KWBC: The Eye in the Pyramid - Discussion

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Much like trying to watch Laugh-In reruns, the references in the book count as one of those "you had to be there" things. I am a few years too young to catch on to everything but if you immerse yourself into 1970s culture by watching shows/movies from that time, listening to the music, and watching retrospectives on life and culture from the 70s you can bring yourself up to speed.

[Orlion]

I've read enough pulp science-fiction and listened to enough classic metal to get the sense of nuclear doom... and I seem to have picked up on a couple other things as well, such as:

"Oh, God, no," he said. "No. God, no."
"Good-by, Mr. Chips," said Saint Toad.

I also liked how the President was so concerned about his Vice-president using racial slurs, but his code speak includes phrases like "Have you treed the coon?"

As far as other reasons for why I like it... aside from the fun, irreverent nature that effects the vast majority of the tone, there's also some nice Easter Eggs to hunt for... such as the five parts refering to the months of the Discordian calenders, or how each of the ten trips are aspects of the Sephirot of Jewish mysticism. Essentially, by completing the book, you'll have the pieces to have "da'at" or "knowledge". It is also through these traits that 'God' reveals himself, so by completing the book you are, in a sense, "immanentizing the Eschaton."

Never mind also the various traits it shares with "Ulyssus" and "The Divine Comedy" (Ha!)

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Most people think "imminentize the eschaton" means "bring about the end of the world right now"--and it does, in a literal sense--but it really means "to bring about the end of your little, personal world as you know it and usher you into a new, larger world of which you were unaware".

[danlo]

Avatar wrote: Uh, drugs can open your mind. What you get out is what you put in. Very Happy

Agreed (and loving Hashi's takes), and these reviews tell you more about the readers than the books---I'm almost halfway through the second book, my reading schedule just does not coincide with Murrin's. I tried to read these in '77 and they seemed so real it was almost too scary and I had to put them down after the first "book" in The Golden Apple. The only thing that kept half of it fantasy was I knew through Lin Carter in '76 that Anton Wilson was a chosen heir to Lovecraft according to people like Clifford D. Simak and Clarke Aston Smith--who, like me were VERY into Lovecraft at the time...I wrote a review of L. Spaugue DeCamp's biography of Lovecraft that made the cover of the American Literary Review, complete with my map of Earth's Dreamland from The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath in '77
. I did go on to read Masks of the Illuminati and the Schrodinger's Cats books. I hung out, while playing the board game, Illuminatus!, with a bunch of Slackers (praise Bob!) who knew almost every word to all three books. Re-reading and going beyond now is a true learning experience---it's almost TOO personal to talk about here, and I'm too excited to finish the second book ASAP!!!

[Orlion]

Most people think "imminentize the eschaton" means "bring about the end of the world right now"--and it does, in a literal sense--but it really means "to bring about the end of your little, personal world as you know it and usher you into a new, larger world of which you were unaware".

Nice interpretation there... reminds me of part of a description of a John Crowley book: "When the world ends, it ends somewhat differently for each soul then alive to see it; the end doesn't come all at once but passes and repasses over the world like the shivers that pass over a horse's skin."

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I hung out, while playing the board game, Illuminatus!, with a bunch of Slackers (praise Bob!) who knew almost every word to all three books.

Ah, yes, the Church of the Sub-Genius. The only group that--strangely--did not make it into the classic Steve Jackson game. CotSG will also deconstruct your mind, if you let it...which I have.

Nice interpretation there... reminds me of part of a description of a John Crowley book: "When the world ends, it ends somewhat differently for each soul then alive to see it; the end doesn't come all at once but passes and repasses over the world like the shivers that pass over a horse's skin."

That is very desriptive imagery.

Reminds me also of Rorschach carrying his sign in Watchmen when the news vendor, Barney, tells him "the world didn't end yesterday" to which Rorschach responds "are you sure?".

[aliantha]

Reading the book immersed me back in that era, that's for sure. You young'uns are probably missing a bunch of the in-jokes. Sorry.

Care to share with 'young'uns'

u.

I'd have to go back through the text to find examples, but Orlion's "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" reference is a pretty good one.

I kept thinking about how I would have reacted to this book if I'd read it when it first came out. I graduated from high school the year the book came out, and I was pretty naive back then. The weirdest thing I'd read at that point was Richard Brautigan's "In Watermelon Sugar" -- well, and pretty much anything Vonnegut wrote.