Making Wilson part of the canon

When I began reading Philip K. Dick's novels in the 1970s, I was a teenager. The first book I tried, The Man in the High Castle, turned me into a fan. I've read one Dick novel after another since then. I've enjoyed them all, although some are better than others. Many of Dick's novels were published as cheap mass market paperbacks, and when I was a young sf fan it was not readily apparent to me that Dick would become part of "American literature," lauded by critics and reprinted in the Library of America.

As much as I like Dick, when I discovered ILLUMINATUS! and RAW's subsequent works, I became convinced that RAW seemed at least as good and at least as important as Dick. Part of my motivation for putting so much time into this blog is my conviction that Wilson deserves to become better known as a writer, and more widely read. I am guessing that many of you will agree with me, even as you disagree with some of the opinions I have expressed here.

But how can that be accomplished? One idea I want to offer is that it would be cool if an obviously well-read author or critic with broad tastes -- someone like Neil Gaiman, say, or Michael Dirda or Ted Gioia -- could be "converted" into become a Robert Anton Wilson fan. Perhaps such a person could convince others to try Wilson.

In a modest way, I have begun putting my money where my mouth is. I recently purchased a new copy of ILLUMINATUS! from Amazon and sent it to one of my favorite critics (after asking first if it would be OK). Perhaps he will find time to read it. I'm not naming him because I promised not to pester him about reading it, and I don't want anyone else to pester him, either.

What are your ideas for making Wilson's work better known?