Early life Robert Anton Wilson

wilson @ national theatre, london, 10-hour stage version of illuminatus! in 1977.

, is. —the idiocy of word haunts me. if abolished, human thought might begin make sense. don t know ; know how seems me @ moment.

born robert edward wilson in methodist hospital, in brooklyn, new york, spent first years in flatbush, , moved family lower middle class gerritsen beach around age of 4 or five, stayed until relocating steadfastly middle-class neighborhood of bay ridge when wilson thirteen. suffered polio child, , found effective treatment kenny method (created elizabeth kenny) american medical association repudiated @ time. polio s effects remained wilson throughout life, manifesting minor muscle spasms causing him use cane until 2000, when experienced major bout post-polio syndrome continue until death.

wilson attended catholic grammar school, school associated gerritsen beach s resurrection church, , attended brooklyn technical high school (a selective public institution) remove himself catholic influence; @ brooklyn tech, wilson influenced literary modernism (particularly ezra pound , james joyce), western philosophical tradition, then-innovative historians such charles a. beard, science fiction (including works of olaf stapledon, robert a. heinlein , theodore sturgeon) , alfred korzybski s interdisciplinary theory of general semantics. later recall family living well... compared depression during period imagined lace-curtain irish @ last.

following graduation in 1950, wilson employed in succession of jobs (including ambulance driver, engineering aide, salesman , medical orderly) , absorbed various philosophers , cultural practices (including bebop, psychoanalysis, bertrand russell, carl jung, wilhelm reich, leon trotsky , ayn rand, whom later repudiated) while writing in spare time. studied electrical engineering , mathematics @ brooklyn polytechnic institute 1952 1957 , english education @ new york university 1957 1958 without getting degree either institution.

after smoking marijuana decade, first experimented mescaline in yellow springs, ohio on december 28, 1961. wilson began work freelance journalist , advertising copywriter in late 1950s. adopted maternal grandfather s name, anton, writings, telling himself save edward when wrote great american novel , later finding robert anton wilson had become established identity.

he assumed co-editorship of school living s brookville, ohio-based balanced living magazine in 1962 , briefly returned new york associate editor of ralph ginzburg s quarterly fact: before leaving playboy, served associate editor 1965 1971. according wilson, playboy paid me higher salary other magazine @ had worked , never expected me become conformist or sell soul in return. enjoyed years in bunny empire. resigned when reached 40 , felt not live myself if didn t make effort write full-time @ last. along frequent collaborator robert shea, wilson edited magazine s playboy forum (not confused playboy advisor). during period, covered timothy leary , richard alpert s millbrook, new york-based castalia foundation @ instigation of alan watts in realist, cultivated important friendships william s. burroughs , allen ginsberg, , lectured @ free university of new york on anarchist , synergetic politics in 1965.

he received b.a., m.a. (1978) , ph.d. (1981) in psychology paideia university, unaccredited institution has since closed. wilson reworked dissertation, , found publication in 1983 prometheus rising.

wilson married freelance writer , poet arlen riley in 1958. had 4 children, including christiana wilson pearson , patricia luna wilson. luna beaten death in apparent robbery in store worked in 1976 @ age of 15, , became first person have brain preserved bay area cryonics society. arlen riley wilson died in 1999 following series of strokes.