There's really only one vein of Wilsonerei, and you either like it or you don't. I do. RAW was one of my major influences.As a member of the species, Masks of the Illuminati is less deep and heartwrenching than the Illuminatus! trilogy, but more sound and interesting than Prometheus Rising. This one involves Jung, Einstein, and Joyce solving an occult mystery and helping a Young Man Who Got In Over His Head. Aleister Crowley makes an appearance. Wilson's good at fake-Joyce. I enjoy it. He's one of the few people I know who reads Joyce the way I do -- not in hushed voice and on bended knee, but lightly and laughing.I never found the Golden Dawn/Masonic junk appealing, but if it is crack to you (as it is to many) you'll find plenty of material.These books need illustrating badly, by some collage-happy guy like Coulthart who knows from Beardsley and Hapshash.
A clever metaphysical detective story masquerading as a Gothic horror, this book casts James Joyce and Albert Einstein as its super-sleuths, with the two trading off the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Watson as the plot demands it. The sinister Aleister Crowley is also integral to the plot, acting as their Moriarty-like foil.Though set in pre-WWI Europe, this novel shares many themes and concepts with Wilson's other works (generally set in the mid-to-late twentieth century.) There is the familiar fascination with secret societies and magickal rites, conspiracies and manipulation, the benevolent hidden within the frightening, and scientific illumination masquerading as the supernatural. And, while occasionally dry and drawn out, most of it is also extremely funny.
What do You think about Masks Of The Illuminati (1981)?
I read this book when I was in high school and there are passages that still keep me up late at night just thinking about them, even though the last time I read it was maybe about eight years ago. Two years ago, when the NY Times Book Review was trotting out the usual suspects for its list of the greatest novels of the late twentieth century, I said this should have been on it, and I stand by that. Easily the best, most tightly constructed novel Wilson ever wrote.Here's an extremely short recap: A man walks in on James Joyce and Albert Einstein and, over the course of the story, we learn of the terrors he has suffered at the hands of Aleister Crowley, who even now is closing in on him.
—Ron
Have you read (or tried to read) Ayn Rand`s "Atlas Shrugged"?
—Shane
