8 The Eighth Trip, or Hod

(TELEMACHUS SNEEZED)

Intellect, mercury, right hip, right leg, orange

From a contemporary interview, with RAW in feisty form: This interview with Robert Anton Wilson appeared in “New Libertarian Notes/Weekly 39,” September 5, 1976. Found at The Anarchist Library

CRNLA: Who wrote the Atlas Shrugged parody in Illuminatus? Who wrote the appendices?

RAW: I wrote the Telemachus Sneezed section — which is not just another kick at poor old Rand, but also a self-parody of Illuminatus, and of Moby Dick, and of my arcane Joycean use of Moby Dick parallels in Illuminatus. Unfortunately, that section was particularly mauled and truncated by the editors. Originally, it was trans-Melvillian satire on all ideology and morality, including my own lapses into ethical thinking. I also wrote the Appendices on various occasions when very stoned as a parody on my style in my more academic essays.