The Illuminatus! Trilogy

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The Rashomon: Just when, where, why, and how the Illuminati came to be varies wildly depending on who's telling the story. Most agree it started on Atlantis, but the rest is up to debate. Now they saw trains, many trains, all of them running on time, and the trains criss-crossed Europe and ran 24 hours a day, and they all came to a few destinations that were alike. There, the human cargo was stamped, catalogued, processed, executed with gas, tabulated, recorded, stamped again, cremated and disposed. Submission is identified not with cowardliness, but with virtue, rebellion not with heroism, but with evil. Stella giggled and kissed his mouth briefly. 'It takes a lot to get those words out of you, doesn't it?' she said bemusedly.

Illuminatus - Wikipedia Illuminatus - Wikipedia

The narrative is experimental; Wilson has an obvious admiration of Joyce that shows up not just here, but also in his lectures and more autobiographical books. As such, it jumps between characters, places, and times, sometimes mid-paragraph, sometimes entering stream-of-consciousness. This may make it difficult for readers who feel that whatever Wilson and Shea are getting at isn't worth the headache. You need to be on your toes, but it's probably best to just "roll with it" and not spend overlong trying to tie every piece together. In any case, re-readings can consistently reveal new interrelationships.No Fourth Wall: The main characters eventually learn that they are characters in the book itself, being narrated by an all-powerful, overseeing AI. Of course, the book is so perspective-jumping and Mind Screw-filled that what the "truth" is is intentionally left up to the reader. In an earlier example, twice in the book the associate editor of "Confrontation" (the magazine that several of the characters are associated with) calls up his book reviewer to ask about the progress of his latest review. The books described by the book reviewer are obviously the Illuminatus! trilogy itself (for added humor, the book reviewer has nothing but contempt for the trilogy's length, shifting perspective, complicated plot, or frequent use of sex, drugs, and obscene language). The themes in these book - Lovecraftian, erotic, science fiction, conspiracy, new age - have, for better or worse, embedded themselves in the minds of those who will not accept that state authority is anything other than oppressive. Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Tobias Knight goes this trope one better, being described as the only quintuple agent in the history of espionage. I can certainly say I liked it, but it's hard to say how much. Some parts were better than others, but there are many parts to be considered. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the numerous asides and allusions to be distracting. If one piqued my interest, I looked it up and more often than not, learned something entirely new. Some didn't intrigue me as much, and I was happy to let them be. A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of “monopoly on the means of production.” Since man extends his nervous system through channels of communications like the written word, the telephone, radio, etc., he who controls these media controls part of the nervous system of every member of society. The contents of these media become part of the contents of every individual’s brain.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Penguin Random House Canada From The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Penguin Random House Canada

World of Mysteries: The main storyline does get resolved, but there are lots of side plotlines which are either completely unresolved or provide contradictory answers regarding "who's behind what" and "who works for whom" (such as Mama Sutra's story about the Cult of the Yellow Sign). Betty and Veronica: Arguably Stella and Mavis, for George. Subverted in that they turn out to be the same person (or rather, Goddess). What a strange, strange trilogy that I *unfortunately* was not able to finish. I was 1/4 way through "Leviathan" (the third and final book in the trilogy) before calling it quits. It got so repetitive to read and the stuff they daresay call "humor" was well, kinda boring and not original at all. I'm re-reading this now, and felt I should clarify my position on this book, as I often list it as one of my favorites. The Atoner: Gruad the Greyface, a.k.a. the Dealy Lama, is either this or a Hero with Bad Publicity, depending on who you ask. Of course, if you ask him, he'll probably tell you that he's actually a Villain with Good Publicity— we ultimately learn that he engineered his own bad publicity as part of being The Atoner.The book is at its least effective when it is taking itself seriously, particularly in the appendices. When it seems to believe in its own conspiracies or Burroughs' bizarre understanding of history, it becomes a victim of its own joke.