee, 1992 * '' Mischief Malicious (And Murder Most Strange)'' (1991) * '' Iron Tears'' (1992); Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 1992 * '' The Man Who Made Models – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 1'' (2014) * '' The Man With the Aura – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 2'' (2015) * ''The Man Underneath – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 3'' (2015) * ''The Man With The Speckled Eyes – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 4'' (2017) * ''The Man Who Walked Through Cracks – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 5'' (2018) * ''The Man Who Never Was – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 6'' (2021) * ''Mad Man – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 7'' (2023) * '' The Best of R. A. Lafferty'' (2019)

Non-fiction

* '' The Fall of Rome'' (1971); reprinted in 1993 as ''Alaric: The Day the World Ended'' * '' It's Down the Slippery Cellar Stairs'' (1984) * '' True Believers'' (1989) * '' Cranky Old Man from Tulsa'' (1990)

Short stories

* "Through Other Eyes" (''Future Science Fiction'', February 1960) * "All the People" (''Galaxy Science Fiction'', April 1961) * "The Weirdest World" (''Galaxy'', June 1961) * "Aloys" (''Galaxy'', August 1961) * "Rainbird" (''Galaxy'', December 1961) * "Dream" (''Galaxy'', June 1962) * "Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas" (''Galaxy'', December 1962) * "What the Name of That Town?" (''Galaxy'', October 1964) * "Slow Tuesday Night" (''Galaxy'', April 1965) * "Among the Hairy Earthmen" (''Galaxy'', August 1966) * " Land of the Great Horses" (''

Dangerous Visions ''Dangerous Visions'' is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967 and contained 33 stories, none of which had been previously publishe ...

'', 1967) * "Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" (''Galaxy'', February 1967) * "How They Gave It Back" (''Galaxy'', February 1968) * "McGruder's Marvels" (''Galaxy'', July 1968) * " Eurema's Dam" ('' New Dimensions II'', 1972) * "The World as Will and Wallpaper", the title a wordplay on ''

The World as Will and Representation ''The World as Will and Representation'' (''WWR''; , ''WWV''), sometimes translated as ''The World as Will and Idea'', is the central work of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The first edition was published in late 1818, with the date ...

'' (Future City, 1973)

References

External links

;Digital editions * ** * * * ;Fan pages
R. A. Lafferty Devotional Page

Feast of Laughter
a semi-annual fanzine dedicated to R. A. Lafferty