the ILLUMINATUS trilogy 1.2.2

...AT LAST! - BACK by POPULAR DEMAND! it's the next gripping installment of BOOKS at BEAT TIME hosted by the Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu NATION theirselves, recorded LIVE, WITHOUT a NET at the Electric Pigsty, PZ...  

Adaptations

An audacious proposal by the English experimental theater director Ken Campbell to stage Illuminatus! in its entirety at The National Theatre in London was met with surprisingly open arms, particularly 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—each consisting of five 23-minute-long acts.^[34]
Sir Peter Hall, director of the National at the time, wrote of Campbell in his Diaries, "He is a total anarchist and impossible to pin down. He more or less said it was a crime to be serious." ^[35]
The adaptation 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]
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. Drummond and Cauty later went on to form the Illuminatus!-inspired electronica band The KLF.
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 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.

Influence

The infamous 1980s computer hacker Karl Koch was heavily influenced by The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Besides adopting the pseudonym "Hagbard" from the character Hagbard Celine, he also named his computer "FUCKUP," after a computer designed and built by that character. He was addicted to cocaine and became extremely paranoid, convinced he was fighting the Illuminati like his literary namesake. In 1987 he wrote a rambling seven-page "hacking manifesto of sorts, complete with his theories on Hagbard Celine and the Illuminati."^[39] The 1998 German motion picture 23 told a dramatized version of his story; Robert Anton Wilson appeared as himself.
A card game inspired by the trilogy, Illuminati was created by Steve Jackson Games. Using the Illuminatus! books as "spiritual guides but not as actual source material," it incorporated competing conspiracies of the Bavarian Illuminati and Discordians and others, though no characters or groups specific to the novels.^[40] A trading card game (Illuminati: New World Order) and role-playing game supplement (GURPS Illuminati) followed. The instruction booklets' bibliographies praise the novel and Wilson particularly, calling Illuminatus! in part "required reading for any conspiracy buff". Robert Shea provided a four-paragraph introduction to the rulebook for the Illuminati Expansion Set 1 (1983), in which he wrote, "Maybe the Illuminati are behind this game. They must be—they are, by definition, behind everything." Despite this initial involvement, Wilson later criticized some of these products for exploiting the Illuminatus! name without paying royalties (taking advantage of what he viewed as a legal loophole).^[41]
The Illuminatus Trilogy! is steeped with references to the 1960s popular music scene (at one point a list of 200 fictional bands performing at the Walpurgisnacht rock festival is reeled off (including a handful of actual bands of the 60s), and there are numerous references to the famous rock and roll song, "Rock Around the Clock"), and has influenced many bands and musicians. One of the aliases of anarchic British band The KLF was named after a secret society from the trilogy.^[42] They released much of their early material under the name "The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu"/"The JAMMs", cf. "The Justified Ancients of Mummu"/"The JAMs" from the trilogy, and much of their work was Discordian in nature. They mirrored the fictional JAMs' gleeful political tactics of causing chaos and confusion by bringing a direct, humorous but nevertheless revolutionary approach to making records. The American band Machines of Loving Grace took the name of a sex act performed by one of the main characters during a Black Mass for the title of their song "Rite of Shiva" on their eponymous album.^[43] UK chillout maestro Mixmaster Morris also named his band The Irresistible Force after one that appears at the festival in the last part of the trilogy. Together with Coldcut he organised a huge Robert Anton Wilson Memorial Show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 18 March 2007.
In general, The Illuminatus! Trilogy can be credited with popularizing the genre of conspiracy fiction,^[44] a field later mined by authors like Umberto Eco (Foucault's Pendulum) and Dan Brown (Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol), comic book writers like Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, From Hell), Dave Sim (Cerebus) and Grant Morrison (The Invisibles), and screenwriters like Chris Carter (The X-Files) and Damon Lindelof (Lost).^[45] In particular, the regular use of the Illuminati in popular culture as shadowy central puppet masters in this type of fiction can be traced back to their exposure via The Illuminatus! Trilogy.^[46]

...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...

the ILLUMINATUS trilogy 1.2.1

...Hopalong Horus Rides Again, HANG ON for some Metaphysics, rfsMojofilter are BACK with Books-at-Beat-Time, it's the ILLUMINATUS trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, book 1, chapter 2.1, it's the second trip, or chokmah, breathlessly read by ken campbell and chris fairbank to afro beats supplied by enrique che pelligro for rfs...

...CHOKMAH - Mach Management - George Prepared...

...The Aneristic Principle is that of ORDER, the Eristic Principle is that of DISORDER. On the surface, the Universe seems (to the ignorant) to be ordered; this is the ANERISTIC ILLUSION. Actually, what order is "there" is imposed on primal chaos in the same sense that a person's name is draped over his actual self. It is the job of the scientist, for example, to implement this principle in a practical manner and some are quite brilliant at it. But on closer examination, order dissolves into disorder, which is the ERISTIC ILLUSION.

-Malaclypse the Younger, K.S.C., Principia Discordia...

The titles of the three volumes or parts (the front covers were titled Illuminatus! Part I The Eye in the Pyramid, Illuminatus! Part II The Golden Apple and Illuminatus! Part III Leviathan) refer to recurring symbols of elements of the plot.
The Eye in the Pyramid refers to the Eye of Providence, which in the novel represents particularly the Bavarian Illuminati, and makes a number of appearances (for example, as an altar and a tattoo).
The Golden Apple refers to the Golden apple of discord, from the Greek myth of the Judgement of Paris. In the trilogy it is used as the symbol of the Legion of Dynamic Discord, a Discordian group; the golden apple makes a number of appearances, for example, on the cover, on a black flag, and as an emblem on a uniform.
Leviathan refers to the Biblical sea monster Leviathan, which is a potential danger to Hagbard's submarine Leif Erickson (from the name of the Icelandic discoverer of America).
The three parts of the trilogy are subdivided into five "books" named after the five seasons of the Discordian calendar. These books are also subdivided into ten "trips" named after the ten Sephirot. The last trip's conclusion is followed by fourteen appendices named after letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, which share their names with paths on the Tree of Life. The first page of the Appendix includes this mysterious note: "There were originally 22 appendices explaining the secrets of the Illuminati. Eight of the appendices were removed due to the paper shortage. They will be printed in heaven", while "Appendix Mem" states: "Where are the missing eight appendices? Answer: Censored." This appears to be another of the authors' jokes, although it is true that eight letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are missing, and the publisher required the authors to cut 500 pages from the book.^[3]

...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...

the ILLUMINATUS trilogy 1.1.2

...HOLD ON, 'cos this one's a SHOCKER, rfsMojofilter are BACK with Books-at-Beat-Time, it's the ILLUMINATUS trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, book 1, chapter 1.2, read by ken campbell and chris fairbank to beats supplied by djTwolegs, produced by enrique che pelligro for rfs...

...Mad-Dog County Jail - Rock till Daylight - Carmel Bugs - A bit Thick...

...meanwhile, the magazine's reporter, George Dorn – having been turned loose without support deep in right-wing Mad Dog, Texas – is arrested for possession of drugs. He is jailed and physically threatened, at one point hallucinating about his own execution...

Conspiracies

The Eye in the Pyramid

as represented by The Great Seal of the United States on a dollar bill

Although the many conspiracy theories in the book are (presumably) imaginary, these are mixed in with enough truth to make them seem plausible. For example, the title of the first book, The Eye in the Pyramid, refers to the Eye of Providence, a mystical symbol which derives from the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus and is rumored to be the symbol of the Bavarian Illuminati. Some of America's founding fathers are alleged by conspiracy theorists to have been members of this sect.^[9]

The books are loaded with references to the Illuminati, the Argenteum Astrum, many and various world domination plans, conspiracy theories and pieces of gnostic knowledge. Many of the odder conspiracies in the book are taken from unpublished letters to Playboy magazine, where the authors were working as associate editors while they wrote the novels. Among the oddest, the suggestion that Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, killed George Washington and took on his identity as President of the United States is often noted in Illuminati-conspiracy discussion.^[10] Proponents of this theory point to Washington's portrait on the United States one-dollar bill, which they suggest closely resembles the face of Weishaupt.

...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...

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...