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Straight Outta Dublin: James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson
"You’re always looking for what you can learn from everybody. I’ve learned something from every writer I’ve ever read. The strongest influences are certainly Joyce, the blind man who saw, and Ezra Pound, the crazy man who understood." – Robert Anton Wilson, Beyond Chaos and Beyond
Straight Outta Dublin explores James Joyce’s influence on Robert Anton Wilson, examining mosbunall of Wilson’s work including his novel Masks of the Illuminati and his seminal work of non-fiction Prometheus Rising. During the last 23 years of Wilson’s life he referred readers back to Prometheus Rising over and over again, and Wagner explores how Joyce’s influence permeates that text. The final section of Straight Outta Dublin focusses on the exercises in Prometheus Rising which Wilson repeatedly implored his readers to do. Along the way Wagner looks at the influence of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Dubliners on Wilson’s art and life. Eric Wagner started reading Wilson in 1982 and earned his master’s degree in English examining Joyce’s influence on Wilson.
R. Michael Johnson’s brilliant analysis in the book's "More Notes" section, offers yet more detail on Wilson’s long journey with Joyce. Johnson and Wagner’s texts work synergetically to illuminate the Wilson/Joyce Multiverse (WJM, patent pending).
• • •
“There are many well-known scholars of Irish novelist James Joyce, but in the more recent field of Robert Anton Wilson studies, two names stand Eric Wagner and R. Michael Johnson. Hilaritas Press managed to snag them both for this pathbreaking study of how Joyce influenced Wilson.” – Tom Jackson
“Reading about the alchemical reaction between these two geniuses blew my mind!” – Oz Fritz
“A rising Prometheus of esoteric illumination! Eric Wagner condenses down nearly a half century of examination, experiment, and experience into a skeleton key unlocking the kaleidoscopic doors of Discordian & Joycean perception. Wagner, and guest superstar Michael Johnson, have conspired to forge an irresistible invitation to a never-ending mystery, a sturdy bridge across an infinite abyss,” – Bobby Campbell
Straight Outta Dublin explores James Joyce’s influence on Robert Anton Wilson, examining mosbunall of Wilson’s work including his novel Masks of the Illuminati and his seminal work of non-fiction Prometheus Rising. During the last 23 years of Wilson’s life he referred readers back to Prometheus Rising over and over again, and Wagner explores how Joyce’s influence permeates that text. The final section of Straight Outta Dublin focusses on the exercises in Prometheus Rising which Wilson repeatedly implored his readers to do. Along the way Wagner looks at the influence of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Dubliners on Wilson’s art and life. Eric Wagner started reading Wilson in 1982 and earned his master’s degree in English examining Joyce’s influence on Wilson.
R. Michael Johnson’s brilliant analysis in the book's "More Notes" section, offers yet more detail on Wilson’s long journey with Joyce. Johnson and Wagner’s texts work synergetically to illuminate the Wilson/Joyce Multiverse (WJM, patent pending).
• • •
“There are many well-known scholars of Irish novelist James Joyce, but in the more recent field of Robert Anton Wilson studies, two names stand Eric Wagner and R. Michael Johnson. Hilaritas Press managed to snag them both for this pathbreaking study of how Joyce influenced Wilson.” – Tom Jackson
“Reading about the alchemical reaction between these two geniuses blew my mind!” – Oz Fritz
“A rising Prometheus of esoteric illumination! Eric Wagner condenses down nearly a half century of examination, experiment, and experience into a skeleton key unlocking the kaleidoscopic doors of Discordian & Joycean perception. Wagner, and guest superstar Michael Johnson, have conspired to forge an irresistible invitation to a never-ending mystery, a sturdy bridge across an infinite abyss,” – Bobby Campbell
332 pages, Paperback
Published April 23, 2025
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August 14, 2025
James Joyce was arguably the biggest influence on American cult writer Robert Anton Wilson, and many Wilson fans also are Joyce fans. Wilson scholar Eric Wagner, author of "An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson," explains how Joyce's work influenced Wilson's work. Another Wilson scholar, Michael Johnson, also contributes a long essay to the book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review