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The Illuminatus! Trilogy

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. The series is a post-modern science fiction-influenced drug- and sex-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person, and jumps around in time. The three books that comprise the trilogy are The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan. Although originally published separately, they are now more commonly found in the single-volume edition, which was first published in 1975. The trilogy won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in 1986.

Although the many conspiracy theories in the book are (presumably) imaginary, these are mixed in with enough truth to make them seem plausible. The title of the first book, for example, 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 to have been members of this sect. Within the book, this is used as an example of the conspiracies teasing us by showing hints of their existence which we won't believe even though they stare us in the face.

The books are loaded with references to Discordianism, the Illuminati, the A?A?, 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 Many of the odder conspiracies in the book are taken from unpublished letters to Playboy magazine, where the authors were working as associate editors while they wrote the novels. Kinky sex is prevalent, mocked by one character in a typical self-referential joke as "only to sell a bad book filled with shallow characters pushing a nonsense conspiracy".

The trilogy was later republished in a single volume, minus the "what has gone before" introduction to The Golden Apple. Some of the material in that foreword, such as the self-destruct mynah birds, appears nowhere else in the trilogy, likely a result of the 500 pages cut by the publisher to reduce printing costs on what was seen as a risky venture. These 500 pages were subsequently lost in the mail between Mexico and Los Angeles, although Wilson states that most of the ideas contained therein made it into his later works. The idea that the top secrets of the Illuminati were cut from the books because the printer decided to trim the number of pages is a joke typical of the trilogy.

Wilson subsequently wrote a number of sequels and spinoffs based upon the Illuminatus! concept, including a second trilogy called The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, a third trilogy of books that combined fiction with non-fiction entitled Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati, a standalone work entitled Masks of the Illuminati, and a direct spin-off from the original work entitled The Illuminati Papers -- among others. Many of Wilson's other works, fictional and non-fictional, also make reference to the Illuminati or the Illuminatus books. Many of Wilson's books, in particular the Cosmic Trigger series, have been embraced by the New Age community and can often be found in New Age bookstores alongside textbooks on tarot card reading, crystal energy, and Feng Shui, a fact many of his fans find amusing since Wilson frequently lampoons new age beliefs. Shea, meanwhile, never wrote another Illuminatus!-related book, although many of his later novels include references to the themes of that work.

An audacious proposal by English actor, theatre philanthropist and all-round cosmic thinker, Ken Campbell to stage the Illuminatus Trilogy in its entirety at The National Theatre in London was met with surprisingly open arms given its length and was in fact the first ever show to open the theatre's third space, the Cottesloe Theatre in the 1970s.