M&D Capitalizatio

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jd [mailto:wescac at gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 04:44 AM
> To: 'pynchonoid'
> Cc: 'Pynchon-L'
> Subject: Re: M&D Capitalizatio
> 
> I'm not generally one for solid statements given that often such
> things are a matter of opinion, but as someone who grew up from being
> a hardcore Robert Anton Wilson fan due to Illuminatus

Wilson and co-conspirator Robert Shea did borrow a few ideas from letters to the editor they received at Playboy, but most of the influence on their collaboration came from the broader gestalt of an era that was obsessed with esoteric arcana and increasingly paranoid about all manner of conspiracies. 

"He and I were talking one night over bloody marys and peanuts," recalls Wilson, "and he says, 'What if every conspiracy theory is true?' It began as satire, but a lot of people were really scared by it. Which makes sense, because some of it has got to be true." 

from interview http://www.rawilson.com/metro.shtml

I could easily imagine a Pynchon blurb for Illuminatus!