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摘要
摘要
An exploration into the life and works of the modern mystic, occultist, poet, mountaineer, bisexual adventurer and drug fiend who was known to his contemporaries as The Beast'.'
评论 (3)
Kirkus评论
Sutin (Divine Invasions, 1989) paints a rich narrative of the eccentric visionary Aleister Crowleys life, which now seems somewhat ho-hum as for his sexual escapadesthe source of much of his bad pressbut all the more vile for his egomania and fascist tendencies. He was called the wickedest man on earth; he also adorned the cover of the Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album: Aleister Crowley was an expert on the art of high magic, the white variety (which has nothing to do with purity and everything to do with the most sublime privilege of man): By development of will-power, by rigorous self-control, by solitude, meditation and prayer, a man may be granted the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel. The authors intent is to get beyond the exotic image. This he does mostly by putting Crowleys human face on display: the mountaineer, the family man, the serious investigator of the astral plane. Yet ever-present are Crowleys ugly maneuverings in the magic community, his pleasure at Hitlers supposed use of his work, and his abuse of friends. Crowleys sexual acrobatics no longer shock, and they are unconvincing as a sacramental ritual. Sutin is a very clean writer, which makes a difference considering the level of detail on parade (From March 23 to April 7, Crowley endured a fallow period), but he fails to convey any sense of Crowleys mystical notions or experiences. When he relates that In the Tenth Aethyr, Crowley would confront the Dispersion of the Abyss, it might as well be liner notes for a PlayStation game, and when a character whispers Chaos is my name, and thick darkness, the reader gets no chill. Still, this is certainly the biography against which to measure the lurid claims and devout counterclaims prompted by the Crowley legend. (photos, not seen)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
"Virtually every current handbook on the `cult crisis' in America features a purple-prose paragraph on the sinister Crowley," Sutin says. "The popular image endures of Crowley as a vicious Satanist," but he wasn't. Satan worship, Sutin points out, is the flip side of Christianity. Crowley^-"the Beast, the Prophet" ^-wanted to create "a full-fledged successor religion," in which "Do What Thou Wilt" was the central credo. In charting the progress of the man who also denominated himself "666" (the number of the beast of Revelations 13:18), Sutin examines his imbroglios, his braggadocio, and the improbable conflicts in his makeup and life. An advocate of absolute individual freedom, his politics were decidedly right wing, yet his greatest triumph was making himself the popular face of evil incarnate. Sutin details his doings, writings, and comings and goings in pursuit of that triumph. He examines Crowley whole rather than merely advocating for or against him. Beware, though, for Crowley's success assures that even today a book about him may lead to lively interface with the local minions of decency. ^-Mike Tribby
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
The name Aleister Crowley has generally been associated with hedonistic, self-absorbed, occult-infatuated Victorian English intellectuals. Sutin (creative writing, Hamlin Coll.; A Postcard Memoir) does much to expand upon this simplistic perception, showing that while Crowley was indeed all these things, he was also much more. Crowley was an arrogant misogynist, yet he was also a very gifted poet and visionary who painfully drove himself to seek deeper visions through drug-induced vision quests and rampant sexual experimentation. He was prominent in the movement to bring Eastern philosophies into Christian England and America and sought enlightenment in the rawness of nature. Sutin wonderfully details the eccentricities of this puzzling man while being careful not to overburden his narrative with academic psychological theories or personal observations and conclusions. The result is a fascinating, easily readable narrative about one of the most interesting cultural phenomena of the late Victorian period. Recommended for all libraries.DGlenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ., Honolulu, HI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.