Pen name Malaclypse the Younger Books Principia Discordia Role Writer | Name Malaclypse Younger Spouse Jeanetta Hill | |
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Born 21 May 1941
California ( 1941-05-21 ) Subject Religion, politics, satire Died July 20, 2000, San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States | ||
Malaclypse the Younger
Gregory Hill (21 May 1941 – 20 July 2000), better known by the pen name Malaclypse the Younger, was one of the two writers of the Principia Discordia, along with Kerry Wendell Thornley (a.k.a. Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). He was also adapted as a character in The Illuminatus! Trilogy. During the early years of circulation of the Principia Discordia, rumors claimed that the author of the book was Richard Nixon, Timothy Leary, or Robert Anton Wilson; or that the book and Malaclypse the Younger were both fictional inventions of Robert Anton Wilson, as with Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon.
Contents
Biography
Robert Anton Wilson stated, in the lecture "The I in the Triangle" from 1990, that Greg Hill was at the time the head of a large computer facility owned by one of the largest banks in the United States.
Greg Hill described Mal-2 as a spirit sent into him by Eris that helped him write the Principia Discordia over the course of ten years in his early adulthood. An interview included in the fourth edition of the Principia Discordia by Loompanics Press reveals that Mal-2 left once the book was finished. He claims Mal-2 returned to leave a fifth and final edition consisting solely of a Western Union telegraph form filled with the letter "M". Greg Hill also reveals that he had access to Western Union forms when he worked at Western Union.
Principia Discordia
In 2006, a copy of the first edition of the Principia Discordia was claimed to have been discovered in the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection in the National Archives, proving Malaclypse the Younger to be Gregory Hill.
Possessing many titles, including "Omnibenevolent Polyfather of Virginity in Gold", Malaclypse's true identity or position within the Erisian religion is completely unknown. He is frequently mentioned in the Principia Discordia. Credited with wiring telegrams to God from the Celestial Hotel and decrying the usefulness of prayer, these claims are in the nature of the Principia Discordia.
Very little is known about Malaclypse the Elder, the namesake of Mal-2. The Principia Discordia merely mentions him as a "non-prophet" and that he was mistaken for a doomsayer when carrying a sign that read "DUMB."
Illuminatus!
Malaclypse the Younger also appears in The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. According to Illuminatus!, he founded the Norton Cabal, and then left the cabal to join the very esoteric Erisian Liberation Front. The character Dr. Ignotum P. Ignotius says the last thing Mal-2 wrote before he left for the ELF was, "Everybody understands Mickey Mouse. Few understand Hermann Hesse. Hardly anyone understands Albert Einstein. And nobody understands Emperor Norton." This is the slogan of the Joshua Norton Cabal of San Francisco.
Malaclypse the Elder has an even larger role in The Illuminatus! Trilogy. In fact, he is an important shape-shifting character in the book, posing as Jean-Paul Sartre, Billy Graham, and the Devil. According to Malaclypse the Elder himself, he is a 4th century B.C. Erisian priest (who was also prepared to perform services to Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera) who achieved "transcendental illumination" in the course of the massacre at Melos in 415 BC. The Illuminati believe that death releases a certain form of energy. Given enough death and a person intent on capturing said energy, a person may be transformed into an immortal, immaterial being, or so the plot element goes. Malaclypse the Elder also posed as Jesus after Jesus was crucified. In the form of Jesus, he introduced Bingo, but asked Luke to not record it.