Significance of VALIS

Valis refers to two entities in the novel. In capital letters, as VALIS, it is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System. The Great Soviet Dictionary (6th ed., 1992), quoted as a prefix to the novel, claims that this derives from the American low-budget science fiction motion picture of the same name. In the movie, Valis, VALIS is shown as a satellite too old to have been launched from Earth. It is able to control reality. The film, made in 1976, depicts many of the mysterious events that befall Horselover Fat in 1974. Written by and starring rock star Eric ("Mother Goose") Lampton and his wife Linda as themselves, it suggests that an extraterrestrial force replaces the President of the United States, who is based on Richard M. Nixon, by an electronics wizard, Nicholas Brady. VALIS is synonymous with Zebra and, in some contexts, with God/gods.