SEC S17W3: Tribute to the Book - Illuminatus!
1. The Eye in the Pyramid
Imagine yourself blasting through the vastness of space. Your destination is about... half an infinity away, but you're cautiously optimistic. Your flight path seems stable enough and your fancy engine is humming like a bird. Everything is going according to plan, so why not lean back and enjoy the ride? Grab a beer, take a nap. About twenty minutes later you realize you went off course, by... about hundreds of trillions of miles actually. You slap your forehead and realize what just happened. When dealing with cosmic distances and speeds, every tiny nudge might end up changing your trajectory. The further you go the more significant it becomes.
During the course of my life one of those little nudges was reading Illuminatus! (mind the exclamation mark). To my teenage self the book, or the the trilogy rather, was about as strange as the title suggest. Part smut, part intellectual, part conspiratorial, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea blurred the lines between fiction and non-fiction. It was absurd, it was imaginative, it was fun, even a little bit dangerous. Like you were listening to some charismatic uncle, drunk out of his mind, rambling about stuff he wasn't supposed to talk about. At times you'd think there was some kind of subterfuge going on, like with a wink, but it was hard to figure him out.
Illuminatus! encouraged the reader to do their own research, for better or worse. To explore a neverending amount of pop-culture references, to ask questions and call bullshit, or maybe realize how some of the other bullshit wasn't as bullshit as you initially assumed. In that regard the books really were dangerous, at least to those who were susceptible to taking the trilogy at face value and overapplied that kind of paranoid doubtery to their regular life. People like the german hacker Karl Koch, who might have lost his life over that little nudge.
2. Genre
I love genre fiction. Anything that's weird really. One of those prominent authors mentioned in Illuminatus! was H.P. Lovecraft. Another supreme weirdo who significantly altered the trajectory of pop-culture, same as guys like Robert E. Howard. To most non-fans Lovecraft gets kinda reduced to certain horror stereotypes, like the unfathomable Cthulhu being treated like a kaiju from a Godzilla movie, or some sketchy remarks about racial stuff (it's probably fair to assume Lovecraft didn't like italians). To me the bulk of his work are really just tales of investigation, likely to end in some form supernatural disaster. A diary of a mad man, strange paintings, genealogical abnormalities, you name it. But then there also were projects like his dream cycle, it being much more fantastical than stories like The Shadow Over Innsmouth, for example.
Another master of weirdness was James Shelby Downard, who probably didn't think of himself as a fiction writer, I suppose, being more like a legitimate crazy person. In Carnivals of Life and Death he would talk about befriending various animals and fighting the freemasons, or things like discovering some sort of wire bound listening device in the behind of a mind-controlled prostitute, during consensual intercourse. Men would get hit by lighting, get exploded by dynamite sticks, or be torn apart by a flock of vengeful pigs. It's dumb, it's edgy, but fascinatingly so.
3. Opportunity
I'm not sure what I would write about, but I like the idea of giving someone a little nudge of my own. I don't think my book would be particularly profound or smart, or weird for its own sake, but more like an expression of a particular point of view. Some sort of light Vulcan mind melt, one that goes slightly beyond casual consumption and invites readers to start their own little investigations, but doesn't take itself too seriously. I'd hide little hints and references here and there, inviting people to figure things out. Just be another obscure weirdo to be discovered by a strange kid, trying to find his own way. Nothing dogmatic, I don't know much, but as a fellow traveller navigating life.
4. Recommendations
If you ask me that is all what a book needs to do: expressing a point of few. It doesn't need to make sense, crazy is possibility and all the reader wants (needs) is to have something to think (talk/write?) about.
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I agree! imho the issue is when certain dynamics become an end to itself, without being backed by an authentic kind of effort. On the other hand, I suppose it depends on your ability to successfully pull it off, despite being dishonest potentially. Just don't get caught doing it.
Example: I remember falling in love with LOST and binging almost all of it in a few weeks. It was the kind of thing where every answer would raise additional questions, but initially that wasn't an issue. It only became an issue once I realized there were no honest answers. It was a show, obviously, and most of the mystery was just a story mechanic meant to keep you hooked for the next episode. Then eventually the whole show started to make less and less sense, ultimately collapsing underneath the weight of unanswered questions.
J.J. Abrams, the creator of LOST, would later end up elaborating on the concept of the mystery box, and how according to him the content of the box didn't really matter. It's just meant to hook your imagination, like the content of the brief case in Pulp Fiction, or the box in Barton Fink, but to me the content matters. Or rather knowing the author actually thought about its content and isn't just using empty placeholders. Generally speaking. Sadly LOST suffered from its own success and its formular being copied by shows like Alcatraz, to the point of the formular getting increasingly stale.
Compare this to something like Philip K. Dick's VALIS. Supposedly one of the inspirations for LOST that book seemed inaccessible, but at least honest. It didn't feel like Philip K. Dick was just playing around with placeholders, it felt like he was expressing something he wanted to say. Maybe he didn't know all the answers himself, but he was channeling something. Just my uneducated impression though.
In terms of Illuminatus! I figure some aspects of the book are also just there in order to fuck with the reader, but then a huge chunk is actually dedicated to spoiling itself and explaining some of the concepts. Overall I felt like it's being authentic despite it being also tongue and cheek.
I didn't mean to write a whole other essay, but there you go :-)
I love the cat btw!
TEAM 1
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts, good comments anywhere, and any tags.@Grebmot
It was very nice to read the post of Derup, the way you provided more information in it, John was very happy and very nice to read, for me it is really a very informative post, I liked it a lot. There is more information I hope and I want to bring something new in my life by reading the book that you have mentioned, as reading books brings about some changes in life then this is really true as we read the book. When I read, changes happen in our life, we learn to get along well with people, that too through these books, all your information is appreciated. Thank you so much.
@mona01
Thanks Mona :-)
I really do believe that some books can be dangerous, depending on the particular person. Just don't take it too seriously, at the end of the day it's just another book. And a kind of dirty one at that.
Best way I can describe is via comparison: Back in the day audiences would absolutely got overwhelmed by the 1933 version of King Kong, but today it just seems goofy. Saying it all depends on your frame of reference and your state of mind, same goes for the Illuminatus trilogy. Aspects of it are like a rorschach test, I would argue.
Btw. Robert Anton Wilson used to write for the old Playboy Magazine, so take everything with a grain of salt ;-)
Hello @grebmot hope you are having a good day woow it's a cool adventure through space and stories. Illuminatus is a strange but interesting book that makes you think.
You really like genre fiction, especially the weird stuff by authors like H.P. Lovecraft. Your idea of writing a book to make people curious is neat.,thanks for sharing wish you success 💖🤗🌸💐🌺
Hello dear, I wish to you to be in peace and living their best moments of life.
By reading books our imagination power also increases. That is why books are called good friends. Whenever someone feels like reading books, he writes his experience. Through books we get a chance to read people's experiences.
Best of luck , may you achieve wealth , health , success and prosperity in your life Greetings from my side . Have a nice day .
Illuminatus fue el libro que lo llevó hacia otros temas que descubrió que le interesaban, además le abrió las puertas para indagar sobre los autores y sobre todas las fascinantes curiosidades que se planteaban en las páginas de esa obra... Eso debe ser exactamente lo que debe hacer un buen libro sobre su lector ideal, llenarlo de nuevas experiencias e inducirlo a ir más allá de sus planteamientos. Éxitos en el concurso, amigo. Saludos...
¡Muchas gracias! :-)
Sorry my Spanish isn't up to speed for a proper response, but I appreciate your reply. Have a good one!