"Lafferty deliberately creates the mythic effect through a technique I call effective arcanum, and that rather than examining his work with the conventional tools of science fiction criticism, we need to examine his system — firstly for our pleasure, and secondly so that we may re-create it (because the sign of an authentic religo-magical system is the power of the followers to reproduce the results)."
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Fantasy authorsScience fiction authors from the United StatesAbsurdistsNovelists from the United StatesShort story writers from the United States
Original Language: English
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Don Webb, in "R. A. Lafferty: Effective Arcanum" at Revolution Science Fiction
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._A._Lafferty
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R. A. Lafferty
Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (7 November 1914 – 18 March 2002) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, famous for his humorous use of metaphor, narrative structure, and language in his very peculiar forms of etymological wit.
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