Rasa's AI image of James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson
Eric Wagner's new book on James Joyce's influence on Robert Anton Wilson will be published by Hilaritas Press, Rasa announced in a post on Facebook.
Eric is the author of An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson. The new book was written under the working title Straight Outta Dublin, but Rasa's post does not confirm that will be the final title, so we'll have to see.
Rasa writes:
"Eric Wagner, author of An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson, is working on a new book for Hilaritas Press about James Joyce's influence on RAW. Even if you find Joyce difficult to read, you may really enjoy Eric's exploration of the subject. As an extra goodie, the ever erudite Michael Johnson has written a novella-sized afterword for the book that I am just now reading and editing. This promises to be a fantastic read for both RAW and Joyce enthusiasts.
"In the middle of Michael's essay, he wrote this description, above, of RAW that I thought was worth sharing. We have no expected release date for the new book, but it is coming together. The graphic here was my attempt to coax AI to make a scene of RAW and Joyce together. Something like this may well be the cover of the new book."
Rasa also posted an excerpt from Michael Johnson's piece, with this description of Robert Anton Wilson:
"He was erudite in the physical and social sciences, the Humanities, and in surrealism, drugs, sex, the occult and gnostic/hermetic/kabbalistic history and thought. It seems exceedingly rare to read a writer who is so well-read in classics, the physical sciences, mathematics, literature, philosophy, psychology, mythology, poetry, the history of film, and the Marginalized Discourses – those areas that academia has always shunned – magick and the occult, the history of secret societies and conspiracy theories, and “lowbrow” literature. Like Joyce, he thought the artificial separation of “High and Low” was to miss out on the booming, buzzing confusion of life and Mind outside the groves of academe. Wilson not only read the tabloids from an anthropological standpoint, he had written for “schlock” tabloids, in the early 1960s."
11 comments:
Thank you for sharing this. I love Michael’s essay.
Super psyched!
Put me down as one who effing LOVES the title Straight Outta Dublin. But it's between Eric and Hilaritas, I think.
Wow. Thanks for the notice, Tom. I think Rasa is being kind here.
Rather than a novella, I approached the part of the book I wrote with a "voice" of the hermit-scholar on the topic "RAW on Joyce." And just documented (almost) everything RAW had to say about Joyce from 1959-2007. There's not a lot of my..."opinions" although at times I couldn't help myself, which no doubt added to the length. RAW's Joyce in SCT and Coincidance (among other places) forced my hand...
Eric noted in his piece that RAW often wondered why critics didn't seem to take him seriously when he brought up Joyce as an Influence, and Eric shows how extensive the influence was, especially in his exegesis of Masks. I merely added "notes" so that no one, EVER, after this can say that Joyce wasn't a significant influence on RAW.
Eric is a magician here, BTW. Both he and Oz are so much superior the cabalists "I can't even," as kids (used to?) say.
Fantastic news! I was wondering where Eric's book was at these days. Totally makes sense to have Hilaritas publishing it, and Dr Johnson's essay will no doubt be an amazing addition.
Very much looking forward to this book.
Thank you for the kind words. Rasa's image reminds me of a conversation I had with Bob Wilson. I said I imagined Pound in the afterlife talking with Dante about poetic technique, and Bob said, "And I'll be at the bar with Shakespeare and Joyce" or something like that.
I read an early draft and think Straight Outta Dublin will make an important addition to RAW's secondary literature. I hope they keep the original title. Also looking forward to reading Michael's piece.
Thank you, Oz. I hope to have my revisions done by October 12, 2024.
For what it's worth, I also think Straight Outta Dublin is a frabjous title.
Thank you, Spookah
Did I dream that, or isn't there already a cool Bobby Campbell drawing of Joyce doing the gangsta mudras of East Coast/West Coast next to the words 'straight outta dublin', floating around somewhere?
Bobby, if you're reading this?
I too love the "working" title, so I'm guessing Hilaritas Press will listen to my advice in that regards. A note about that graphic. It started out as an AI image, but I have never gotten an AI to make a good rendition of RAW's face. In this image I took a photo of RAW and Photoshopped it into the image. There were a number of other fixes as well (I put a lot of work into adding two glasses of beer), and then I did a total colorization effect. The original AI was in black and white. I'm thinking Eric likes it, so it may end up on the cover.
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