M&D as Illuminatus, Historical

[Matt Treyvaud]

On Fri, 18 Dec 1998 Cchoskin at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 98-12-18 18:40:05 EST, m.treyvaud writes:
> 
> << The first one was a psychedelic 'dare to be stupid' analysis of everything
>  with some great literary moments >>
> 
> But then goes on to trash the book.
> Am reading this now and it strikes me more as a Monty Python dare to be loony
> extended sketch.  What might be more interesting for our non-60's friends
> would be to read this in conjunction with VL to get a feel for the general
> 60's looniness and mindset. Combined of course with a generous amount of hemp
> smoking.
> I have a feeling you are supposed to be stoned when you read this or at least
> get the feeling that you are.
> I thought it was kind of fun.

I actually didn't mean to trash it. I've read it at least half a dozen
times (am I revealing too much?) and I made a point of tracking down the
original 3-volume printing for my collection.. at any rate, it's one of my
favourites. What I really meant was that a lot of the prose is, uh,
sophomoric-cringeworthy. For people willing to embrace encyclopedic head
humour, that aspect of it is charming lo-fi flavour.. just part of the
joke, really. People with no patience for that would probably just find
the book childish and irritating. _I!_ is a college comedy revue, _GR_ is
a professional Shakespeare company's production of _The Tempest_..?

When I said that it was like Gravity's Rainbow meets Sesame Street, I
meant that as an extreme compliment. ;)

Matt

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 Matt Treyvaud, Abbr. Prim.                       (R.I.P. Kerry Thornley)
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