M&D as Illuminatus, Historical

[Matt Treyvaud]

On Fri, 18 Dec 1998, Michael Baum wrote:

> On Fri, 18 Dec 1998 08:04:54 PST, zeno the zetetic wrote:
> 
> >Has anyone noticed the various R.A.Wilson references in Mason and Dixon 
> >and the entire books parallels with R.A.W.s "Historical Illuminatus 
> >Trilogy"?
> 
> This would be as opposed to the Illuminatus! boffo trilogy? Some
> masochistic part of me would like to see some elaboration on this
> comment. 

Yes, there were two "Illuminatus!" trilogies. One of them was by Bob Shea
and Robert Anton Wilson, released in 1975, and became a cult underground
etc. favourite. The other was just by Robert Anton Wilson, came out late
80s-early 90s, and sank without a trace (it's not even in print any more).

The first one was a psychedelic 'dare to be stupid' analysis of everything
with some great literary moments rubbing shoulders with ham-fisted
miscagenations of words, and has been compared to "Gravity's Rainbow" by
some (it's more like "Sesame Street meets Gravity's Rainbow", if you ask
me). It dealt with just about all of human history, half historically,
half idiotically, but took special delight in pointing out Freemasonic/
Illuminated things that had happened during the founding of America, as
well as detailing the historical evidence for G.W. smoking marijuana. 

The second one was much more sedate, was more about psychology and
spiritualism than psychedelia, and was set only in the past (around the
time of the French Revolution, when secret societies had to book their
meeting halls two weeks in advance because of overcrowding). Its writing
(not its ideas or its point, the actual use of language) was much more
even than the first trilogies, which unfortunately put it generally a
shade or two above mediocre.

Hope this helps.

Matt

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