Review: The Anarchist Writings of Robert Anton Wilson

The works of Robert Anton Wilson, especially the Illuminatus! trilogy, were an alternative path to libertarianism in the late 20th century. His influence has been less appreciated than that of his fellow novelist Ayn Rand, whose apodictic certainty based in ancient Greek philosophy he hilariously lampooned via the made-up novel discussed within Illuminatus!, Telemachus Sneezed. Wilson was, to put it bluntly, hipper than your average libertarian: more into drugs, sex, the occult, and cutting-edge 20th century literary figures such as James Joyce and Ezra Pound, but still oriented toward his stated goal of “reduc[ing the State] to an object of contempt among all educated people.”

While his novels and nonfiction led many young seekers to the arcane lore of libertarianism, he wanted no permanent political labels. In A Non-Euclidean Perspective, a new volume of previously uncollected political articles and interviews, he expresses beliefs contrary to standard Austrian economic stances. Following 19th century individualist anarchists of the Benjamin Tucker school, Wilson was opposed to absentee landownership and doubted the legitimacy of interest, which he thought would fade in a world of total currency freedom.

“I’m the kind of anarchist whose chief objection to the state is that it kills so many people,” Wilson said in a 1976 interview. Too many who use the term libertarian today paradoxically embrace an extreme immigration enforcement state based on misguided applications of axiomatic thinking about property. Wilson’s influence, with his radiantly sane skepticism and his desire to minimize violence and cruelty, is sorely needed.

Beyond politics, Wilson’s sense of life that won so many fans—including Reason‘s Jesse Walker, who wrote the collection’s introduction—comes across in epigrams such as: “It is a great privilege to be conscious in this universe. Those who understand, shine like stars.”