"In this essay Didion recalls James Pike, the charismatic and controversial fifth Episcopalian Bishop of California at once eulogizing and raising questions about his legacy, unpacking the ways in which the remarkably diversity of accomplishments and passions are riddled with contradictions in a manner that makes his character, in some way, a microcosm for the psychology of the state where he was made bishop.A thinly veiled fictionalized version of this essay is criticized in Philip K. Dick's fictionalized memoir/biography of James Pike, "The Transmigration of Timothy Archer" which was published posthumously as the third volume in Dick's VALIS Trilogy.