Typed Letter Signed [TLS] to Claudia Bush - The Sour Cream and Godot Letter

A two-page (2pp) typed letter signed. The sour cream and Godot letter. Dated February 22nd 1975. The letter is signed by PKD with six corrections and a postscript all in the author's hand. Addressed to Claudia Bush. Bush commenced her dialogue with PKD whilst writing her thesis on him for her MA at Idaho State University. The thesis was published as "The Splintered Shards: Reality and Illusion in the Novels of Philip K. Dick." Much of the Bush correspondence is held in the Willis E. McNelly collection at California State University Fullerton; they are scarce in commerce. This letter is written in the aftermath of his VALIS visions of 1974, which happened shortly after a wisdom tooth operation. Dick received a home delivery of opioids from a woman wearing a Christian Ichthys necklace. The symbol emitted a pink beam of light which was the catalyst for months of visionary experiences, including Dick's belief that his mind had been invaded by a benign but separate consciousness. The period of PKD's visions began in February or March of 1974, and continued for anywhere between two and 12 months. In What if Our World is Their Heaven, Dick asserts that this separate consciousness was present "for one year. From February 1974 to February 1975" (p. 149). A particularly PKD-esque letter wherein PKD affectionately chides Claudia for her misunderstanding of the sour cream scene in UBIK, and its relationship to time, decay and the 'supposedly unliving world of things'. The letter then continues, on 'another subject.but not really', to discuss time and existence in Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Signed with the usual Phil and arrow-struck heart sketch. Staining to the edges, but nice enough.…