History Literature / Illuminatus

* GenreRoulette: horror, sci-fi, fantasy, police procedural, political thriller...

* PinealWeirdness: And how.

* {{Postmodernism}}: While the book is frequently categorized as Postmodern literature, Postmodernism is deconstructed and parodied throughout. Whether that qualifies as TakeThat or SelfDeprecation depends on how much of the authors' MindScrew you feel applies; however, Creator/RobertAntonWilson has published more direct deconstructions of Postmodernism (e.g. ''Maybe Logic''), so it's more likely to be the former than the latter. (Then again, the authors were apparently pretty big fans of ThomasPynchon, one of the seminal Postmodern authors, so take that how you will).

** Legend has it that ''every single one'' of the bands listed, solely barring the ones that are actually portrayed on stage, has actually existed; the fact that the list contains a fairly large number of well-known ([[GeniusBonus]] for some value of "well-known"]]) bands such as "H.P. Lovecraft" and "Steppenwolf" makes the claim plausible.

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illuminatus_trilogy_1st_edition_6390.jpg]]

->''It's a [[DoorStopper dreadfully long monster of a book]]... and I certainly won't have time to read it, but I'm giving it a thorough skimming. [[SelfDeprecation The authors are utterly incompetent]]—no sense of style or structure at all. It [[GenreRoulette starts out as a detective story, switches to science-fiction, then goes off into the supernatural]], and is full of the most detailed information of dozens of ghastly boring subjects. And the time sequence is all out of order in a very pretentious imitation of Faulkner and Joyce. Worst yet, it has the most raunchy sex scenes, [[SexSells thrown in just to make it sell]], I'm sure, and the authors—whom I've never heard of—have the supreme bad taste to introduce real political figures into this mishmash and pretend to be exposing a real conspiracy... If Literature/TheLordOfTheRings is a fairy tale for adults, sophisticated readers will quickly recognize this monumental miscarriage as a fairy tale for paranoids.''

Wilson went on, solo, to write the ''Historical Illuminatus'' trilogy and the standalone novel ''Masks of the Illuminati'', seemingly conventional novels providing some of the historical context behind the main trilogy, that further develop and explore the ideas of ''Illuminatus!''. These also drop the same sort of delayed-action mindfucks and logic bombs on the reader, although far more subtly.

* ArcNumber: 5, 17, 23

* ConspiracyKitchenSink: [[spoiler: To the extent that every other conspiracy theory/mindfuck is laughable once you grasp ''Illuminatus!'' Seriously. This is the book whose appendices included the line "We have mentioned only one real conspiracy; this book is part of it" [paraphrased].]]

* ShoutOut: To ''Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia'' in particular, as well as Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/AynRand, ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and numerous others. When the Illuminati come for him, Drake quotes ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'': "We belong dead."

* ArtisticLicense:Biology: Howard and his friends are alternatively referred to as dolphins and porpoises. They are, in fact, biologically distinct species.

The ''Illuminatus!'' Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Creator/RobertAntonWilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971, and first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, apparently [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]], science fiction-influenced adventure story [[color:white:fnord]]; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of TheIlluminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives. [[{{Metafiction}} The third-person omniscient narrator finds these switches, as well as its original non-identity as a disembodied narrator, very troubling and disconcerting at first]]. It also jumps around in time, as do the minds of some of the characters, but by then it has settled down to a point where it is somewhat less evidently self-aware. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, UsefulNotes/{{anarchism}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}}.

* OrderVersusChaos: A somewhat complex example; while the Discordians are generally viewed as worshiping chaos, they actually believe in balance. It's just that the state of the world is so heavily tilted in the Order direction that the Discordians are forced to take up Chaos to balance it out.
** It's even more complex since nobody knows what the Illuminati are up to, it's possible that the Discordians do everything they do just for the lulz, and Chaos is usually the exact opposite of balance.
** As far as the Discordians are concerned, Order and Disorder are only two aspects of Chaos, which contains everything. They are on the side of Disorder because Order has overwhelmed the society, but they don't plan on destroying Order entirely (or believe that they could).
* OutGambitted: You know the [[AncientConspiracy Bavarian Illuminati]]? Secret organization out to rule the world from behind the scenes? Well, it turns out that [[spoiler:they're the ones who are being manipulated]]. In fact, '''every single one''' of the dozens of [[ThePlan the dozens of plans and predictions]] and [[XanatosSpeedChess all the quick adjustments]] played by the different characters and factions in the book can be interpreted as OutGambitted from one point of view or another.

* ShoutOut: To ''Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia'' in particular, as well as Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/AynRand, ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and numerous others. Some of these might be {{Take That}}s, depending on your reading.
** The Rand one is ''definitely'' a TakeThat. Celine's comments in the appendix (Celine being as close to an AuthorAvatar as there is in the book) make that obvious. There are also several {{Shout Out}}s to ThomasPynchon, especially ''Literature/GravitysRainbow''.
*** [[WordOfGod Wilson]] had been a huge admirer of Rand's in his youth, and the quite savage parodies of her work in this trilogy were in part a TakeThat to his earlier self (lampshaded when one character reads the Rand parody ''Telemachus Sneezed'' and believes every word, until he starts to apply his critical judgment to it).
** When the Illuminati come for him, Drake quotes ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'': "We belong dead."

* TakeThat: One example from the appendix (although it is hardly the only one), talking about the difference between property(1), which only exists due to the threat of force, and property(2), mutually agreed upon by all members of society:

* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler: Hagbard ]], to both the Discordians ''and'' the Illuminati.
** He's not really aiming to betray anyone, just teach and illuminate them towards independent, non-destructive existence. In the case of the Illuminati he eventually gives up due to their refusal to even try to communicate peacefully with the world.
* TricksterMentor: Hagbard Celine goes out of his way to make sure his 'disciples' know he's a massive liar who can't be completely trusted. He hopes they'll apply that lesson to other mentors as well.
** He has named his organization "The Legion of Dynamic Discord" primarily so that he can eventually tell the members that the initials "LDD" ''really'' stands for "Little Deluded Dupes." He is also fond of a painting of Moses on Mount Sinai carrying stone tablets that read "Think for yourself, [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage schmuck!]]"

* WrongGenreSavvy: 00005, a Film/JamesBond expy who finds himself in way over his head trying to infiltrate the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Still, when at Fernando Poo, is more aware of the truth behind the event than all the major intelligence agencies.
** In fact, several characters suffer from this to various degrees. It doesn't help that the books constantly shift between genres, sometimes even in the middle of a sentence.

*** As far as this (and the following trope) goes, it's interesting to note that Wilson was a former admirer of Rand's and much of the (quite savage) parody of her work in the novel is probably a kind of TakeThat against his younger self. (Lampshaded when one character mentions that he always believes what he reads absolutely and only later do his critical reasoning powers kick in.)

* BrownNote: [[color:white:fnord It is hinted that the actual fnord word is not fnord, but some word people actually fnording use, with the same effect.]]

** And several others.
* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: The story opens with the US, China and the USSR on the verge of incinerating the planet for downright trivial reasons.
--> ''"He was harassed, but still he spoke with authority. He was, in fact, characteristic of the best type of dominant male in the world at this time. He was fifty-five years old, tough, shrewd, unburdened by the complicated ethical ambiguities which puzzle intellectuals, and had long ago decided that the world was a mean son-of-a-bitch in which only the most cunning and ruthless can survive. He was also as kind as was possible for one holding that ultra-Darwinian philosophy; and he genuinely loved children and dogs, unless they were on the site of something that had to be bombed in the National Interest. He still retained some sense of humor, despite the burdens of his almost godly office, and, although he had been impotent with his wife for nearly ten years now, he generally achieved orgasm in the mouth of a skilled prostitute within 1.5 minutes. He took amphetamine pep pills to keep going on his grueling twenty-hour day, with the result that his vision of the world was somewhat skewed in a paranoid direction, and he took tranquilizers to keep from worrying too much, with the result that his detachment sometimes bordered on the schizophrenic; but most of the time his innate shrewdness gave him a fingernail grip on reality. In short, he was much like the rulers of China and Russia."''
--->-- A note on the President of the US... followed by [[RunningGag exact repetition]] in discussing the leaders of those other two countries.

* AncientTradition: The Erisian Liberation Front.
** And several others.

** Arguably also several others.

* TheAllConcealingI: Much of the first-person narration is revealed at the end to be from the perspective of [[spoiler: a third-person omniscient narrator in a fiction novel]].
** There is a strong argument to be made for the existence of multiple first-person narrators; including, at one point, a squirrel.

* TheGovernment: It's worth noting that ''Illuminatus'' was originally written before the Watergate scandal, although it was revised somewhat afterward. It was also revised after the publication of ''GravitysRainbow'' in order to insert {{Shout Out}}s to Pynchon's novel. [[note]]Incidentally, ''Gravity's Rainbow'' was ''also'' revised after Watergate. The epigraph of that novel's fourth section had been a quote from Joni Mitchell's "Cactus Tree" in the galley sent out to reviewers before the publication of the novel, but in the aftermath of Watergate it was changed to Richard Nixon saying [[FlatWhat "What?"]] for the final edition[[/note]].

** The Rand one is ''definitely'' a TakeThat. Celine's comments in the appendix (Celine being as close to an AuthorAvatar as there is in the book) make that obvious. There are also several {{Shout Out}}s to ThomasPynchon, especially ''GravitysRainbow''.

* ColdWar: The story opens with the US, China and the USSR on the verge of incinerating the planet for downright trivial reasons.

* GambitPileup

* GenreRoulette
* TheGovernment: It's worth noting that ''Illuminatus'' was originally written before the Watergate scandal, although it was revised somewhat afterward. It was also revised after the publication of ''GravitysRainbow'' in order to insert {{Shout Out}}s to Pynchon's novel. (Incidentally, ''Gravity's Rainbow'' was ''also'' revised after Watergate. The epigraph of that novel's fourth section had been a quote from Joni Mitchell's "Cactus Tree" in the galley sent out to reviewers before the publication of the novel, but in the aftermath of Watergate it was changed to Richard Nixon saying [[FlatWhat "What?"]] for the final edition).

* TheSyndicate

* ThoseWackyNazis: Namely, {{Ghostapo}}: ([[spoiler:the Nazis that attack the Ingolstadt Rock Festival are a SS squadron who collectively committed suicide and was then revived as Zombies by the Illuminati]]).

* NeverGoingBAckToPrison: Dillinger's attitude towards returning to prison.

* SelfDeprecation: At one point there's a scathing "review" of a novel which is pretty transparently ''Illuminatus!'' itself.

The ''Illuminatus!'' Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and RobertAntonWilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971, and first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, apparently [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]], science fiction-influenced adventure story [[color:white:fnord]]; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of TheIlluminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives. [[{{Metafiction}} The third-person omniscient narrator finds these switches, as well as its original non-identity as a disembodied narrator, very troubling and disconcerting at first]]. It also jumps around in time, as do the minds of some of the characters, but by then it has settled down to a point where it is somewhat less evidently self-aware. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, UsefulNotes/{{anarchism}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}}.

* {{Postmodernism}}: While the book is frequently categorized as Postmodern literature, Postmodernism is deconstructed and parodied throughout. Whether that qualifies as TakeThat or SelfDeprecation depends on how much of the authors' MindScrew you feel applies; however, RobertAntonWilson has published more direct deconstructions of Postmodernism (e.g. ''Maybe Logic''), so it's more likely to be the former than the latter. (Then again, the authors were apparently pretty big fans of ThomasPynchon, one of the seminal Postmodern authors, so take that how you will).

The ''Illuminatus!'' Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and RobertAntonWilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971, and first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, apparently [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]], science fiction-influenced adventure story [[color:white:fnord]]; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of TheIlluminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives. [[{{Metafiction}} The third-person omniscient narrator finds these switches, as well as its original non-identity as a disembodied narrator, very troubling and disconcerting at first]]. It also jumps around in time, as do the minds of some of the characters, but by then it has settled down to a point where it is somewhat less evidently self-aware. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies anarchism]] and UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}}.

* StockNessMonster: It says something about the nature of this book that a briefly encounter with Nessie is one of the least weird things to happen in it.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: The novel ''Telemachus Sneezed'', a parody of ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', which asks the question "What is John Guilt?" ''Atlas Shrugged'' is mentioned several times itself, however. ''Telemachus Sneezed'' might be a thought experiment on what would have been the result if Ayn Rand had focused her interest in Ancient Greek philosophy on Heraclitus instead of Parmenides and Aristotle. It's an interesting fact however that ''Atlas Shrugged'' is anti-government, while ''Telemachus Sneezed'' is depicted as definitely pro-strong-government to an extent that it's openly fascist.

** When the Illuminati come for him, Drake quotes ''The Bride of {{Frankenstein}}'': "We belong dead."

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illuminatus_trilogy_1st_edition_6390.jpg