The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye of the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, and Leviathan

1975 Shea, Robert [Joseph] (1933-94) and Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007). The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye of the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, and Leviathan. New York: Dell, 1983. 805 pp. Originally published as Illuminatus, Part I The Eye of the Pyramid. New York: Dell, 1975. 304 pp. Cover as Illuminatus! (1-305); Illuminatus Part II The Golden Apple New York: Dell, 1975. 272 pp. Cover as Illuminatus! (305-562); and Illuminatus Part III Leviathan. New York: Dell, 1975. 253 pp. Cover as Illuminatus! (563-805). NNU, PSt, PU

Dystopia that revels in conspiracy theories and secret societies. The novels have significant libertarian themes, and in 1986 the book won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award of the Libertarian Futurist Society. Adapted as a series of five plays, The Eye of the Pyramid, Swift Kick Inc., The Man Who Murdered God, Walpurgisnacht Rock, and Leviathan, with each play consisting of five twenty-three-minute acts and first performed in Liverpool in 1976. It was also adapted as a comic book with three issues formally published and a fourth issue distributed at comic book conventions. Wilson was more identified with the novels than Shea, and he published three autobiographical novels that continued to considered themes of the trilogy, Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati. Grand Junction, CO: Hilaritas Press, 1977; Cosmic Trigger II: Down to Earth. Las Vegas, NV: New Falcon Publications, 1991; and Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death. Las Vegas, NV: New Falcon Publications, 1995. He also published The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, comprised of The Earth Will Shake. A Novel. Los Angeles, CA: J. P. Tarcher, 1982; The Widow’s Son. New York: Bluejay Books, 1985; and Nature’s God. New York: Roc, 1991; and Masks of the Illuminati. New York Dell, 1981. See also 2017 [Drummond and Cauty].