the ILLUMINATUS trilogy 1.1.1

...in the first of a new series of Books-at-Beat-Time, enrique che pelligro proudly presents book 1, chapter 1.1 of the ILLUMINATUS trilogy by robert shea and robert anton wilson, read by ken campbell and chris fairbank to beats supplied by rob303 from his youtube playlist noomtunes...

...KETHER - Eschaton : Confrontation Bombing : A Heavy Case : Hexagram 23...

"This book's as freaked out as they come and a gas of a read." – Publisher's Weekly

"The longest shaggy joke in literary history…. A hundred pages in I couldn’t figure out why I was wasting my time with this nonsense…after three hundred I was having too much fun to quit, and by the end I was eager to believe every word – even if the only conspiracy at work here is Shea and Wilson’s devilish exploitation of our need to made ordered sense out of everything under the sun…. I loved it." – Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone

“All the ingredients: kinky sex, raunchy language, and a fantasy plot that oscillated between a schizoid nightmare and a psychedelic dream." – Booklist

“…akin to some of the work of Thomas Pynchon…Illuminatus! is one of the great American satires.” -- Berkeley Barb

...An audacious proposal by the English experimental theater director and actor Ken Campbell to stage Illuminatus! in its entirety at The National Theatre in London was met with surprisingly open arms, given its inordinate length: a cycle of five plays (The Eye of the Pyramid; Swift Kick Inc.; The Man Who Murdered God; Walpurgisnacht Rock; and Leviathan)^[35] each consisting of five 23-minute-long acts. It became the very first production at the National's Cottesloe Theatre space,, running from 4 March to 27 March 1977. It had first opened in Liverpool on 23 November 1976. The first night of the London version featured Robert Anton Wilson, accompanied by Shea, as a naked extra in the witches' sabbat scene. Wilson was delighted with the adaptation, saying:

I was thunderstruck at what a magnificent job they did in capturing the exact tone and mixture of fantasy and reality in the book. I've come to the conclusion that this isn't literature. It's too late in the day for literature. This is magic!!

—^[7]

In thanks, Wilson dedicated his Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (1977) to "Ken Campbell and the Science-Fiction Theatre Of Liverpool, England."

The 23-strong cast featured several actors, such as Jim Broadbent, David Rappaport and Chris Langham, who went on to successful film, stage and television careers. Broadbent alone played more than a dozen characters in the play.^[36] Bill Drummond designed sets for the show, and it was eventually seen (when it moved to London, with Bill Nighy then joining the cast) by the young Jimmy Cauty. The duo later went on to form the Illuminatus!-inspired electronica band The KLF. The play was later staged in Seattle, Washington in 1978.^[37]

An attempt was made to adapt the trilogy in comic book form beginning in the 1980s, by "Eye N Apple Productions" headed by Icarus!-23. Icarus! met with Wilson in 1984 and subsequently obtained permission from Wilson's agent to adapt the trilogy. Illuminatus! #1 was issued in July 1987, then reissued in substantially revised form later that year by Rip Off Press (who had published the original 4th edition of the Principia Discordia in 1970). A second issue followed in 1990, and a third in March 1991, after which the venture stalled (although several ashcans of the as yet unpublished Fourth Trip were distributed at comic book conventions in the Detroit and Chicago areas between 1991 and 2006). Each comic covered one "trip" from the original trilogy, so had further issues followed this pattern, there would have been ten issues in total. The "new first issue" contained a letter from Bob Shea, who had seen the first issue and the materials for the next two. He wrote in part, "I'm delighted. I think it is very faithful to the novel and does a wonderful job of translating the spirit of the novel into a visual medium."^[38] The creators of the comic also made an Illuminatus! discussion room on Citadel bulletin board systems.

...and now, to this partial list of adaptations, rfsMojofilter respectfully submit this Books-at-Beat-Time presentation of the ILLUMINATUS trilogy, serialised over the coming months...

...in memoriam Ken Campbell 1941-2008...

...anotherQUATILYproduct...

...if you can't wait for the next thrilling trip, get the whole thing unfiltered here...

...and for you readers out there, get the pdf here...