Philbrook's 'Shike' exhibit

Charging Samurai warriors

I am currently in Tulsa visiting my mother, and yesterday I went to a local art museum, Philbrook, formerly a 1920s period mansion owned by a rich oilman, converted into a museum. The current main exhibit is "SAMURAI: Armor from the Collection of Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller," and the exhibition of samurai armor and weapons includes the time period of Robert Shea's first two "solo" novels, the Shike books. 

If you haven't read them, the Shike novels, Shike: Time of the Dragons and Shike: Last of the Zinja, are set in medieval Japan and cover fictionalized versions of two exciting events: A famous Japanese civil war and the Mongol invasion of Japan. As the Wikipedia article explains, secret societies also are part of the plot: "Shike posits a clan of grey-clad warrior monks, the "Zinja", which, it is stated by Abbot Taitaro, is related to several other secret societies throughout history, including specifically the White Lotus Society in China, the Hashishim (assassins) in the Middle East, and the Knights Templar in Europe, among others. Through an aside in All Things Are Lights, the Zinja are therefore linked, however tenuously, to Shea's other writings on secret societies, most notably his work with Robert Anton Wilson in The Illuminatus! Trilogy."

It was cool to see an exhibit that helped bring the Shike books to life. 

A naginata, a Japanese pole weapon, and a sword.

Portuguese edition of 'Illuminatus' from Brazil

 

Via Nick Helweg-Larsen, I learned that a Portuguese language edition of Illuminatus! has been published in Brazil. Here is the website for the project.  It is a limited edition, funded via a crowdsourcing campaign. The site does not accept international orders, but a direct sale may be arranged via the email address contato@editorafnord.com.br. (Shipping is likely to be expensive, blame the Brazilian government, not the publishers). Payment can be accepted via via Wise transfer or PayPal. 

Information from the website, via Google Translate:

LIMITED EDITION

Only 1023 copies of this edition were printed.

There are only 323 copies left, which are being made available to the general public.

We will not be reprinting in the future.

Funded on 09/13/24 with 101% of the goal, our campaign on Catarse achieved the publication of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, the masterpiece written by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, for the first time in Brazil in a limited, special and unique edition.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a revolutionary literary work written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Conceived during the 60s and published in the 70s, it was a pioneer in exploring themes such as conspiracy, secret societies and government manipulation, in a chaotic odyssey full of philosophy, occultism, satire and counterculture. The trilogy was a major milestone in experimental literature for challenging traditional narrative conventions, abusing techniques such as non-linearity, jumping between places, dates and characters without warning, and metafiction, such as moments in which the characters question whether they are just characters in a book.

Its irreverent nature and unique narrative style made it a cult work, considered by many to be one of the most important works of the last century. The idea of ​​"controlled chaos" permeates the work, challenging conventional notions of order and meaning. Influenced by the flourishing of Discordianism, a movement described by its followers as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion, the trilogy addresses complex and sensitive topics without taking them too seriously, but with unparalleled competence. It is up to the reader to take responsibility for their own analysis of the data presented, forming their own view without the influence of chewed-up interpretations.

Although it was initially published as a trilogy, Illuminatus! was written as a single book, later divided by the publishers. The idea was to publish a small part of the text to test the public's reception, which embraced the book and made it an absolute success, leading to the publication of the other two volumes.

Hilaritas Press podcast: RAW and Friedrich Nietzsche

 

I am a bit late on reporting on this, but the most recent Hilaritas Press podcast sounds very interesting and I will listen soon: Mike Gathers interviews Eric Wagner about RAW's interest in Friedrich Nietzsche.

The official site with links is here, but you should be able to find this podcast at many of the usual places. 

“More than any other writer in the history of philosophy, Nietzsche set out to refute everyone who came before him, without exception and without mercy, and he had the intellect to do a damn good job.  He tears down so many accepted ideas that you’re left floating in a kind of nihilistic void.  Many people find this terrifying.  I find it exhilarating, and I manage to recover from it every time I subject myself to re-reading something by Nietzsche.”

– Robert Anton Wilson,

from the essay, "Brain Books,"

from Trajectories, and

now in Beyond Chaos and Beyond

•••

“Wilson’s attitude toward Nietzsche is my attitude towards Wilson.”

– Mike Gathers

Reminder: There's now a Hilaritas Press edition of Beyond Chaos and Beyond, and it's a good book. 

Unique art book from J. Christian Greer

 

I should have mentioned this earlier, but it looks interesting: VOID MACHINES: The Paper Shrines of J. Christian Greer "showcases over seventy-five 'paper shrines,' psychedelic collages created by J. Christian Greer. Printed in full color, this oversized collection provides a whirlwind look at Greer's sublime visions of divine friendship, abject terror, and erotic delight. Offering a panorama of sacred forces, the paper shrines showcased in this book were created with materials taken from manga (including Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc.); comics (Jack Kirby’s Silver Surfer, Jeff Smith's Bone, etc.), mass-market publications on Persian rugs, precious gems, medieval manuscripts."

More here, see the reviews. 

Ireland 'the most educated country'

 

Trinity College Library, Dublin. Photo by Zach Plank on Unsplash

Interesting, in the light of Ireland being a literary hotbed: 

"Ireland’s population are the most educated in the world — with 52.4% (1.8million) of the population aged between 25-64 having a bachelor’s degree or higher.

"While, of course, the whole numbers of people with bachelors degrees may be higher in countries with a higher number of people, percentage wise Ireland is the most educated; beating out countries such as Switzerland (46%), Singapore (45%), Belgium (44.1%) and the UK (43.6%) who round out the top five."

Source.  Article via this blog post. 

A revisionist historian

Robert Anton Wilson was deeply skeptical of the official account of World War II, and for example in this interview by Lewis Shiner, he said, "I'd also like to write a book about Pearl Harbor. The revisionist historians have been thoroughly slandered and are mostly out of print. I wouldn't be adding much original; I think everything worth saying has been said by Charles Beard and Harry Elmer Barnes and James J. Martin and a few others. But their books are out of print or hard to find. My book would be just one more effort against what Barnes called 'the historical blackout.' One more effort to put the facts on record." (Of course, the book was never written but this Jeff Riggenbach book, which I read years ago, has a similar intent). 

RAW would perhaps be interested in Thaddeus Russell, a historian who has made World War II revisionism something of a specialty. Russell has a new Substack newsletter, with pieces such as "Even Hitler Wasn't Hitler"  and "The Fate of the Free World Depends Upon You Liking Winston Churchill."  All of the pieces so far have been previews -- you have to pay a few dollars to read the whole thing -- but enough is posted for free, you can get the idea. 

Here is Jesse Walker's 2011 interview with Russell.

Here is a brief biography. He graduated from Antioch College, the university associated with Simon Moon in Illuminatus! Above is the image for one of his books, A Renegade History of the United States. 

More on the latest edition of the John Higgs KLF book

As I wrote recently, I recently read the 10th anniversary edition of John Higgs' The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds. I guess it counts as a re-read, although the edition I read has thousands of words of footnotes, as John comments on the book in hindsight.

The footnotes make an unusual book even more unusual. As I read it, I noticed some synchronicities with my own life -- for example, Reykjavik, Iceland, figures in the book as a place where the band Echo and the Bunnymen played a concert, and the book is largely about Illuminatus!  I recently worked on an Illuminatus-related project with Spookah, who lives in Reykjavik. 

And then I came across John's footnote on page 78: "One of the consequences of writing this book is that I am regularly contacted by people who have read it and then been plagued by a storm of synchronicities of their own." This gave me the odd feeling that John was talking to me, as in the incident (mentioned in the book) when RAW is watching "Harvey" on TV and a character suddenly talks to "Mr. Wilson."

I wrote to Spookah to ask if he is an Echo and the Bunnyman fan (I was going to freak out if he said, "Yes, it's my favorite band. Why?"). Spookah has read the book twice, too, and his reply was interessting:

Yes, I have indeed read the book, twice now. The second time around was a couple of years ago, as I grabbed a copy of the tenth anniversary edition signed by John Higgs.

I like his footnotes, I find it interesting to see him thinking out loud, reflecting on his own writing.

Actually, this book originally came to me in what I see as a pretty synchronistic way. I was at the time backpacking around the planet, and had been reading Illuminatus! for the first time while in Hawaii and New Zealand. Then I arrived in Bali, and found a copy of John's book in a second hand bookstore. I picked it up because, browsing it, I saw that RAW was often coming up in it.

John's book really provided me with a most welcome context for Illuminatus, and these two together got me started on all things RAW and Discordianism.

I think John Higgs does an excellent job at presenting RAW's ideas in a fun and clear way to people who might not be familiar with it.

I don't know if I would call myself a 'fan' of Echo & the Bunnymen, but I certainly think they were one the best British rock bands of the 80s, and albums such as Heaven Up Here or Ocean Rain are some of my favorites of that decade. Crocodiles and Porcupine are very good as well.

(the photograph on the cover art of Porcupine is at a waterfall in Iceland that is now amongst the most visited places in the country, it's called Gullfoss)

John Higgs remarks,

Most of the time when people tell me of their synchronicities, they lose something in the telling. What they find meaningfull is pretty personal and hence their stories often sound more like coincidences than anything more. But there is an exception to that - which is the stories that involve rabbits. They often sound far weirder. I think I included in those footnotes the story of a woman who was reading the stuff in the book about Pookahs while her daughter played in the garden - only to come inside and tell her mum she had been playing with a giant invisible rabbit. That freaked her out!

Also, John promises his new book will be announced soon. 

Joseph Matheny on doing your art your way

Joseph Matheny has a new piece out, "Knives Float on Water,"  It's largely about "just doing the art you want to do, however you wish. Your art. Your way." It's a really interesting essay, prompted by Matheny's decision to self-produce a movie. I had no idea Joseph had done a limited-edition book that he plans to never reissue. 

There are also other interesting bits in his latest Substack newsletter, including about AI and how we should support each other's ventures. 

What we read last month

Here's what I read last month. Only three titles, but the Roman history book was very long, so I did do as much reading as usual in May, it just doesn't look like it:

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was really pleased to read this again after several decades, see my comments. 

The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium, Anthony Kaldellis. excellent history book, one of the best I've read in awhile. Here is Kaldellis on the Crusades. 

Every Tom, Dick & Harry, Elinor Lipman. I always enjoy her romantic comedies, this is her latest. 

Posted on Facebook, here is what Mark K. Brown last month. Notice that he read Eric Wagner's book twice, a pretty good recommendation! Also, the Greg Bear really impressed me when I read it years ago: 

Blood Music by Greg Bear 5/13   

Straight Outta Dublin: James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson by Eric Wagner (x2) 5/13  

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin  5/17   

A Messiah at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock  5/19   

Love and Death in the American Novel by Leslie Fiedler  5/22   

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan  5/29

The Drummond-Cauty partnership, and the partnership of Wilson and Shea

I just finished reading the 10th anniversary edition of John Higgs' The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds. This is the edition that has thousands of additional words of footnotes. So, confusingly, I don't know if this counts as reading it or re-reading it, a dilemma appropriate to such an oddball book, which purports to be a band biography but which seems to really be a book about Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus! and the effect the book had on the KLF. This may be my favorite Higgs book. I will likely do more than one blog post on the book.

This is a passage which struck me (boldface is mine), page 258:

The corporate music industry was perhaps no place for someone like Drummond, but it did allow him to meet Jimmy Cauty. Drummond and Cauty understood each other, even if nobody else understood them.  Cauty was more deeply involved in the actual creation of music than Drummond was. He was also someone you could rely on to get things done. The pairing was a positive feedback loop. With each justifying the other, they would go further together than they would apart. Sometimes all  you need is for someone to see what you are planning and not look bemused. 

Compare that with what Robert Shea wrote (in a mailing comment to Robert Anton Wilson in his zine in The Golden APA on what happened when he and Robert Anton Wilson met at Playboy magazine:) 

I was stunned by your comment [to] Kevin, wherein you say you brooded over why you couldn’t finish a long book and then, collaborating with me, finished one. You see, I’ve been going around telling people that I never completed a book project before writing Illuminatus! and it was my collaboration with you, and your example of joyful productivity that taught me how to write and finish novels. I never realized that Illuminatus! was a breakthrough book for both of us. I guess I sort of assumed that you had never before written a book simply because you hadn’t gotten around to it, whereas I, who had started a number of novels and never finished any, had a “problem.”

Of course, Illuminatus! helped launch two literary careers; almost every Wilson fiction book reads like the narrative in Illuminatus!, and every Wilson nonfiction book resembles the appendices. And the publication of Illuminatus! also helped Shea launch his novel-writing career. 

Incidentally, in his book, John often attributes Illuminatus! simply to Robert Anton Wilson, rather than Wilson and Shea. There's a similar imbalance to the treatment of Drummond and Cauty; I learned a lot about Drummond reading the book, but there's little about Cauty. 

Barry Longyear has died [UPDATED]

Barry Longyear (Creative Commons photo, source). 

Science fiction writer Barry Longyear has died. He was 82.

Longyear was best known for his 1979 novella "Enemy Mine," which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards and which was made into a movie. He won the Prometheus Award in 2021 for The War Whisperer Book Five: The Hook. 

The main idea behind The Hook is that a libertarian society can protect itself through targeted assassination rather than full scale war, an idea possible inspired by Hassan-i-Sabbah and the Assassins in Illuminatus! It's not clear whether Longyear got the idea from there or from another source, see this post. 

UPDATE: Obituary at the Libertarian Futurist Society blog. 

Grant McPhee news update

1. My last post about Pool of Life, the upcoming Liverpool documentary by the Scottish filmmaker Grant McPhee covering the Ken Campbell area, the wave of bands after the Beatles, etc., ended on a bit of a down note, as I quoted the guy writing for the Liverpool Post, ""Sadly, if you want to see Pool of Life, you may have to wait." 

But I contacted Mr. McPhee, and he gave me a more upbeat report: "No news at the moment but there may be something more positive in the near future. Thanks for all your support with it, much appreciated. [Pool of Life]  needs a sound mix and colour grade. The other two films in the trilogy are nearly finished, and there's going to be an accompanying oral-history book to go into some of the topics in far greater detail." (Note that the project has now grown into a trilogy, as the article referenced in the previous post explains). 

2. I am late in noting this, but the British Film Institute published a list of 35 great British horror movies, and Grant's Far from the Apple Tree made the list.