Liberty, by placing men to equal footing, creates association, amalgamation, union, security.” To say that the liberty exists is to say that classlessness exists, to say that brotherhood and equality exist.Īuthority, by dividing men into classes, creates dichotomy, disruption, hostility, fear, disunion. Thus, to say that authority exists is to say that class and cast exist, that submission and inequality exist. Authority exists when one man obeys another, and liberty exists when one man do not obey other men. If authority implies submission, liberation implies equality. The obedient always think about themselves as virtuous, rather than cowardly. Spartacus was not a hero, and obedient slaves were virtuous.

To the Roman slave owners, Spartacus was not the hero and obedient slaves were not cowards. The popularity of the word 'fnord' and the 23 enigma can both be attributed to the trilogy.“Submission is identified not with cowardliness, but with virtue, rebellion not with heroism, but with evil. Illuminatus! has been adapted for the stage, as an audio book and has influenced several modern writers, artists, musicians, and games-makers. The authors went on to write several works, both fiction and nonfiction, that dealt further with the themes of the trilogy, but they did not write any direct sequels. In 1986 the trilogy won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, designed to honor libertarian science fiction. In 1984 they were published as an omnibus edition and are now more commonly reprinted in the latter form. The parts were first published as three separate volumes starting in September 1975. The trilogy comprises three parts which contain five books and appendices: The Eye in the Pyramid (first two books), The Golden Apple (third and part of fourth book), Leviathan (part of fourth and all of fifth book, and the appendices). It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, and Discordianism. The narrative often switches between third- and first-person perspectives in a nonlinear narrative. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story a drug-, sex-, and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, related to the authors' version of the Illuminati.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels by American writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea